Shaved ice with a hefty price: Why luxury hotels go all-out on bingsu

Every summer, Korea's luxury hotels enter an unlikely race.

The battleground is not hotel rooms or outdoor pools, but bingsu, a Korean shaved ice dessert.

Starting in May, before the summer heat has fully arrived, five-star hotels across the country begin unveiling their seasonal bingsu lineups. Most offer two or three varieties, often including a new creation each year.

These desserts arrive piled high with premium fruit, served on designer tableware and sometimes surrounded by clouds of dry ice.

As fancy as they look, they come with equally extravagant price tags. At the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, a bowl of Jeju Apple Mango Bingsu costs as much as 149,000 won ($105), far above the 10,000 to 15,000 won typically charged for a two-person serving at bingsu chains such as Sulbing. Many other luxury hotels charge over 100,000 won for their signature versions.

And hotels take the competition quite seriously. Each year, they strive to outdo one another with bingsu that are more inventive, visually striking and expensive than the last. The annual unveilings routinely make headlines.

So why have luxury hotels in Korea become so obsessed with bingsu?

How bingsu checked in to hotel menus

It was not always a given that five-star hotels would sell bingsu every summer.

The phenomenon dates back to 2008, when bingsu made with apple mango — was first introduced by The Shilla Jeju in 2008 as part of an initiative to discover and promote local ingredients.

The dessert quickly gained popularity on the resort island and was later introduced at The Shilla Seoul in 2011, where it debuted at 29,000 won.

Since then, premium hotels one by one have added bingsu to their summer menus, each introducing increasingly elaborate and innovative creations of its own — and increasing price tags to match, with some now more than twice as expensive as the offerings from seven years ago, when hotel bingsu hovered around 50,000 per dish.

This year, Park Hyatt Seoul introduced an adult-only bingsu. Priced at 110,000 won, the Hennessy V.S.O.P Cognac Bingsu is made with actual Hennessy and features cognac gelato, crunchy hazelnuts and a Valrhona chocolate wafer atop brown sugar milk tea-flavored shaved ice.

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul's 90,000 won Pear-fect Delight Bingsu showcases a single fruit in four different forms. The dessert features pear milk-flavored shaved ice topped with pears marinated in cinnamon syrup, which has cream cheese and pears soaked in condensed milk, while more pears are are layered inside.

With each passing summer comes a seemingly inevitable price hike.

The Shilla Seoul's Apple Mango Bingsu is priced at 130,000 won this year, up 20,000 won from last year. Signiel Seoul raised the price of its Signature Mango Bingsu by 5,000 won to 135,000 won, while Grand Hyatt Seoul increased the price of its mango version to 120,000 won, a 10,000 won increase from last year.

Hotel representatives attributed the increases to rising costs across the board, including higher prices for raw ingredients and labor.

Despite the soaring prices, customers keep coming.

"Although it is not yet peak season, more than a hundred [Hennessy V.S.O.P Cognac Bingsu] have been sold in the first week alone, and several hundred within two weeks of launch," a Park Hyatt Seoul source said.

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul also said its bingsu offerings have posted steady sales since launching in May, with sales up compared with the same period last year.

High prices, high profit?

The insistence of hotels on releasing fancy bingsu then raises an obvious question: Does the obsession stem from the profits earned through the high price tags?

Not necessarily.

"Bingsu does not account for a particularly large share of our overall food and beverage [F&B] revenue," a Four Seasons representative said. "That's because our various F&B outlets also offer higher-ticket items, including tasting menus, dining experiences and alcoholic beverages."

Spokespeople for InterContinental Seoul Parnas and Park Hyatt Seoul also said bingsu has only a limited effect on revenue.

So if the dessert is not a major profit driver, why are hotels so fixated on it?

"Bingsu lowers the barrier to entry for luxury hotels," said Han Jin-soo, a professor of hotel and tourism management at Kyung Hee University.

He explained that for many younger guests, who make up a large share of bingsu consumers, spending 700,000 won or more on a five-star hotel stay can feel out of reach.

A bowl of bingsu, meanwhile, "offers people a chance to try a hotel's food and service," he said, also describing bingsu as a "gateway product."

He added that through the treat, hotels are ultimately cultivating "potential customers," arguing that the dessert should be viewed not simply as a menu item but as an investment in future customer loyalty.

The viral power of shaved ice

Every summer, anyone who regularly scrolls through online news is likely to come across articles about hotel bingsu. The desserts have become an annual internet spectacle. Extravagant presentations are splashed across news stories, while much of the reporting focuses on which creation has claimed the crown for the year's highest price tag.

Last year, Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas took the spotlight with its 150,000 won Belle Epoque Champagne Bingsu, created in collaboration with the Champagne house Perrier-Jouët.

The attention paid off.

"[The Belle Epoque Champagne Bingsu] sold better than expected," an InterContinental representative said. "Some guests ordered it out of curiosity, and the use of actual premium Champagne likely contributed to the interest."

Cases like this help explain why luxury hotels continue to unveil increasingly pricey and inventive bingsu. Despite recurring criticism over soaring prices, the desserts help hotels stand out in a crowded summer market and draw attention to their brands.

And with such extravagant creations on display, many customers are not visiting solely for the taste.

Instead, many guests are eager to capture the desserts on camera and showcase them on social media. At Lotte Hotel Seoul's lounge on Tuesday afternoon, couples could be seen enjoying bingsu while taking photos of both the dessert and themselves with it.

"Many guests order bingsu at a hotel to post on Instagram or show it off," said a representative at a five-star hotel that sells bingsu. "These days, a lot of people want to indulge in their own version of a small luxury."

And that is one of the biggest reasons top-end hotels continue to focus on bingsu. The desserts generate conversation, attracting media coverage while turning even customers into voluntary marketers for the hotel. There are more than 10,200 posts on Instagram tagged with #hotelbingsu.

"People take photos and share them in real time, which creates a powerful form of viral marketing," Han, the Kyung Hee professor, said. "Because consumers themselves are voluntarily spreading the hotel's brand, the ripple effect can be enormous."

More than bingsu

When a university student surnamed Hong visited Signiel Seoul, a five-star hotel brand under Lotte, to enjoy its bingsu with her boyfriend, she did not just stop at the shaved ice treat.

"I also ordered coffee to go along with the dessert," said Hong.

Many hotels also encourage set-menu purchases by pairing bingsu with beverages such as wine, Champagne or cocktails. The Shilla Seoul, for example, offers its Apple Mango Bingsu as part of a set menu that includes two glasses of wine or a cocktail.

"It's what we call cross-selling," Prof. Han said. "Bingsu can help hotels sell other products, whether that be desserts, beverages or other menu items. Bingsu functions as a loss leader."

But why did bingsu, rather than ice cream or another cold dessert, become the signature summer offering at luxury hotels?

Part of the answer lies in its appearance, according to Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer science at Inha University.

"Bingsu is visually striking, which makes it highly photogenic," said Prof. Lee. "Compared with the bingsu sold elsewhere, hotel bingsu stands out in terms of its appearance and colors, making it particularly effective at attracting attention on social media."

That visual appeal also partly explains why mango bingsu remains the signature offering at many luxury hotels. 

"Mangoes have a vibrant yellow color," the professor said, while also adding that apple mangoes are relatively expensive and not something most people can enjoy regularly, giving them a sense of exclusivity.

Han further sees bingsu as a showcase of Korean culture, including a sharing culture.

"A single bowl of bingsu is enough for two or three people to share," he said. "The portions are quite large.

"It reflects Korea's culture of sharing food."

He also noted that many hotel bingsu offerings promote local agricultural products. JW Marriott's pear bingsu uses Naju pears, while Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul's watermelon bingsu features watermelons from Gochang.

"Bingsu is a very important product for hotels. It's not just a one-off event created spontaneously. In many ways, it draws on and reflects aspects of Korean culture," Prof. Lee said.

Ultimately, he likened hotel bingsu to a fried egg on rice.

"Even when there are few side dishes at home, putting a single fried egg on the table can suddenly make the meal feel much more vibrant," he said. "An egg may seem like a simple ingredient, but it adds atmosphere, visual appeal and nutritional value. Bingsu plays a similar role."

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]