Jeju Autonomous Police Unit Cracks Down on Illegal Variant Lodging Businesses

28 Cases of Illegal Lodging Operations Including Rental Business Fraud Detected in 2-Month Special Crackdown

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Autonomous Police Unit (Chief Park Gi-nam) Tourism Police announced on the 6th that they are investigating 28 cases of unreported lodging businesses, including operations disguised as rental businesses, through a special crackdown on variant illegal lodging operations conducted over two months from February to March.

Until recently, illegal lodging businesses were mainly promoted and used through shared lodging sites, but as crackdowns by the autonomous police and administrative city lodging inspection teams intensified, variant lodging businesses trying to evade these crackdowns have been rapidly increasing.

The Tourism Police formed a special task force for variant lodging operations and tracked 12 cases through Cyber Patrol targeting not only shared lodging sites but also monthly rental brokerage sites such as “one-month living.”

Most violators caught in this crackdown operated lodging businesses for less than a week but tried to evade the task force by claiming it was just a short-term housing lease or by pre-arranging rental contracts with users to avoid detection, but they were caught.

Key cases include operators who promoted entire apartment complexes (29 units) in towns and townships as rental businesses, providing hygiene services such as bathroom supplies, towels, and bedding to guests, and most violators required guests to sign rental contracts either online or offline, promoting that refusal to sign would result in denial of lodging.

Unreported lodging businesses are subject to imprisonment of up to two years or fines of up to 20 million KRW under the Public Health Control Act.

Even if a short-term rental contract is signed, if the space and facilities where guests can sleep and stay are continuously and repeatedly provided for profit through promotion on shared lodging sites, punishment is enforced.

Unreported lodging businesses are not subject to hygiene or fire safety inspections, so they lack safety facilities and cannot receive compensation in case of accidents.

In cases disguised as rental contracts, operators are highly likely to shift responsibility for accidents onto users.

An official from the autonomous police urged people to carefully check whether the lodging is officially registered and whether the operator suggests coordinating through rental contracts when booking accommodations.

Meanwhile, last year, the autonomous police unit also uncovered 54 illegal lodging businesses, including variant lodging operations using caravans, and 4 illegal campsites taking advantage of the popularity of car camping and camping, and this year they plan to continue tracking evolving illegal operations trying to evade crackdowns.

Park Sang-hyun, head of the Tourism Police Division, said, “Recently, methods to evade crackdowns on illegal lodging operations have been rapidly advancing. No matter what tricks are used, violators will be held accountable, and monitoring and crackdowns will be further strengthened.”

Jeju = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won baekok@asiae.co.kr