Demand for Luxury Hotels Growing in Seoul
A number of global luxury hotel chains are set to introduce their hotel brands into the Korean market, reinvigorating the luxury hotel market in Korea that has remained rather calm since the opening of Conrad Seoul in 2012 and Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in 2015.
Demand for luxurious hotels is growing in Korea with the segmentation of hotel customers amid a growing trend towards value-based consumption.
Andaz will be the first brand to push into the South Korean market. A luxury lifestyle hotel brand under global hotel group Hyatt Hotels, Andaz will open Andaz Seoul Gangnam in Seoul on Sept. 6. It is the brand's fourth hotel in Asia and 21st in the world.
Accor Hotels, which operates 4,800 hotels around the world, will also introduce its luxury Fairmont hotel brand to Korea. It will open the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul in Yeouido, the financial district in Seoul, in 2020. The hospitality brand has become popular after South Korean television series "Goblin" was filmed in Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, Canada. Fairmont, which runs 75 hotels across the globe, owns iconic hotels known throughout the world.
Accor will also introduce its luxury hotel brand Sofitel to the Korean market in 2021. Sofitel Hotel and Serviced Residence will be opened in Jamsil, Seoul, and it is expected to compete with Lotte Hotel’s luxury brand Signiel Seoul, which is located nearby.
Meanwhile, Signiel will open its hotel in Haeundae, Busan, next year, Seoul, boasting of its potential as the local hotel brand in the luxury hotel market. Le Meridien, a luxury hospitality brand under Marriott International, will open Le Meridien Sinchon in Seoul next year. This will be the second hotel of the brand in South Korea after the first one in Gangnam, Seoul, in 2017.