'Car camping', 'campnic'… minimal camping is the new trend?
Ever heard of 'chabak' (car camping) or 'campnic'? Chabak — sleeping in your SUV instead of a tent — and campnic (camping + picnic) are both part of the 'minimal camping' wave sweeping Korea's outdoor crowd.
The Korea Tourism Organization and Korea Consumer Agency's latest camping trend report shows interest in car camping jumped 71% year-over-year since 2017 — the biggest gain of any camping style. Campervans (+27%), minimal camping (+17%), and campnic (+13%) followed close behind.
TV camping shows helped fuel the car-camping craze. For people who want the outdoor vibe without the gear hassle, chabak delivers. Same goes for campnic — pitch up at Han River Park or a neighborhood green space and you're set.
Yeogi Eottae's booking data shows that six out of ten campers this fall chose destinations within the Seoul metro area — easy weekend or weeknight escapes. Gapyeong (32.2%) and Pocheon (26.9%) alone accounted for nearly 60% of the top ten destinations.
Minimal camping lowers the bar to entry. No equipment, no commitment, just go. That's pulled more travelers to camping and glamping sites around the capital — a win for the industry.
If your property offers camping or glamping, pay attention to this shift. Build packages that speak to the minimal-camping mindset. Meet travelers where they are, and you might rediscover camping's golden age.
[News1Korea, 2019.10.28, 'Minimal camping trips' take off… Gapyeong and Pocheon ride the wave]
Flash sales, book-cations, regional signature dishes… how far will hotels go?
Korea's hotels are racing to keep up with shifting travel and lifestyle trends. Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts launched a 'book-cation' program around its 30,000-volume Walkerhill Library — combining quiet reading with cafés, lectures, and cultural workshops. The response has been strong.
Premium hotels are also leaning into local flavor. Shilla Jeju's 'abalone and hanwoo beef jjamppong' went viral on social media, so the hotel doubled down with 'lobster jjamppong' and a 'Jeju apple mango bingsu.' Andaz — Hyatt's lifestyle brand — serves makgeolli and traditional Korean condiments you won't find at most hotel F&B outlets. Andaz Seoul plans wine dinners with heritage Seoul restaurants, even though room rates start at ₩280,000 and penthouses top ₩10 million per night. Guests keep coming.
In 2019, non-guest F&B and event revenue surged. More than 60% of Shilla Jeju's buffet diners weren't staying at the hotel. F&B is now a low-friction way for consumers to experience a luxury property — and it's high-margin, high-visibility business. A signature dish can turn into word-of-mouth gold.
Hotels are rethinking pricing, too. November used to be dead season — no holidays, no Halloween hangover, no Christmas run-up. But Korea's adoption of Black Friday shopping culture turned November into a retail bonanza, and hotels piled in. Josun Hotels partnered with Shinsegae's 'SSG Day' sale. Lotte Hotel ran Halloween packages with Lotte World. Ananti Namhae and the Lotte Hotel chain launched 'time-sale' flash deals.
Hotels are moving fast. Think you can't keep up because you lack capital, staff, or creative firepower? Look closer. Trend signals are everywhere. Ask yourself: Could we brand the property differently? Offer a local-experience package? Run a daily deal? Open a public-facing café? Start small. That first step might be the trigger that brings guests through the door.
[Money Today, 2019.11.01, Korea's 'Black Friday' in November — Hotels run time-sale flash deals too]
[Seoul Economic Daily, 2019.11.05, Shilla Jeju: "Come try the original apple mango bingsu"]
Bleeding money on ads and commissions — OTA 'power abuse' squeezes accommodation operators
The most common question ONDA gets at seminars and through our support channels right now? OTA ad spending and platform fees. As Korea's domestic travel-booking platforms — Yanolja, Yeogi Eottae — explode in scale, they've cranked up advertising costs and commission rates. Operators are pushing back, calling it abuse of market power.
The Daegu chapter of the Korea Motel Association estimates its members collectively pay over ₩1 billion per month in platform advertising fees — roughly 30% of total margin. Individual properties spend anywhere from ₩200,000 to ₩5.5 million monthly, with an average around ₩3 million.
Yanolja's revenue went from ₩20 billion in 2014 to ₩160 billion in 2018 — mostly from ads and commissions, not bookings. The company dominates mobile app marketing and has been accused of unilaterally changing room rates. This October, Yanolja's CEO was summoned to a National Assembly audit over the power-abuse allegations.
Local motel associations have petitioned for ad-spend caps and commission cuts — one group even filed a Blue House petition. But operators feel trapped: 90% of Korea's accommodation bookings flow through these platforms. Opting out means going dark.
The irony? Despite revenue growth, both major platforms have run operating losses and net losses for five consecutive years. Industry observers say they're passing those losses straight to suppliers.
Booking platforms are infrastructure now — essential to distribution. Operators and OTAs need each other. But when one side exploits its leverage for short-term gain, trust collapses — and consumers lose, too. The whole sector suffers.
We hope the two sides find common ground. ONDA will keep building from the operator's perspective — pursuing partnerships that let both sides grow together.
[Kyunghyang Shinmun, 2019.10.27, Booking-app 'tyranny' boils over among accommodation operators… 20-room motel pays ₩3M/month in ads and commissions]
