Kim Ji-soo joined The Korea Times in 2006, and worked on such desks as culture and politics and is currently a member of the Editorial Board. Previous workplaces include The Korea Herald and the Korea JoongAng Daily.
MVL Hotel Kintex opens in Islan
MVL Hotel Kintex, a 20th-floor five-star hotel, stands at nighttime against the background of the international convention center Kintex. It opened Wednesday.
By Kim Ji-soo
By Kim Ji-soo
MVL Hotel Kintex opens today in Ilsan, Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, in close proximity to the largest convention space Kintex.
The acronyms should be explained first. MVL stands for “Most Valuable Life” and is a hotel chain operated by leading leisure group Daemyung Leisure Industry. Kintex stands for Korea International Exhibition Center, and comprises Kintex 1 and 2 that together provide 100,000 square meters of space befitting an international convention arena.
The hotel is also located in the heart of Hallyuworld, a strategic zoning area for “hallyu” or the Korean wave. Hallyuworld is a tourist/cultural complex driven by the Gyeonggi provincial government, to create theme parks, performance venues on 990,000 square meters of land. A K-pop Arena that will house an audience of 10,000 is set for completion by 2016.
Taking full advantage of these factors, the hotel pledges to offer top-of-the-line dining and the most up-to-date facilities to host to the convention as well as high-end inbound tourists from Asia.
The interior of the Chinese restaurant Zhulin that will showcase Guangdong-style cuisine.
“We are the first five-star hotel in Goyang” said Brian Song, general manager, Monday. It is the second MVL hotel, following the one in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.
“We are also planning to build a second hotel in the vacant lot next to the hotel.” He took office last year.
The 97-billion-won hotel has 20 floors with 377 rooms and 24 suites.
Initially scheduled to open in August, the MVL pulled up the opening date to meet the demands that are expected to arise from Automotive Week 2013 that starts March 29 at Kintex.
Among its 340 employees, the hotel recruited about half from the city of Goyang. Ilsan is a neighborhood in the city, host to the Kintex 1, and Kintex 2 and striving to become an international MICE space. MICE stands for meeting, incentive travel, convention and exhibition. President Park Geun-hye has chosen MICE as a future growth engine, and more broadly, Asia accounted for 28 percent of the $150 billion worth global MICE market in 2010 and is expecting further growth.
The wedding hall can accommodate up to 600 guests.
The hotel’s rooms boast views overlooking Lake Park in Ilsan, as well as the expansive sprawl that the two Kintex venues create. Its rooms range from luxurious Presidential Suite that can cost several million won to stay in. There are four other types of suites—the Junior Suite, the Executive Suite, the Ambassador Suite and the Korean Suite. The Korean Suite offers traditional Korean heated floors or “ondol.” The standard rooms begin at the fourth floor, offering a selection of super singles and doubles.
For big and small events, the MVLHotel Kintex offers five banquet rooms.
The restaurants are located mainly on the first four floors. The hotel has poured energy into proffering “well-being” menus prepared by its award-winning chefs. Under this aim, the restaurants will serve cuisine prepared once customers make their menu choices.
“We don’t use MSG in our restaurants,” Song said.
Customers can expect to experience such finesse at “Cucina M,” a 250-seater buffet restaurant that will put on the table 160 types of dishes ranging from dim sum, salad bar and fresh fruit juices.
The desserts that tempted the viewers in the 2005 drama “My Name is Kim Sam-soon” are available at “Il Lago Deli,” where 100 different cakes, bread, cheese and wine will be sold.
The Il Lago will transform into a bar and the lounge is a place where customers can choose and order from menus on iPads while listening to live jazz music.
The Chinese restaurant Zhulin will present Guangdong-style cuisine and four major Chinese set dinners.
The Daemyung Leisure Industry, and Goyang City on March 12 exchanged a memorandum of understanding to cooperate mutually. To date, Kintex was looking for a premier hotel that can bring synergy to its operation.