S. Korea plans penalties for hotel price gouging after BTS fan complaints
Hotels in South Korea may lose their star ratings under proposed new regulations designed to curb price gouging, following reports of inflated room rates during BTS concerts in Busan.
The ministry of culture, sports, and tourism said on Thursday that hotels found to have overcharged customers could face a 30-point deduction under revised hotel grading rules, News.Az reports, citing The Korea Times.
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The penalty is three times steeper than that imposed for most other violations, including fire safety or sanitation breaches.
The proposed penalty could have serious consequences for hotels. South Korea’s hotel grading system is scored out of 1,000 points, and the gap between five-star and four-star ratings is just 100 points, meaning a single price-gouging violation could be enough to push a hotel below its existing star classification.
These changes are being widely seen as a direct response to the uproar surrounding BTS’s 12 and 13 June concerts in Busan, which coincided with the group’s debut anniversary and drew about 220,000 fans across two days.
The shows led to a sharp rise in international tourism, with foreign bookings for accommodation in Busan rising 218 per cent compared with the same period last year, The Korea Herald.
The concerts are part of the group’s first tour since all seven members completed their country’s mandatory military service. The band composed of RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook had been on a hiatus since 2022, but returned in March 2026 with their new album Arirang.
A joint investigation by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission and Korea Consumer Agency found that accommodation prices surged soon after the concerts were announced. The survey examined 135 properties, that included 52 hotels, 39 motels, and 44 holiday rentals, and found the average room rate during the concert weekend had climbed to 433,999 won (£XX), or 2.4 times higher than on the weekends before and after.
By Ulviyya Salmanli
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