2014 Our accommodations at the Sunset Business Hotel in Busan, South Korea

We stayed two weeks at Sunset Business Hotel in Haeundae Beach (46 Gunam-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan 612-010, South Korea, tel. 051-730-9900,http://sunsethotel.co.kr/?lang=en). Our room (1405) was small but functional and comfortable. The staff of the hotel were very nice to us and the general manager went out of his way to make us feel like VIPs! We had pre-booked one week. Our rate for the first week was US$157.07 per day. It was during the Busan Film Festival and Haeundae Beach was packed.

Our room had an entry hall and off of that a bathroom and closet area. The closet was ample, over the mini fridge were 3 shelves. In the closet area there was an extra sink with storage underneath too. That extra sink was very handy. Next to the extra sink were shelves with a hairdryer and a plug for the electric kettle (and actual coffee cups!). We unpacked everything (our clothes and stuff for our one-month traveling around Korea) and we were able to put it all away in the room's sufficient storage. 

The bathroom had a tub, a shower and a shower curtain, a sink with storage underneath and a toilet with the spray and fan functions as well as a seat heater. When we are showering, water accumulated around the tub and poured onto the floor. We solved that problem by getting an extra towel to build a barrier at the end of the tub.

The room itself had one king bed, 2 comfortable chairs and a small table as well as a narrow table and chair that Dimitri used as his desk. Although the sea view was limited, Audre could sit at a comfortable chair, with her computer on the small table in front of her and look out the floor-to-ceiling windows at Haeundae Beach. Very nice. In the evening, Audre would remove her computer from the small table and she and Dimitri would enjoy a glass of wine and cashew nuts (from the hotel’s Coffee Mandalay) while looking at the beach and the surfers from our window. Yes, the hotel room had actual wine glasses for guests’ use!

The window had good sheer curtains and black-out drapes so that we could shut out the light. The hotel was/is not sound proof so we heard noise through the walls and from the street outside the windows. With the air conditioner on, the noise was muted outside. Sometimes the air conditioner shut itself off during the night. The reception desk could do something about that and they fixed it for us when asked. We like rooms with carpeting like our last hotel had. If there had been carpeting in the Sunset Hotel’s rooms, there might have been less noise from people walking around.

Included in the room rate was breakfast and it was a complete buffet selection--eggs, bacon, cereal, juk, soup and Korean selections, as well as bread and pastries. There was also delicious fruit, juices, coffee and tea. The staff was very nice to us. Mr. Moon, the general manager of the hotel, was often helping in the breakfast room. We like to meet the general managers of hotels where we stay. We got to know Mr. Moon and he was really wonderful to us. Mr. Moon invited us to have complimentary coffee anytime we wanted in Coffee Mandalay. The coffee and atmosphere were delightful and we enjoyed that. Mr. Moon gave us some Burmese cashews that were being sold in Coffee Mandalay. How nice!

The mattress of our bed was softer than the other mattresses we have had in Korea. It was comfortable. Our housekeeper/maid learned how to make our bed the way we like it (bottom sheet, top sheet and then the comforter). The sheets were a soft cotton which we liked (in other hotels they were more like paper than cotton.) The lighting was good in the room everywhere except the bathroom. 

The location of the Sunset Business Hotel could hardly have been more central. There were two suggestions Audre would make to improve the hotel: the hotel provided only one small water bottle a day per room. Our prior hotels in Korea all had water machines in the hotel for the guests to use. Second there was an automatic light that had a motion sensor in the entry hall. When Dimitri went to the bathroom during the night, the light went on and woke Audre up. No more sleep for her that night. Dimitri figured out how to cover the sensor so he fixed that problem. It would be good if there were an option at the Sunset Hotel to disable that automatic light.

We stayed in room 1405 for a total of 15 nights. The other rooms that Mr. Kim, the room manager, showed us had more space but worse views. Since we were able to unpack and put everything away in our small but functional room, we decided not to change rooms. Moreover, Mr. Kim made us a good price for our extra days bringing our average rate for the overall stay to US$127 per day.