During our trip to South Korea we had a couple of interesting problems that we faced. The funny thing is that both happened in the same day but ended up working out.
The morning we were to fly back to Seoul from Jeju Island I encountered our first problem. We had an early flight and Sixt Rent-A-Car was closed. Find out what I did in the link above.
Kim and I decided to end the trip by using our IHG free nights for a two night stay at the InterContinental Seoul COEX. When we arrived, the service was absolutely amazing and friendly! We were greeted by staff like the hotel Duty Manager and the concierge checked us in.
The bell hops took all of our bags out of the taxi, for us. We were all exhausted after an early morning flight. I was holding Theo and Kim had to wake Lucas up and get him out. I always check the car to make sure that all of our belongings were taken out but this time I didn’t!
While checking in we chatted for a while with the friendly Duty Manager. I had some questions about things we wanted to do. The concierge also helped us out, calling Sixt to confirm that our car was returned on Jeju!
We went up to our room and got ready to go out for the day. We were getting some things together, mainly items we’d need for Theo. It was then that I noticed a bag with some very important items was missing! Our diaper changing mat and a small bag with random snacks and other stuff was nowhere to be found.
Kim and I looked around the room but came up empty- handed. Maybe it was left in the lobby and didn’t make it onto the concierge cart? We asked but struck out.
We had to go back to the concierge to finish booking tickets to a baseball game I wanted to go to the following day. The hotel Duty Manager came over to us to help figure out what happened to our bag.
We gave a description of the bag and he asked if we had a receipt from the taxi. We paid cash so we didn’t but he said that he would check out security cameras to try to track down the taxi.
Another possibility was that our bag was left on the plane but Kim remembered having it after. Regardless, the Duty Manager gave Jeju Air a call to see if a bag turned up.
Just before leaving for our day at South Korea’s version of Disney, Lotte Word, the Duty Manager told us that he tracked down the taxi by the license plate. He called the taxi company but they wouldn’t give him the driver’s phone number. The company was going to call him back once they got a hold of the driver…
I left the hotel a bit annoyed but what can you do? While there were a lot things that we wanted in the bag, we had more diapers and could easily buy more wipes. There was a glimmer of hope that the bag might be found but I wasn’t confident. Kim was.
After a long, fun day we headed back to the hotel hoping to find the bag waiting for us. When we arrived back at the IC Seoul COEX we asked a different concierge about the bag. I thought he said the bag was in our room but wasn’t sure…
We headed up to our room to find the bag in our room! Wow, a little miracle in South Korea! Maybe I’m being a little dramatic here but the Duty Manager really came through. Without him our bag would’ve been lost.
Soon after the night Duty Manager rang the bell to our room. She mentioned that they finally reached the cab driver and the bag was in his trunk. After some negotiating, he agreed to bring it back to the hotel. She mentioned it was on the hotel and not to worry about it!
Talk about amazing customer service! The staff went above and beyond to help track down our bag.
Would other hotel staff go out of their way like they did at the IC Seoul COEX? I have no clue and hope to never find out!
(image: google maps)
