The $46 million Camp Walker Lodge officially opened Feb. 3, 2025, at Camp Walker, South Korea. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP WALKER, South Korea — The U.S. Army opened a new $46 million hotel Monday to provide accommodations for service members and their families traveling to Daegu, about 150 miles south of Seoul.

“For years to come, this is going to have an impact for everybody as they come in and come out,” Eighth Army commander Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve told about 100 people attending the opening ceremony for Camp Walker Lodge.

The seven-story facility has 79 rooms, 47 of them family suites. Amenities include sofa beds in family suites, induction cooktops, a gaming room, laundry facilities and continental breakfast.

The building is next to the Wood Patient Centered Medical Home and across the street from the base golf course.

Daegu Garrison is home to about 9,500 U.S. service members and their families at Camps Walker, George, Henry and Carroll. The garrison’s other lodging facility is at Carroll, about 15 miles north of Walker.

The $46 million Camp Walker Lodge officially opened Feb. 3, 2025, at Camp Walker, South Korea. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

The $46 million Camp Walker Lodge officially opened Feb. 3, 2025, at Camp Walker, South Korea. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

The $46 million Camp Walker Lodge officially opened Feb. 3, 2025, at Camp Walker, South Korea. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

Walker’s lodge employs one American and 18 South Koreans, Sean Wise, director of the garrison’s Department of Family and Morale Welfare and Recreation, told Stars and Stripes at Monday’s ceremony.

Planning for the new hotel kicked off in 2018 and construction began three years later, he said.

The old lodge was built in 2002, less than a mile from the new facility. It was “aging” and had 58 rooms, only eight of them family suites, Wise said.

There are no immediate plans for the old building, garrison spokesman Phil Molter said at the ceremony.

“For many years, we’ve considered Daegu the best place to live and work,” Wise said. “Now we can proudly say it’s the best place to live, work and visit. Whether on official travel or leisure travel, I’d encourage everyone to stay with us at least once during their tour.”

Capt. Rowell Magtanong, an Army nurse stationed at Fort Irwin, Calif., booked a room for three nights while vacationing with his girlfriend in Daegu.

Magtanong said he had no trouble checking in and especially liked the spacious desks inside the rooms.

“I just like how it’s new and clean,” he told Stars and Stripes. “Whenever something’s like new and clean, it’s exciting, and this is somewhere we’ve never been before.”