"Finally Got a 540,000 Won Omakase"…The Place Used After Christmas Reservation Battle

Resellers Cannot Be Punished Under Current Law
"Legal Revision and Monitoring System Needed"

The peak season has arrived, with reservations at famous hotels and restaurants filling up a month in advance due to year-end Christmas and year-end parties. Among them, 'resellers' who buy hotel and restaurant reservation tickets and resell them at high prices are becoming a social problem.

According to the distribution industry on the 24th, thousands of posts offering hotel and restaurant reservation tickets for transfer have been uploaded on secondhand trading platforms such as Junggonara and Danggeun. They secure accommodation or reservation tickets for dates like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and December 31, when reservations are concentrated, and resell them at higher prices.

As it becomes difficult to find available seats at restaurants and hotels during the Christmas season, there have been cases of transferring reservation rights with an added premium.
[Image source=Getty Images]

On Junggonara, there is a post offering to transfer a dinner room seat at a high-end sushi omakase restaurant in Cheongdam-dong on Christmas Eve. Buyers must pay an additional 100,000 won as a transfer fee to receive the reservation ticket. Considering the restaurant's dinner price is 220,000 won per person, two people have to pay 540,000 won for one Christmas dinner.

As reservations at famous hotels and restaurants are fully booked due to Christmas and year-end parties, a phenomenon of reselling reservation rights at high prices is emerging. Photo by is not directly related to the article.

Hotel accommodation ticket transfers are also rampant. Searching for 'hotel accommodation ticket' on Danggeun reveals dozens of 5-star hotel accommodation tickets. On that day, one seller was selling a 5-star hotel accommodation ticket in downtown Seoul for a transfer fee of 200,000 won. Including the accommodation fee, buyers have to pay 1.5 times the original amount.

Most of those who post transfer listings on secondhand trading platforms are resellers who secure reservations during popular time slots and sell them. Actual consumers who want to use the service at that time cannot find seats and are forced to pay extra to purchase the service, suffering losses.

Christmas hotel reservation transfer post uploaded on Danggeun Market.
[Photo by Danggeun capture]

Currently, there is no legal basis to regulate them. Under current law, 'scalping' is considered illegal and punishable, but it is not easy to apply this online.

According to Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the Minor Offenses Act, only those who sell scalped tickets at entertainment venues, stadiums, stations, ferry terminals, bus stops, or other places where admission or boarding is charged can be punished.

Considering that most scalped ticket transactions recently occur online, the law is not keeping up with the times. Although the 'Performance Act' was recently amended to include punishment provisions for scalpers, it is difficult to punish for peak season hotel and restaurant reservation tickets that are not performances.

Christmas lights are displayed on the exterior walls of Shinsegae Department Store Main Branch and Lotte Department Store. This is a stock photo unrelated to the article.
Photo by Yonhap News

Danggeun has a reporting system to catch resellers, but it is only possible when the buyer resells the product purchased from the seller at a higher price. After reporting, the account may be suspended according to internal operating principles.

Experts advise that legal provisions suitable for the times should be established, and that the police should set up reporting centers and monitoring systems.

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