Korean startups offering unique personalized services as ‘revenge travel’ picks up

After two years of strict social distancing and masking mandates because of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea has now largely scrapped its aggressive restrictions. The country has opened up for international tourists, eliminated quarantine rules and eased domestic travel.

South Koreans are rushing to travel domestically and abroad – in what is termed “revenge travel” – a term trending on social media as people scramble to book overseas trips delayed by coronavirus restrictions. Korean travel startups are gaining back their momentum and expecting a boom in business in the coming years.

Travel companies offer innovative packages to allure clients, offering special package tours, individual tours, and customized travel. Travelers seek more personalized options for planning the trip, choosing exciting destinations, selecting the best hotels, and enjoying unique experiences.

Korean startups are innovating the travel experience through unique services that help travelers shop for travel, select the best destinations and hotels and pick the best experiences based on reviews and experiences of other travelers. Check out how Korean startups’ exciting apps and services are helping travelers get a complete ‘personalized travel experience.’

Shopping for Travel

Indent Corporation, a startup that operates an AI-based video review service ‘V Review,’ helps clients purchase travel items.

V-Review allows users to see products in 3D to have a more vivid purchase experience than photos. V-Review only uploads high-quality video reviews of genuine buyers. Users can fulfill the first step in preparing for a trip with a failure-free shopping experience, Indent claims.

Also, what suggests the rise in travel, is that recently, there has been an increase in video review uploads of various travel and outdoor camping items. Camping supplies such as tents, folding chairs, etc., are often uploaded directly on site. Users can check them in advance through video reviews to increase their understanding of the product. In addition, users can experience vividness and unique camping sensibility in advance through video reviews of lanterns and lighting that boost the atmosphere of the camping site. Now, video reviews go beyond simply providing product information and serve as a single content to share and expand the purchasing experience.

Booking the hotels

Tripbtoz, a startup specializing in travel, is developing a service that allows users to share their travel videos on the platform. Other users who have watched them can book hotels in the video in real-time. It does not simply broker accommodation services but provides lively travel video content for general users to help indirectly experience various travel destinations and connect accommodation reservations in the area.

When accessing the Tripbtoz application, other users’ travel videos are playing on the main screen. You can find various accommodations in the area through the side reservation button. In particular, by subdividing the categories according to the purpose of travel into business, family travel, and companion animals, it is possible to compare and book accommodations optimized for each user.

What to experience

As there are countless restaurants, lodgings, and tourist facilities in travel destinations, many people get into trouble planning their itineraries. ‘Yeoda,’ a domestic travel itinerary service operated by Storicity, uses AI technology to provide a personalized travel experience with customized travel itineraries. Customers planning a trip are asked questions in eight areas, including companion information, travel style, interests, and accommodation preferences. When the customer completes an answer, a customized travel itinerary is provided for free within 3 minutes.

Yeoda’s recommendation algorithm, which operates based on unique travel destination data, recommends the most suitable place to the user and optimizes the movement route between the recommended places. Since the launch of the ‘Yeoda’ service in May 2021, it has created more than 80,000 travel itineraries through this service.

Recently, a function that allows users to edit travel schedules created by ‘Yeoda’ freely has been released, further enhancing customer convenience. In addition, ‘Weekly Yeoda,’ a curation service that recommends new travel places and travel itineraries, is also attracting attention.

No extra baggage worries

Global luggage service ‘Good Lugg Company‘ offers users a lighter travel experience with the vision of ‘complete freedom from travel luggage.’ It has provided a same-day luggage delivery service between hotels and airports in 11 Asian cities, including Singapore, Osaka, and Bangkok. It has continued luggage storage services in 250 cities, including Europe and the United States.

In addition, by launching the first ‘Direct Luggage Delivery Service’ in Korea, it is designed to deliver luggage directly between home and hotel for customers traveling to Jeju and Busan. If a traveler drops off the baggage a day before departure, it can be delivered to the hotel on the same day. Conversely, if traveler leaves the luggage at check-out, they can receive it at home the next day. So travelers can happily shop as much as they want without worrying about excess baggage on flights.

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