In the past, hotels were very special places. There weren’t many guests, and a single visit carried great significance. Over time, however, more people began seeking a wider range of services at hotels. In the past, kind service alone was often enough to satisfy guests; now, it’s essential to carefully understand each guest’s preferences and circumstances and offer service tailored to them. It has become an era where you need not just a high level of service, but also speed, expertise and genuine sincerity all at once.

A hotel’s first impression and final memory are both made by people. No matter how much facilities and systems improve, what matters most—now as it did then—is the sincere respect and warm welcome given to guests. That essence will never change. So if I have my own unchanging belief, it’s this: “Respect guests just as they are, and welcome them always with the same heart.” Another belief is never to neglect even the smallest task. What I do might look like a simple job—opening a door for a guest—but that moment determines the hotel’s first impression. So I always try to greet guests in neat attire, with proper posture, a bright smile and a heartfelt greeting.

If good service means doing the job accurately, hospitality means creating an experience that stays with the guest for a long time. Moreover, it means making the guest feel, right up until the moment they leave the hotel, that “I was respected here”—that is the essence of hospitality. Service is something anyone can do once they learn how to do it. But hospitality is different. True hospitality comes from attentiveness and care that goes beyond any manual.

Korea’s unique hospitality culture centers on “jeong” (정, a sense of warm affection and connection). While hospitality in other countries emphasizes systems and efficiency, Korean hospitality adds human warmth and jeong on top of that—and I believe that’s this country’s unique strength.

I’ve always thought of the hotel door not simply as a building’s entrance, but as the very first gateway through which people meet Korea. I want guests to feel Korea’s warmth the moment they enter, and leave wanting to return. So I look for what a guest might need before they ask. When it rains, I have an umbrella ready; if a guest has heavy luggage, I approach them first. I remember the names and preferences of guests who visit again after a long time, and greet them accordingly. I’ve done my utmost so guests can feel courtesy, respect, consideration, prompt and accurate service and neatness, and I also give them simple guidance on Korean culture. Just from seeing a guest’s license plate, I can recall their name and title. For guests who seem uncomfortable with excessive formality, I adjust the angle of my bow accordingly. I try my best to make sure they leave feeling they were “genuinely welcomed.”

They are the moments when hearts truly connected. A letter of thanks from former President Kim Dae-jung, the moments of reuniting with a guest I remembered from long before, and the grateful smile of an international guest.

It’s passing on the “spirit of hospitality” I’ve upheld all this time to the next generation. A hotel’s facilities and methods of service change with the times, but the heart that respects and sincerely welcomes guests must never change. To that end, I’ll keep working diligently on the floor so that those who come after me can carry this culture forward.

We only select and introduce places where simply staying can become the trip itself. If we’re not offering broad choice, we need to offer depth instead—a depth other services, which compare every accommodation in the world on price, can never reach. We believe the people who choose STAYFOLIO will recognize depth even if it takes longer to get there, so we keep producing content. As you mentioned, we publish a magazine under our own name and place it in our stays, and we’ve also produced content featuring fifty well-known creators introducing their favorite stays.

More recently, we’ve been making YouTube content aimed at people who don’t yet know STAYFOLIO. It features singers, actors and chefs sharing their experiences staying at our properties. We’re gradually experimenting with introducing STAYFOLIO through voices that feel closer to the general public.

Places with genuine character are emerging, and more trips are being built around them as destinations. The word “stay” is having a moment in Korea right now. Before, we categorized accommodations simply by scale or type—hotels, condos, guesthouses or pensions. But these terms fail to capture spaces where design, local identity and the host’s distinct worldview themselves become the main destination. That entire curatorial experience is what came to be redefined as a “stay.” STAYFOLIO has spent the past decade introducing exactly those kinds of places, playing a pivotal role in shaping today’s stay-driven travel culture.

Non-standardization, expanded experience and locality. Standardized things are stable, clean and safe—but they can also be boring. Korean stays carry a distinctiveness you won’t find anywhere else. It doesn’t have to be a Hanok (traditional Korean house). Korean-style Western houses, Jeju Island’s stone houses and many other forms all stand as destinations in their own right.

Many of Korea’s small stays use contactless check-in. And yet you can still feel a sense of hospitality in the space. You unlock a door preset to the last digits of your phone number, and a pleasant scent greets you. Because scent doesn’t linger, it makes you feel like someone was there waiting for you moments ago. Warm, low color-temperature lighting at just the right brightness creates a calm, welcoming mood. And once you notice how at ease you feel, you realize music is playing at just the right tempo and pitch. This kind of careful attention—the way a space receives its guest—is the hospitality woven into Korean stays.

I want to help people feel a modern, sophisticated Korea—a Korea with a culture that’s ahead of the curve. Many visitors first grew curious about Korea through film, drama and music, and now come here to experience it through travel and food. We want to go a step further and introduce spaces and content that expand that experience, so that every place they stay reveals another side of Korea.