Hotel Rooms Converted into Room Salons for Business... Police Crack Down on Illegal Renovations for the First Time

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A hotel located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul was caught by the police for operating guest rooms as a room salon without permission.

On the 8th, according to the police, the Suseo Police Station in Seoul booked Kim, a man in his 30s who operates the hotel, on charges of remodeling the 8th to 10th floor guest rooms of a hotel in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu into a room salon equipped with karaoke facilities and operating it as an unlicensed entertainment bar.

The police received a tip that the hotel was being operated like a room salon and, while conducting undercover surveillance, caught the previous evening the scene of touts luring customers and carried out a crackdown.

At the time of the crackdown, three male customers and three female employees were sharing whiskey in a room on the 10th floor of the hotel. In another room on the 9th floor, four customers and two employees were caught singing with a karaoke machine while having whiskey with fruit snacks.

The police plan to notify the local district office of 13 people, including the customers and staff caught, for violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.

A police official said, "This is the first time a hotel guest room intended for lodging was remodeled and operated as a room salon and caught," adding, "Illegal business methods are evolving by taking advantage of the difficulty for police to access hotel rooms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.