time now for our life an info segment where we focus on information that
should be hope useful for you in your everyday life today we're going to talk
about the increasing number of guest houses in South Korea for that we have
our can harm you in the studio to tell us more about what kind of experience we
can expect if we stay at one of these guest houses so hyung why our guest
house is and hostels and what not becoming so much more popular here in
South Korea well mark one thing that travelers find attractive about guest
houses is that they're cheaper than hotels while hotel prices vary depending
on their star ratings staying at a guest house only costs about 20 US dollars per
person per night some price the price range is generally around that number
but considering how cheap they are the facilities and locations of the guest
houses are top-notch unless you booked a private room you will have to use shared
showers and toilets but they're kept in clean condition with towels cleansing
items and dryers provided of course many guest houses also offer individual
lockers with a lock so you don't have to worry about losing your items while
you're traveling during the day plus they're located near popular tourist
attractions or in the middle of downtown areas meaning that you can get to places
easily yeah I live near Hongdae and they are popping up all over the place
guest houses in the area that's very popular with young people of course so
the travelers flock there and plus there's the newer airport subway line is
in Hongdae connects to Incheon and Gimpo Airport as well so they're cheap to stea
they're usually in very good places as well in the country and did you get to
meet any of these travelers then he was staying at these guest house yes indeed
so I've been to 7 guest houses so far five for my personal trips and two for
this report and I got to talk to some of the foreigners who stayed at a guest
house and asked them how they felt let's take a listen but for me it took less
than one day to be accustomed to this place because
I mean the guys here were so welcoming also the guests but the guys who were
here I mean felt like being home by not being home so what is good in this place
is that even though you share a room with at least 10 people or eight you
have your own private space and you feel safe and I think I'm really comfortable
because you don't have to look at other people living so it's really good ok
well it's interesting what that woman there said about the private space you
can get in these guest houses as well the last time I stayed in any kind of
guest house was back in 2002 but I've never stayed in one here in in Korea but
I'd like to one time but tell us about more about this private space you can
get if you don't want to stay in one of these dormitories so they're technically
in the dormitory style they're called a capsule or cubic rooms but before I get
into that let me give you a brief rundown of the normal style
so there are dormitories family rooms and private rooms at a typical guest
house so a dormitory style usually offers bunk beds and can accommodate as
many people as many people as it has beds but from what I found the capacity
is often between 4 and 12 and younger those are the rooms you're probably
gonna pay around 20 US dollars a night for right rather than the private or
family rooms yes there are about $20 per night per person but on the weekends
they can be a little more expensive okay so family rooms have two beds that can
take up to 4 people and come with a small living room and private bathroom
private rooms are usually for two people and they're similar to family rooms but
smaller and about the capsule rooms or cubic rooms that I talked that the lady
was talking about they're designed to accommodate as many people as possible
by maximizing the rooms the number of beds that that's in the room and
minimizing the extra space ok so they have a little bit of something for
everyone if you have only a small amount of money available you can stay in one
of the bigger dorms but if you have a more money to splash out or you don't
really feel like mingling too much with other people you can get the private
room as well but if you go to these guests house you really are gonna meet
different people from all over the world right of course mark you're always right
it's not only that travelers staying at a guest house have opportunities to meet
other visitors yeah but also some places have common areas for them to mingle
with each other as you said including a rooftop some guest houses organize their
own barbecue parties and give advance notice through social media so people
who are planning to stay there can decide whether they want to join the
party they're also spontaneous get-togethers
led by travelers themselves so a few hellos here and there in the dormitory
has a chance to become a full house party yeah we have a couple of guest
houses near our house and from time to time it does get a little bit rowdy at
nighttime but they're usually pretty good at keeping the noise down past
midnight or something like that because at all at the time these guest houses
are in more residential areas because the value of the land is cheaper
therefore they can provide the rooms for cheaper as well but it does sound like a
lot of fun I wish I could go back to my youth and and try it again but before we
let you go is there anything else you want to tell our viewers out there about
the guest house experience overall I would say definitely compare explore
your options before you decide which place you want to stay it yeah according
to the korea tour tourism organizations research in 2015 there are about 1600
guest houses in seoul busan and jeju island alone but that number did not
count the some of the unregistered ones so experts say there are probably a lot
more guest houses in south korea than the number suggests so if you search for
a guest house in South Korea I would definitely recommend comparing reviews
on different booking websites always sound advice from you hyeongyu and yes
it goes without saying that you should check what other people are saying about
guest houses hotels pretty much everywhere
go there's plenty of information online these days young whoo thank you as
always for coming in and we appreciate your report thank you it's been a
pleasure thank you and now we're going to take a look at some cultural events
coming up here in South Korea