WEBZINE KOREA_August 2026

August 2026

Rediscovering the Stay:
Hospitality

Discover a side of Korean hospitality that goes
far beyond a place to rest your head:
spaces that breathe, that tell stories,
that turn a stay into an experience.
By the time you close this book,
Korea will feel less like a place on your list,
and more like somewhere you already miss.
The cover features an AI-generated video created
using a photograph of Waon, a private rental property
located in Jocheon-eup, Jeju, Jeju Island,
provided by STAYFOLIO.

For visitors to Korea, a place to stay is never
just a room—it’s a doorway into another Korea entirely.
Here, landscape, warmth and the quiet
histories of art all breathe together in one space.
The moment you cross the threshold,
your senses wake up to something new.
This is Korean hospitality.

Korea’s Hospitality Today,
Read Through Global Trends

Cover Story 1

Travel is no longer just about visiting famous sights. Today’s travelers choose where to stay in order to experience a city’s everyday life, understand how its people live and carve out time that feels like their own. This shift is a common thread running through the hospitality industry worldwide, but in Korea it has taken on a somewhat different shape. Korean accommodations have become more than spaces for travelers—they’ve become the platforms where new lifestyles and cultures are tested and consumed first. That’s why understanding Korean hotels today means understanding Korean life and urban culture as well.

Go to article

Cover Story 2

Fifty Years of Building Hospitality

Kwon Moon Hyun (Andrew Kwon)

Chief Partner & Head Door Manager, Front Office – Door Operation, The Westin Josun Seoul

In the heart of Myeong-dong, Seoul, where cars pull up endlessly and people stream in and out, one man has guarded a hotel’s front entrance for decades. Kwon Moon Hyun (Andrew Kwon) joined The Westin Josun Seoul as a bellboy in 1977, and now holds the position of Chief Partner in the Door Operation Team. Every day, he bows to countless guests, and even listens to their discomforts. The attitude of “hospitality” he has diligently built over the years has become part of Korea’s culture of hospitality itself—still moving people today, and guiding the way this culture moves forward.

Curated to Stay

Chang Insung

CEO of STAYFOLIO

About a decade ago, the focus of Korean travel shifted from where to go to where to stay—making accommodation the trip’s main purpose. At the heart of this change is STAYFOLIO, a curated accommodation platform that draws out the stories behind spaces. Rather than competing on lowest prices, STAYFOLIO focuses on care, design, hospitality and creating places worth returning to. Over the past decade, it has shaped Korea’s unique stay ecosystem. We met Chang Insung, who now leads the platform, at one of STAYFOLIO’s stays in Bukchon, Seoul.

Go to article

Cover Story 3

A Day Within Centuries
Hahoe Village, Andong

Go to article

Sweat pours like rain, and even your appetite vanishes in the height of summer. But even this season—one you might just want to see pass quickly—has a dish that can make it feel almost welcome. That dish appeared on “Jeon Hyun-moo Plan,” a travel show following two men roaming the country with no itinerary: mulhoe (cold raw fish soup), a bowl of fresh seafood piled high in an ice-flecked, spicy-and-sour broth.

Go to article

Food on Screen

Beat the Heat
Mulhoe

Local Escape

Where Two Eras Meet
Incheon

Go to article

The Undying Glow of
Mother-of-Pearl Handicrafts
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Heritage Abroad

Among the numerous artifacts in the humanities collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, in the U.S., is a resplendent mother-of-pearl lacquer box from Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), one of just three such boxes that survive today. Small enough to be cradled in one’s palm, the box is adorned with the exquisite handiwork of the Goryeo royal court. Remarkably, this object has remained intact for nearly a thousand years.

Go to article

Korea Forward