Seoul Budget Hostel: Hotel Maui in Dongdaemun

After two long years, I was finally able to go back to Korea and fulfill my Kdrama dreams. I’m pretty you can imagine how happy I was to be back. It was my fourth time in Seoul, and instead of staying in the same hostel, I decided to try a new budget hostel in the middle of the bustling city. There are tons of affordable accommodations in Seoul, and I’m glad my sister and I ended up staying in one of the bests!

Hotel Maui in Dongdaemun is relatively new, but I have to say that they definitely set the bar when it comes to budget accommodations. It has everything I am looking for in a budget hostel and then some. Seriously though, they offer quite a lot more than the other accommodations stayed in did.

How do I even start raving about this hostel? From the location to the rooms to the host to everything–we loved every minute we spent in it.

Don’t be like my sister. Leave your shoes outside! Haha

Our spacious Twin Room

Since it was just my sister and I, we stayed at a twin room. It was spacious, and there was more than enough space for all our bags. We were carrying a backpack each, but I’m pretty sure our luggages, which we left in Busan, would fit inside the room. It never felt cramped unlike some of the hostels in Seoul. There’s a window, too, but we never opened it due to the cold weather outside. (Hey, we are tropical girls, and any temperature less than 20 degree celsius can have us scrambling for the nearest heater.)

I love the lamps hanging over our beds. The decoration was minimalist, but it didn’t look bland nor empty. The small art prints added a nice touch on our wall, too.

Here are the other things we loved about our Twin Room:

• There’s a refrigerator inside the room! We ended up buying tons of strawberries (and choco milk!!) which we kept fresh throughout out stay.
• Hair dryer was also provided. Ladies, you know how important this is.
• The bathroom was also inside the room, complete with toiletries! I think only toothbrush and toothpaste weren’t provided. There were shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower. Towels were also provided. Albeit small, they do their jobs just fine, haha.
• Slippers for the room and bathroom were available. Can I just say that this is important? I cannot step in a bathroom without slippers on, and I forgot to bring flip flops. So yes, having them provide slippers for bathroom use saved my life.
• There were tons of plugs available. Just make sure to bring your own plug adapter. We brought ours at the GS25 convenience store near the hotel.

Breakfast was provided

They server breakfast from 9 A.M. onwards. If you plan to leave the hotel early, you might have to skip breakfast though!

My sister and I usually skip the breakfast provided, but we do drink the free coffee every night. Hot and cold water are available 24/7, and we make sure to help ourselves to the coffee every night, too.

Water dispensers were available in every floor

This is something I rarely see in hostels. Our room was on the 5th floor, and it would be too bothersome to go all the way to the ground floor just to get water. So yes, it was a blessing to just simply walk towards the end of the corridor to refill our water bottles in the middle of the night.

The hotel decoration is homey

Maybe I’m just being biased because yellow is my favorite color, and yellow seems to be the most dominant color in the hotel decoration. But in all honesty, I love the simplicity of the hotel’s interior. It made me feel right at home.

There’s a rooftop accessible to every guest

This is the first time I checked in a hostel with a rooftop! There are chairs, tables, and umbrellas at the rooftop. It’s perfect if you like hanging out at the hostel or drinking indoors at night. My sister and I just usually cooped up inside our room, but I still think it’s pretty cool that Hotel Maui has prepared this for their guest.

The hotel location is strategic

There are two subway stations near the hostel, Dongmyo Station and Sinseol-dong Station, and both are in Line 1. And you know what that means? Minimal travel time anywhere! Being in Line means you’re just a few subway stops to whatever subway line you’re transferring, too. All the subway lines intersects with Line 1, so you can save not just on transportation money but also travel time.

Also, there are tons of attractions nearby such as the Seoul Folk Flea Market, Dongdaemun, and Cheonggyecheon Stream.

The hotel has an elevator!

If you ask me, this has to be one of the best features of the hostel. In most of the hostels I stayed in, there are no elevators. That means if you were staying at the third floor and you had five bags with you, you’d need to carry it all by yourself.

Thankfully, Hotel Maui DDM has an elevator! It was a huge relief coming home incredibly late and just riding the elevator instead of dragging my tired feet through five flights of stairs.

Our host is awesome!

None of the things I mentioned above would matter if the host is terrible. Good thing Hotel Maui has the best host ever. May welcomed us so generously, and she’s all smiles all the time. She’s incredibly friendly and made our stay memorable. <3

Overall Verdict:

I will gladly book again! You get more than what you pay for, and I honestly cannot think of a single reason why I shouldn’t recommend Hotel Maui. Hotel Maui in Dongdaemun definitely sets the bar high for budget accommodations in Seoul.

How to book:

• You can easily book a room through Agoda.
• Not comfortable using a third party website? Like their Facebook page and ask for other booking arrangements.

How to get to Hotel Maui DDM:

May told us that a lot of Filipino boarders had a hard time finding the hotel. I wonder why is that so, because it’s incredibly easy to find. It’s near both the subway station and the bus station.

Instead of giving a step-by-step guide on how to reach Hotel Maui DDM, I just decided to shoot a video on how to reach the hotel from the bus stop! It took me a while to finish this hostel review, but it’s worth it.

But of course, here’s an instruction on how to get to Dongdaemun / Dongmyo.

From Incheon Airort via Airport Limousine Bus

1. At Incheon airport, look for the counter where they sell the bus tickets.
2. Buy a bus ticket for the 6002 Airport Limousine Bus.
3. Alight at Dongmyo bus stop.
4. Then watch the following video to know how you can reach the hotel from the bus stop:

As you can see, it only took me an approximate of six minutes to reach the hotel. And that includes waiting for the stop light to turn green!

Also, excuse my shaky hands and my awkward face. I kind of regret showing my face now, but hey, at least I am now sure that I can never be a vlogger. I hope you’ll find the video useful in your travels. 🙂

Hotel Maui DDM