The living room area of the presidential suite at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in central SeoulFOUR SEASONS SEOUL
Can premium prices guarantee that a luxury hotel has five stars? Perhaps. But under newly proposed rules, charging guests too much could cost five-star hotels in Korea their rating.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed a revision to the law governing hotel ratings on Thursday, under which hotels would be penalized for unfairly charging guests and for installing weak soundproofing between rooms.
Hotels found to have overcharged guests will lose 30 points on the ministry’s 1,000-point hotel rating system. They must earn 900 points to be recognized as a five-star establishment.
The evaluation has previously not considered unfair pricing as a factor, and the proposed 30-point penalty is far steeper than most existing deductions. Major violations — such as fires, illegal activities and administrative sanctions related to hygiene or fire-safety inspections — typically result in a 10-point deduction.
On the 1,000-point scale, in which the threshold between four and five stars is separated by only 100 points, a 30-point penalty would be enough to threaten a hotel’s rating.
The proposed measure is also drawing attention for its potential to curb “price gouging” in the industry, a practice in which hotels raise their rates when demand surges during holidays, festivals and major events.
A bathroom inside a guest room at the L'Escape hotel in central SeoulL'ESCAPE HOTEL
Under the proposed system, the evaluation criteria for guest rooms and bathrooms will become more sophisticated.
For guest rooms, their scores will factor in their variety of furniture — such as wardrobes, desks and sofas — and amenities, from sleepwear and slippers to electric kettles and minibars.
Room hygiene standards will be expanded to include the cleanliness of furniture and light fixtures, disinfectant measures, ventilation and pest control. Inspectors will also check beds and bedding for damage, discoloration and stains. They will even consider any strands of hair or cobwebs found in a room after it is cleaned.
Bathrooms will be given tiered scores based on the availability of items such as shampoo, conditioner, towels and hair dryers, as well as the quality of ventilation, drainage and antislip measures.
Soundproofing will be assessed under a quantitative system. Inspectors will go to an adjacent room and record the noise level of the room under evaluation. Rooms registering 35 decibels (dB) or below will be rated as “excellent,” and those exceeding 50 dB will be classified as “very poor.”
The grading structure behind the rating system itself will also undergo a major overhaul.
Currently, each star category has a different maximum score. Five-star hotels are evaluated on a scale of 1,000 points; four-star hotels on 850 points; three-star hotels on 700 points; and one- and two-star hotels on 600 points.
Under the proposed revision, all hotels, regardless of their star rating, will be evaluated on a unified 1,000-point scale.
A guest room at the Signiel Seoul hotel in Songpa District, southern SeoulSIGNIEL SEOUL
Hotels will be required to earn at least 90 percent of the total score for five stars, 80 percent for four stars, 65 percent for three stars, 50 percent for two stars and 40 percent for one star.
The rating process will continue to include both scheduled and surprise inspections. Luxury hotels seeking a four- or five-star rating will be assessed through overnight stays by anonymous inspectors, and lower-rated hotels will face unannounced single-day inspections.
If their assessment results exceed their expectations, hotel operators can choose between the rating that they applied for and the higher rating awarded. If the result falls below the requested rating, operators may either accept the lower rating or defer the decision and request a re-evaluation.
A Christmas tree is installed in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Seoul.GRAND HYATT SEOUL
The revisions are designed to reduce the inconvenience that hotel operators face when applying for a rating by integrating and streamlining the process, the ministry said.
They also establish a separate evaluation system for medical tourism hotels. Although medical tourism hotels are classified as a type of hotel business under the Tourism Promotion Act, they have never had their own evaluation criteria.
As a result, the ministry plans to introduce a specialized evaluation framework that encompasses medical treatment, recovery and postcare services and tourism in response to the rise in long-term stays related to medical tourism.
The initiative is intended to attract more foreign patients and promote the medical tourism industry. Medical tourism hotels have seen little uptake since the category was introduced in 2014. Only two such hotels were registered nationwide as of the end of last year.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
