Price rules tightened for tourist lodgings

Foreign tourist urban homestay and hanok experience businesses must display lodging price lists and honor them under revised rules intended to protect tourists from price gouging.

The changes are intended to improve perceptions of domestic tourism.

The revised registration standards require operators to post price lists at their premises and, if they use online interfaces for business, display them there and charge the published rates.

Operators registered before the new rules began have one month to meet the revised criteria, including displaying price lists and charging posted amounts.

Previously, hanok experience businesses faced only corrective orders for first price-list or overcharge violations, while foreign tourist urban homestay operators had no such obligations. Under the new penalty framework, operators in either category face a five-day business suspension from a first violation.

The government plans to extend price-gouging penalties, already applied to general and living accommodation businesses, to taxi and food-service businesses. It is also pursuing a prior-reporting system for self-set accommodation prices and penalties for unilateral reservation cancellations without just cause.