"Canceled Within 15 Minutes but No Refund"…Online Platform Accommodation Contract Damage Alert

Consumer Agency Reports 57.2% of 3,378 Cases Online

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] # Mr. A purchased a lodging voucher through a mobile app of a lodging platform at 8:08 a.m. on October 4 last year and paid 226,000 won. However, realizing he had mistakenly selected the wrong check-in date, he left a cancellation request message at the mobile consultation center at 8:23 a.m. on the same day. The company refused to cancel the contract and refund, citing that the mobile consultation start time was 9 a.m. and that the cancellation was not made within 10 minutes after payment. Mr. B purchased a hotel lodging voucher for 99,000 won through an online platform on March 4. Due to personal reasons, he requested contract cancellation and refund from the platform five days before the scheduled lodging date. Although the hotel’s policy entitled him to a 100% refund, the online platform responded that only 50% would be refunded according to its own penalty regulations.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 9th, from January 2018 to May this year, a total of 3,378 lodging-related damage relief applications were received. Among them, 1,933 cases (57.2%) were related to online platforms such as online lodging brokerage companies.

Status of Accommodation-Related Damage Relief Applications by Year.

The reasons for damage relief applications related to online platforms were mostly contract-related issues such as refusal to cancel or terminate contracts and excessive penalty demands, totaling 2,881 cases (85.3%). In particular, there were 459 cases where cancellation was requested on the day of the contract but the business operator refused or demanded excessive penalties. Among these, 237 cases involved situations like Mr. A’s, where cancellation was requested within one hour on the contract day due to mistakes or errors, but the business operator refused refunds based on the terms and conditions. There were also cases like Mr. B’s, where the online platform applied its own less favorable refund regulations than those of individual lodging businesses such as hotels, condos, or pensions, thereby refusing refunds.

Investigations revealed that cancellation times allowed on the contract day vary by online platform, ranging from 10 minutes to within one hour after the contract, or are limited to the operating hours of their own customer centers, resulting in diverse terms and conditions. The Consumer Agency urged consumers to carefully compare product information, cancellation, and refund policies to prevent damages.

According to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards, penalties vary depending on the lodging period such as peak or off-season, weekends or weekdays, and the timing of contract cancellation. Therefore, consumers are advised to keep emails or text messages that can prove the cancellation time when canceling contracts. The Consumer Agency plans to recommend that online platform operators voluntarily improve their terms and conditions in accordance with relevant regulations.

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