Urban Lodging Facilities

[Anchor Lead]

In Korea, urban lodging facilities exclusively for foreigners is called urban B&B or shared lodging. The government is reviewing a plan to convert these facilities for both locals and foreigners, sparking protests from existing hotels and motels.

[Pkg]

A hotel located in downtown Chuncheon. Its occupancy rate: merely 50%. Its operators are having a hard time running this facility. They blame the government, which has started reviewing a plan to ease regulations on the so-called urban B&Bs or shared lodging. Currently, such services are solely for foreigners, but the government is looking to allow locals to use them as well. Existing lodging facility operators claim they would all face bankruptcy when the new measure is enforced.

[Soundbite] Lee Deok-seung(Head of Chuncheon Chapter, Lodging Business Central Assn.) : "The government wants us to hire more, but instead we have to let more people go."

Shared lodging businesses welcome the deregulation. They have been secretly taking in local guests anyway, so the impact of a new government enforcement would be minimal.

[Soundbite] (Urban B&B Operator(Voice Modified)) : "When it becomes legal, many shared lodging facilities that have operated secretly would be able to run them legally."

As the conflict between the two sides flares up, the government is now reviewing a plan to limit the shared lodging operation period to 180 days a year.