The hotel industry is converting guest rooms featuring intellectual property (IP) such as characters from seasonal theme products into year-round offerings. The strategic shift reflects increased demand and operational efficiency when IP-themed rooms are deployed.
According to the hotel and tourism industry on Wednesday, Lotte Hotel Busan launched on April 30 its first rooms and packages featuring its proprietary characters "Polua and Veluo." Stays began May 1. The rooms are decorated with character props and include exclusive amenities, structured as a room product rather than a one-off event.
Lotte Hotel has previously operated guest rooms in collaboration with Kakao Friends, but this marks the first time it has applied its own characters to its rooms. The move represents an expansion from external IP partnerships to the use of proprietary IP.
Seoul Dragon City in Yongsan, Seoul, has operated Kakao Friends "Ryan and Choonsik" themed rooms since 2024 and relaunched rooms with the same concept in 2025. Rather than limiting sales to a specific period, the hotel sells them repeatedly during school vacations and holiday seasons.
Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts introduced "Barbie"-themed rooms in March this year in partnership with global toy company Mattel. The rooms are configured around the same concept and sold as packages combining experiential elements.
Sofitel Ambassador Seoul unveiled a guest room package featuring Line Friends characters last year, and Conrad Seoul operated rooms in collaboration with Sanrio characters during the same period. Both hotels structured their products as packages bundling accommodation with merchandise.
Sheraton Grand Incheon introduced a themed room based on the animation "Bread Barbershop" in 2025, operating it as a package targeting customers traveling with children.
The reason hotels are incorporating character rooms into their year-round lineup is tied to how rooms are operated. While seasonal event formats concentrate reservations in specific periods, permanent products allow for vacancy management. The ability to raise average room rates by applying a theme to the same room is also cited as an advantage. "Once a themed room is set up, it can be used repeatedly," a hotel industry official said. "Operational efficiency is higher than with short-term events, so more hotels are converting them into permanent products."
