By Lee Hae-rin
Two new skyscrapers appear in sight from an airplane descending to the tarmac on Korea's favorite vacation island of Jeju. Standing near the island's international airport is Grand Hyatt Jeju within Jeju Dream Tower, which opened in December of last year, the first urban integrated resort in the country.
With some 1,600 rooms in two towers, Grand Hyatt Jeju is the second-largest Hyatt property among more than 1,100 across the globe and so far the biggest in Asia. Visited by over 1.3 million people within a year since its opening, the integrated resort has quickly become a leading tourist attraction of the island.
Undeniably, Jeju Island has been the top beneficiary of the closure of international borders during the COVID-19 pandemic. But besides the advantage of the time of the opening, the key to the hotel's success lies in expanding customer choices, according to Paul Kwok, the general manager at Grand Hyatt Jeju.
"Just 10 minutes away from the airport, the hotel provides guests the convenience to enjoy our facilities and services as soon as they touch down on Jeju Island. The centralized location of the Hyatt is close to the main traffic highway guests use to travel to other sightseeing attractions directly," Kwok told The Korea Times via email interview.
The hotel is one of three major parts of the Jeju Dream Tower integrated resort, with the other two being a foreigner-only casino and a shopping mall named HAN Collection.
Kwok often tells his staff that "Grand Hyatt Jeju opened the 2.0 generation of the Hyatt brand," in terms of diversity and quality of service and facilities.
The integrated resort offers a wide spectrum of food and beverage services in its 14 restaurants and bars, from standard to high-end.
On the top 38th floor of the building is the restaurant "Pocha," which offers a variety of street food delicacies and local liquor at reasonable prices with a panoramic view of the island. "Pocha" means small tented wagons that are used to sell street foods accompanied with drinks in Korean.
The hotel is equipped with global star chefs in its fine dining section, diverging from traditional Asian cuisines to steak and dessert. Among the chefs are Vincent Wong from Shangri-La in the Chinese restaurant, Philippe Daue from GODIVA in patisserie, and steak specialist Burton Yi from CUT by Wolfgang Puck in Singapore, to name a few.
From his experience in running landmark properties with several restaurants and bars, Kwok said he focused on "making sure high-quality food and beverages are being sourced" and "recruiting the right people for the job."
"Seasonal Jeju ingredients such as Jeju black pork, Jeju hairtail fish, local abalone and assorted seafood, hanwoo beef, and hallabong tangerines are available at our 14 restaurants," Kwok explained.
As a result of expanding customer choices in food and beverage services, over 770,000 people have visited its 14 F&B facilities since the opening.
The panoramic view that covers the mountain, ocean, and city of the island is another of the hotel's strong assets.
"Every suite should be an island landmark," Kwok often tells his staff. The rooms, which are all suites, present a broad range of scenery of Jeju through 2.7-meter-tall windows.
The resort also presents a variety of regional specialties, works of Korean designers, and local lifestyle brands in its shopping mall and flea market.
"Guests and visitors can shop for the latest K-fashion trends by more than 200 Korean designers from contemporary to casual outfits, shoes, jewelry and bags for men and women," Kwok added.
The property expects more international guests coming from other Asian countries, once the borders reopen, said Kwok, who has been in the hotel industry for 38 years and worked with Hyatt for 25 years in the Greater China regions, including Macau, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Shanghai.
"We expect to see a high level of travelers coming from China and Southeast Asia as there have been quite a lot of inquiries for individual travelers and MICE groups."
Another highlight of the integrated resort to attract foreign guests is the casino, which is operated by a team of executives with broad casino experience.
"It is a world-class casino with a twist of modern Korean lifestyle and warm-hearted Korean hospitality, offering Asia's most popular and favorite games," Kwok said.
"I wish to make Grand Hyatt Jeju the best in the Asia Pacific and will do my best to establish the resort and Jeju Dream Tower as the new hub in Jeju tourism and as an international travel destination."
 |
| Paul Kwok, the general manager at Grand Hyatt Jeju / Courtesy of Grand Hyatt Jeju |
With some 1,600 rooms in two towers, Grand Hyatt Jeju is the second-largest Hyatt property among more than 1,100 across the globe and so far the biggest in Asia. Visited by over 1.3 million people within a year since its opening, the integrated resort has quickly become a leading tourist attraction of the island.
Undeniably, Jeju Island has been the top beneficiary of the closure of international borders during the COVID-19 pandemic. But besides the advantage of the time of the opening, the key to the hotel's success lies in expanding customer choices, according to Paul Kwok, the general manager at Grand Hyatt Jeju.
"Just 10 minutes away from the airport, the hotel provides guests the convenience to enjoy our facilities and services as soon as they touch down on Jeju Island. The centralized location of the Hyatt is close to the main traffic highway guests use to travel to other sightseeing attractions directly," Kwok told The Korea Times via email interview.
The hotel is one of three major parts of the Jeju Dream Tower integrated resort, with the other two being a foreigner-only casino and a shopping mall named HAN Collection.
Kwok often tells his staff that "Grand Hyatt Jeju opened the 2.0 generation of the Hyatt brand," in terms of diversity and quality of service and facilities.
The integrated resort offers a wide spectrum of food and beverage services in its 14 restaurants and bars, from standard to high-end.
On the top 38th floor of the building is the restaurant "Pocha," which offers a variety of street food delicacies and local liquor at reasonable prices with a panoramic view of the island. "Pocha" means small tented wagons that are used to sell street foods accompanied with drinks in Korean.
 |
| Restaurant "Pocha" on the 38th floor of Grand Hyatt Jeju / Courtesy of Grand Hyatt Jeju |
The hotel is equipped with global star chefs in its fine dining section, diverging from traditional Asian cuisines to steak and dessert. Among the chefs are Vincent Wong from Shangri-La in the Chinese restaurant, Philippe Daue from GODIVA in patisserie, and steak specialist Burton Yi from CUT by Wolfgang Puck in Singapore, to name a few.
From his experience in running landmark properties with several restaurants and bars, Kwok said he focused on "making sure high-quality food and beverages are being sourced" and "recruiting the right people for the job."
"Seasonal Jeju ingredients such as Jeju black pork, Jeju hairtail fish, local abalone and assorted seafood, hanwoo beef, and hallabong tangerines are available at our 14 restaurants," Kwok explained.
As a result of expanding customer choices in food and beverage services, over 770,000 people have visited its 14 F&B facilities since the opening.
 |
| A corner suite with a panoramic view at Grand Hyatt Jeju / Courtesy of Grand Hyatt Jeju |
The panoramic view that covers the mountain, ocean, and city of the island is another of the hotel's strong assets.
"Every suite should be an island landmark," Kwok often tells his staff. The rooms, which are all suites, present a broad range of scenery of Jeju through 2.7-meter-tall windows.
The resort also presents a variety of regional specialties, works of Korean designers, and local lifestyle brands in its shopping mall and flea market.
"Guests and visitors can shop for the latest K-fashion trends by more than 200 Korean designers from contemporary to casual outfits, shoes, jewelry and bags for men and women," Kwok added.
 |
| Jeju Dream Tower integrated resort / Courtesy of Grand Hyatt Jeju |
The property expects more international guests coming from other Asian countries, once the borders reopen, said Kwok, who has been in the hotel industry for 38 years and worked with Hyatt for 25 years in the Greater China regions, including Macau, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Shanghai.
"We expect to see a high level of travelers coming from China and Southeast Asia as there have been quite a lot of inquiries for individual travelers and MICE groups."
Another highlight of the integrated resort to attract foreign guests is the casino, which is operated by a team of executives with broad casino experience.
"It is a world-class casino with a twist of modern Korean lifestyle and warm-hearted Korean hospitality, offering Asia's most popular and favorite games," Kwok said.
"I wish to make Grand Hyatt Jeju the best in the Asia Pacific and will do my best to establish the resort and Jeju Dream Tower as the new hub in Jeju tourism and as an international travel destination."
![[INTERVIEW] Park Hae-soo talks about differentiating his character in 'Money Heist' remake](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/a736b6bc1d3e45b1bfa5017078a81d4d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Park Chan-wook says 'Decision to Leave' is sexy without sex scenes](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/fb9682687df1476184925dc0f56f40b3.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![Afghanistan earthquake killed more than 1,000 [PHOTOS]](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/newsV2/images/AFGHAN0001_e064cf8b60c94.JPG/dims/resize/268/optimize)
