Imperial Palace Gains Fame as Leading Business Hotel

The Imperial Palace Hotel has gained fame as a top business hotel, situated in the heart of southern Seoul's, business and entertainment district.

The hotel won the top prize in the Favorite Business Hotel category of the TIME Readers' Travel Choice Awards 2006 selected by Time Asia, a first for a Korean hotel.

The hotel has strengthened its standing by reinforcing its IT services ― each room is equipped with 42 inch LCD and PDP in every room with high-speed Internet and wireless Internet services available.

A business center has an LCD projector and 100 inch high-resolution screen to ensure convenience for business gatherings.

The hotel also operates two convention centers, Dubhe and Selena, on the seventh floor, providing venues for international conferences, seminars, receptions, wedding ceremonies and other gatherings.

In addition, five halls on the sixth floor are decorated with bright, baroque style colors, catering for casual gatherings such as birthday parties and other family functions.

The hall and lobby are adorned with foreign ornaments and paintings, with more than 400 pieces of artwork on display throughout the hotel.

The property has a total of 430 guest rooms including 35 suite rooms and 12 restaurants, which are all refined to meet the different needs of guests.

The restaurants and bars at the hotel serve a wide range of dishes from all over the world including Japanese, Chinese, and Italian and provide total entertainment services.

New York style lounge bar Zoe is a membership bar stocked with diverse cigars and featuring private rooms. An outdoor pool is also used as a bar where guests can a variety of drinks and snacks lazing on three bed tables around the pool.

On top of these top facilities, the hotel vows to offer superb services through its own customer service program.

The hotel has run a service-training program (A.S.S.A.) since 1996, which includes a one-to-one escort service from the front desk to the guestroom, waiters taking orders on their knees at the restaurants, a free valet parking service for women and a real-name system for room maids.

The hotel now has ambitions to tap the global market since its grand opening in 2005.

After taking over Daiichi Hotel Fukuoka, a business hotel in Fukuoka, in December 2007, it opened Imperial Palace IP Hotel-Fukuoka. It was the first Korean hotel to advance into the foreign market.

Also in December 2008, it will open the Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa, featuring 566 guestrooms including pool villas, in Cebu, the Philippines.

It plans to become the nation's first hotel to have a world-class network by advancing to other countries such as China and the U.S.