For foreign tourists visiting Korea, hotels are no longer just places to return to and sleep after a day's itinerary. After checking in and dropping off their luggage, they head straight down to the sauna for a Korean-style body scrub. In the evening, they sit down to a hansik (Korean cuisine) spread at the hotel restaurant. Back in their rooms, they try K-beauty skincare products. They experience "K-culture" within the hotel's rooms, restaurants and saunas.
As the number of foreign visitors to Korea grows and their spending surges, the hotel industry is rolling out a series of Korean experience products aimed at them. While hotel package products in the past went no further than offering combined use of in-hotel facilities, the recent trend is to bundle them with programs that allow K-culture experiences across Seoul. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 6.77 million foreign visitors came to Korea from January to April this year, up 21% from the same period a year earlier. In May alone, foreign card spending reached 2.1222 trillion won, up 67.1% from a year earlier.
Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul's "K-rang" package is a product that lets guests select Korean experiences during the room booking stage. It bundles a K-beauty skincare product kit, an N Seoul Tower observatory pass, a body-scrub towel, a hansik spread dinner and a sauna entry ticket. Within three weeks of launch, it achieved three times its original package room sales target.
Foreign tourists are especially enthusiastic about body scrubs, which they regard as K-wellness. In response, the Westin Josun Seoul operates a wellness package that includes a Korean-style body-scrub program aimed at long-term foreign guests. Guests receive a scrub service tailored to their skin type at the hotel's facilities and use body-care products together. For foreign customers, the sauna is not just an in-hotel facility but an experience to directly try the culture in which Koreans wash their bodies and relax in the bath.
A product designed to lead from encountering K-beauty products in the hotel room to downtown shopping has also appeared. Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Namdaemun introduced a K-beauty-linked accommodation product during the 2026 Korea Grand Sale period.
Foreign tourists were indeed found to spend heavily in the K-beauty and wellness sectors. According to the Korea Tourism Organization's Data Lab survey of foreign card spending in May, pharmacy spending rose 206.1% from the same month a year earlier, skin care and massage rose 153.9%, and dermatology spending also rose 85.5%. As visitors spend more on buying cosmetics and receiving skin care and massages, hotels are reflecting K-beauty and K-wellness elements in their room amenities, spa menus and sauna products.
Hotel food and beverage menus are also changing to suit foreign guests. Rather than traditional hansik, the approach is to add Korean ingredients to familiar formats such as course meals, pairings with various alcoholic drinks, and pasta or pizza. Anto, a premium resort that Hanwha Hotels & Resorts operates at the foot of Bukhansan in Uidong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, introduced "Grandma's Hwangtae Pasta," "Grandma's Seasonal Namul Barley Risotto" and "Grandma's Gorgonzola Pizza" as in-room dining menu items. By incorporating dried pollack, seasonal namul (wild greens) and bellflower root into cream pasta, risotto and pizza, it allows foreign guests to order comfortably from their rooms.
Accommodation products that include craft workshop experiences have also emerged. Walkerhill Hotel & Resort recently bundled a one-day perfume workshop class in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, with sauna use into an accommodation product. Foreign guests book the class for their preferred time slot through the hotel, create their own scent at the Seongsu-dong workshop, and then return to the hotel to enjoy the sauna.
Behind hotels increasing Korean experience products is also the judgment that accommodation satisfaction is not determined within the room alone. For foreign guests, the hansik eaten at the hotel, the body scrub received at the sauna, and the scent they made themselves can remain special memories of their Korea trip, just as much as room size or bedding.
A hotel industry official said, "Foreign guests no longer choose a hotel based only on room location or price," adding, "Whether they can book dining, sauna, beauty and local experiences all at once is becoming a product's competitive edge."
