Budget Overruns
The Sofitel Ambassador Seoul has never impressed me. In fact not to get into it, but a few years ago I had an experience there that could easily be defined personally insulting at best.Needless when I got a letter from the Sofitel through the AMCHAM spam factory I was amused by this (edited for space):
Dear Guest,
...
We proudly announce...renovation on our lobby...the two hundred million dollar lobby is not beautifully redecorated...
Sofitel Ambassador Seoul, under a $30 million renovation...since 1997...the remaining part of the hotel will under go renovation [of]...$15 million.
Wow! A $30 million project that got all the way to $200 million. For that matter what does a $200 million hotel lobby look like? That is the price of some modern hockey/basketball arenas!
Lets hope the remaining $15 million budget fares better.
posted by Dram Man @ 10:06 PM
5 Comments:
I wanna hear about this insulting incident! The letter is priceless, by the way!
tmc> I will tell you the worst part. I called up to register for a special room and such for Christmas eve for me and then wife. Part of this was I wanted to get everything done by myself since she always felt put-upon because of my lack of Korean. I figured this was about the easiest thing I could do seeing how the Sofitel was an International grade hotel and all.
Anyway I get there. The first check-in person spoke no English. I get this girl that spoke halting English, only to have her look at the reservation and say "You cannot stay here on that rate because its only for Koreans." It went downhill from there.
"You cannot stay here on that rate because its only for Koreans."
:O Now that's a third world mentality!
I should clarify. I do not mean to infer that Koreans have a thrid-world mentality, but it would seem that the Sofitel DOES.
Its funny you bring this up. One thing I have always found odd here is how much the international hotels here charge. I would think that with as much as the Korean Tourism Office tries to promote the place, lower costs would be a key advantage.
On second thought dont get me started on tourism here in Korea, I could go on for ever....
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