Fans preparing to attend BTS's concerts in Korea are facing many difficulties in finding accommodation, especially in Busan city - where the group is scheduled to perform in June.
Many viewers reflected on the situation of sudden cancellations of bookings, while accommodation prices at local establishments skyrocketed immediately after the performance schedule was announced.
On January 26, the Busan City government said it had received more than 90 complaints through the QR code reporting system of the Korea Tourism Organization. Most of the complaints were related to accommodation establishments being accused of excessively inflating room rates, causing public outrage.
On social networks, a fan from Daegu shared that the hotel where they booked a room in advance suddenly requested to cancel the application due to a system error. "An experience that should have been very fun has become extreme stress when having to rush to find another accommodation," this person wrote, and suspected that the hotel was trying to resell the room at a higher price. The incident was reported to the online booking platform, but this fan said they are willing to "sleep in the car" if they cannot find a suitable accommodation.
Many similar cases have also been shared, in which tourists accuse some accommodation establishments of putting pressure on them to cancel rooms or increase rental prices many times compared to normal levels.
According to a Busan city official, this situation began to escalate after BTS's concert schedule and location were announced on January 13. "Some grounds explain that the cancellation was due to technical errors or employee errors. However, all complaints are being reviewed and verified," this person said.
Surveys on large booking platforms show that during the concert on June 12-13, hotel room rates in Busan were commonly listed from 600,000 to 700,000 won per night (about 10.8 - 12.6 million VND). Notably, a motel that only collected about 70,000 won/night (1.2 million VND) in the peak season was found to have listed prices up to 600,000 won/night (10.8 million VND) at the time of the concert.
Not only Busan, the shortage of rooms and high prices also spread to other locations in BTS's tour schedule. In Seoul, hotels around Gwanghwamun Square were fully booked before the March concert, causing demand to spread to neighboring areas.
In Goyang (Gyeonggi province), where the group is scheduled to perform in April, all hotels near the sports complex have been fully booked, with room rates ranging from 600,000 to 730,000 won (10.8 - 13 million VND) per night.
Faced with the wave of criticism, the Busan City Government held a meeting with district offices, consumer protection organizations and representatives of the hotel industry to find solutions to stabilize prices.
Measures being considered include expanding the use of public accommodation facilities, encouraging businesses to maintain reasonable prices and temporarily opening university dormitories in large-scale events.
