Of the 27 hotels surveyed, a mere three establishments (11.1%) presented the final, all-inclusive price on their initial room search page. (Image courtesy of Pixabay/CCL)
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Government has revealed that only a small fraction of the five-star hotels in the city transparently display all-inclusive room rates on their website homepages, raising concerns about widespread deceptive marketing practices in the luxury hospitality sector.
The study, conducted from June 10 to July 26, examined the websites of 27 five-star hotels in Seoul. The findings, released on September 6, paint a troubling picture of pricing transparency in the industry.
Of the 27 hotels surveyed, a mere three establishments (11.1%) presented the final, all-inclusive price on their initial room search page. The majority employed what experts call “dark pattern” pricing — a tactic where the initial price shown excludes taxes and additional fees, with the true cost only revealed at the final payment stage.
This practice led to significant discrepancies between the initially advertised rates and the final prices, with differences ranging from 10% to 21%. Such tactics force consumers to invest unnecessary time and effort to make accurate price comparisons, effectively hindering informed decision-making.
The issue extends beyond just pricing. The study also found that 10 of the 27 hotels (37%) failed to display essential business information such as their company name, business registration number, and e-commerce registration number on their websites. Even more concerning, 24 hotels (88.9%) lacked direct links to pages containing this crucial business data.
Kim Kyung-mi, head of the Fair Economy Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, “We will encourage hotel operators to ensure accurate pricing on their websites ahead of the implementation of the amended E-commerce Act in February 2025.” The forthcoming legislation aims to regulate these misleading pricing practices in online commerce.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
