Yanolja ads. (Youtube)

Korea’s ‘Love Hotels’ Yanolja Joins Unicorn Club After Raising $180M Funding

The largest online travel platform who invented ‘love hotels’ in South Korea, Yanolja, just earned the unicorn status after raising a combined $180 million funding from US online travel service Booking Holdings and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

To speed up its global expansion, Yanolja said the new funds will be used to build more innovative hospitality-related technology so that it could automate hotel operations and attain more pervasive connectivity across the value chain. A part of the new funds will also be allocated to accelerate its digitalization and growth potential beyond the traditional travel sphere.

Alongside the investment, Yanolja has also entered into a strategic partnership and commercial agreement with Booking Holdings, whose famous brands include Booking.com and Agoda. With the partnership, Agoda’s customers will be able to books Yanolja’s unique accommodations in South Korea. While Yanolja’s customers will also be provided with service powered by Agoda and other Booking Holdings’ brands across the globe.

Yanolja was established in 2005 as an online community in the budget motel sector and later gained its opportunity to offer motel booking services. It becomes even more popular after inventing the love hotel chain that targets millennial couples and also budget travelers seeking short-stay in accommodation, as little as a few hours at a minimal cost. The newly Korea’s unicorn company has also diversified its business for leisure activities and boutique hotels booking service as well as tried to expand its operations in other regions in Europe and Asia.

Source: http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20190612000473