By Yoon Ja-young
When you plan an overseas trip, the two major priorities are usually air tickets and where to stay. If you want something better than a guest house but a hotel is out of your budget, Wimdu, an online marketplace for vacation rentals, may help you find a solution.
“At hotels, you can’t cook. You can only sleep there. If the stay lasts for over a week, you will probably get bored,” said Yoon Sin-kun, CEO of Wimdu Korea. If a person rents a studio apartment for a month or two, they are generally required to put down a deposit as well as provide a lot of documentation. Wimdu gets rid of all these inconveniences and makes the stay fun.
People who have an extra room in their house or a studio apartment can register on Wimdu as a host after first receiving training. They are provided with useful tips such as what they should and shouldn’t do for guests from certain countries. The company also sends a photographer to take pictures of the house, and also checks whether the information provided by the host is correct. This minimizes the guest’s concerns over safety and services.
The customer can search for a place that suits them on the website, and when looking to book a room, the host receives a message from Wimdu. The host may then request the guest to send more information to help determine whether to accept the request. The company receives a commission from both parties.
Wimdu is operating in over 20 countries, and the business here is growing fast. Yoon said that reservations have more than doubled each month from July, and it has over 1,000 hosts registered. A typical room includes bed and Internet connection and costs less than 50,000 won per night.
One can also find opportunities to stay at very unique places. Bookings can be made for castles in the United Kingdom and Germany through Wimdu. They cost around 5 million won per night, and there is also a maid service for an extra charge. “You can rent a whole village in Germany as well,” Yoon said. This would be suitable for those traveling in groups, organizing business meetings or a conference, for instance.
Yoon said that Wimdu serves those wishing to take a closer look at the local culture, especially if the guest chooses to stay with a host family. “When I went to Berlin on a business trip to headquarters in Germany, I was invited to the birthday party of a friend of the host’s,” said Yoon, who also uses Wimdu when he travels overseas. “You usually go to restaurants mentioned in guidebooks, but hosts can introduce you to hidden but better places.”
Many of the hosts in Seoul regard Wimdu as an opportunity to help their children make foreign friends. They introduce the visitors to tourist sites such as Gyeongbok Palace, and traditional Korean cuisine.
Yoon is a host himself. He had his studio apartment registered at Wimdu after moving in with his parents. His studio offers a bed, desk, Wi-Fi, TV, microwave oven, refrigerator, kitchen and bathroom. He once hosted two guests from Thailand who came to Seoul to see a concert by Rain.
“There is a lot of demand for lodging in Seoul, especially from Southeast Asia due to the surging popularity of Korean pop culture. Seoul, however, doesn’t have much accommodation,” Yoon said.
The lack of proper accommodation for foreign tourists is especially serious in other local cities. Each time the country has hosted international events, such as the APEC forum in Busan, the Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam, or most recently, the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, the foreign press had to stay at “love hotels,” which are usually for unmarried couples and where rooms can be rented by the hour.
It has been an obstacle for the country which designated 2010 to 2012 as “visit Korea” years. With the Busan International Film Festival scheduled for October, Wimdu Korea is helping the organizing committee overcome a shortage of good accommodation.
“We have 50 hosts at Centum Star, a luxurious apartment complex near the festival venue. We are preparing programs for special guests of the event as well, on behalf of the organizer,” Yoon said.
If services like Wimdu come to substitute for “love hotels,” it would benefit locals traveling within the country as well. If one goes on a business trip or for an interview to provincial cities, “love hotels” used to be the only choice.
The 27-year-old Yoon served in Lebanon as a member of the U.N. peace-keeping forces after studying at Emory University. He loves adventure, and has nurtured a number of successful start-ups.
The name Wimdu doesn’t have any particular meaning. Since it is a global platform, the management wanted an easy and pleasing pronunciation in any country it advances into, and chose it from proposed names submitted from around the world.