South Korean love hotel franchise Yanolja secures funding from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC
- The company’s novel approach to short-stay accommodation earned it a valuation of more than US$1 billion from investors
- Love hotels have previously been stigmatised by association with extramarital affairs, prostitution and hidden cameras
Yanolja’s gentrification of South Korean love hotels has brought the company a valuation of more than US$1 billion from investors keen to capitalise on the globalisation of a novel approach to short-stay accommodation, its chief executive said.
The budget hotel and online booking platform operator reached the valuation having secured US$200 million from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and US peer Booking Holdings, CEO Kim Jong-yoon said. It aims to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) as early as next year.
“I can proudly say we transformed the industry,” Kim said.
Yanolja’s emergence coincides with a time of flux among hoteliers, as legislators are at loggerheads with market disrupters such as Airbnb – through which private homeowners can let rooms for short-term stay – while a government campaign to reduce working hours promises to free up more leisure time for short breaks.
Love hotels have occupied a peculiar space in the broader market, offering privacy for as little as a few hours at minimal cost for, for instance, young couples living with their parents.