August 2019 Stay 01. Laban House, Anmyeondo

TL;DR

A Seoul techie burned out and moved to Anmyeondo to run a nine-room pension. Seven years in, Laban House thrives on a no-groups policy, complimentary brunch, and couples seeking quiet.

Property type: Pension

Address: 276-96 Haean-gwangwang-ro, Anmyeon-eup, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

Room types: Couple rooms, whirlpool spa rooms, family rooms (ondol / detached)

Amenities: Complimentary brunch, Cafe Laban, indoor/outdoor special BBQ, hotel-grade bedding, anniversary events, etc.

Nearby attractions: Kkotji Beach, Batgae Beach, Anmyeondo Light Festival, Anmyeondo Natural Recreation Forest & Arboretum, Anmyeonam Temple, etc.

Q. Hello! Please introduce yourself and your property.

Hi, I'm Kwon Sun-mi, the operator of Laban House on Anmyeondo Island. We're now in our seventh year here. The original owners had been running this place since 2005, but when they got tired and put it on the market, we took it over in 2013, renovated, and reopened. Laban House has nine rooms total — six couple rooms and three family rooms — spread across three buildings: one building with six rooms, another with two, and a detached unit.

Our concept is all about providing a peaceful retreat, so we limit the detached house to five guests max, and we keep other rooms small-scale too. We don't accept group bookings or multiple-room reservations. Most of our rooms are adjacent to each other, and when larger groups come, noise becomes an issue. I'm not a fan of noisy environments when I travel either, so we designed the property to stay quiet. As a result, most of our guests are couples in their 30s or older. Anmyeondo is usually full of big family trips, workshops, and young group travelers — so in a way, we've carved out a nice niche for people who just want calm and rest.

Q. How did Laban House end up on Anmyeondo?

I originally studied computer science and worked in system programming in Seoul for about 13 years. The constant overtime and all-nighters in IT wore me out — both mentally and physically. I started thinking, "What if I did something physical instead of always thinking?" Then one day my husband mentioned wanting to run a pension. So I quit my job, and we spent two or three months touring potential properties.

We were actually planning to go to Gangwon-do — Bongpyeong or Pyeongchang area. But one realtor called and said there was a beautiful place on Anmyeondo we should see. The moment I saw Laban House, I fell in love. I thought, "This is it. This is my place." We'd already put down a deposit on another pension in Gangwon, but after seeing this one, I canceled that contract on the spot and signed here instead.

I'd been coming to Anmyeondo every fall since college — with friends during my working years too. So even though I had no ties to the area, it felt familiar. That's probably why I had no hesitation. We ended up on Anmyeondo with zero planning. The first three months, it was just my husband and me staring at each other — we didn't know anyone. (laughs)

Q. The garden is gorgeous — it's kind of famous! What's your secret to maintaining it? What are the pros, cons, and challenges?

The garden is actually why we chose this place. Everyone who lives in the city dreams of it, right? A garden with a yard, raising a dog… But managing it turned out to be incredibly hard. If you don't touch it for even a little while, weeds grow everywhere and the trees look scraggly. You have to tend to it all year round. Still, guests love it, so what can you do? (laughs) In summer, I mow the lawn every two weeks, and each session takes several hours — it eats up the whole day. At first, I thought, "The yard's small, I'll just use a trimmer," but I gave up and bought a proper lawn mower. We also do weeding, pest control, spray pesticides, water during droughts, add fertilizer when things don't grow… Apparently, a garden this size should have hired help. But this is an island, so finding labor is tough. We just started doing it ourselves.

In the beginning, I knew nothing and would just hack things down. (laughs) But over time, I developed a knack for it. After enough trial and error, I'm now the one recommending to neighbors, "Use this herbicide," or "This mower is great." If I were to run another pension, I'd pick one without a garden. (laughs) Managing the garden is harder than cleaning 20 rooms. But having it makes the view open up, and we always play music outside — guests really enjoy the BBQ on the outdoor deck.

Q. Each room has a different interior and high ceilings — they're spacious. What's the space you're most proud of?

The previous owner had already done all the interior design with each room different, and we just tweaked things here and there. That person had a lot of construction experience — this was their ninth building — so they had great taste. Regular houses have low ceilings, so guests really appreciate the high ceilings here. Heating and cooling can be a bit challenging, but satisfaction is high.

The space I'm proudest of is, first, the garden, and second, the cafe. Guests love both more than the rooms themselves. Cafe Laban was originally our living room, but we didn't need that much private space, so we opened it up. Guests come freely for coffee, sit by the window, read, listen to music. Normally at a pension, you just check in, get your key, hang out, then check out the next day. But because of the cafe, guests come down for breakfast or tea, we chat a bit more, ask how their stay was, share local travel tips — it's become a real interaction space. It feels more like talking to a friend. That's probably why we have high repeat rates. When someone has a great experience, they recommend us to others. And when people say they were referred, we give them a little discount. (laughs)

Q. You offer homemade brunch, tideland experiences, a cafe, pickup & drop-off, board game rentals — all free!

We've been providing complimentary brunch since opening. At first it was a Korean buffet, but during summer peak season, it was too exhausting, so we switched to brunch. Still, I didn't want to do the typical toast-and-coffee/juice setup everyone else does. When I travel and see "breakfast included," and it's just a toaster and bread, it feels half-hearted. I tried a self-serve setup at first, but I couldn't do anything else during that time anyway, so I figured if I made it myself, guests would feel more hosted and I'd feel better about it too. That's how the current brunch service was born. I always eat breakfast myself, so preparing it isn't too hard. One downside? I can't accept more guests because I want to keep the brunch quality high. If too many people come, quality drops. So I only do what I can handle with care.

The tideland experience is simple — we provide hoes and baskets, and guests use them freely. It's a five-minute walk to Batgae Beach from here, and the tidal flats are perfect for shellfish hunting. We let guests know the tide schedule, and they come back with tons of clams. Since you can't eat them right away, we stock ice boxes so guests can purge the sand and take them home. Guests kept killing them with fresh water, so now I tell them to use saltwater. (laughs) It'd be a shame to work so hard catching them only to throw them out. I started adding little helpful services like this one by one — board games, pickup service, etc.

Q. Your BBQ service is all-inclusive — table setup to cleanup. What's the story behind that?

I do what I'd want when I travel. I want to show up empty-handed, have breakfast provided, grill meat at a pension but not have to prep it myself. So I started this service, and now more than half of our weekend guests book it. It's extremely labor-intensive — I spend hours prepping before guests arrive, from table setup to BBQ stations, so everything's ready to go.

Guests grill their own meat, but we provide rice, stew, ssam veggies, even alcohol — so satisfaction is high. Plus, guests who use this service don't use the in-room kitchen, so rooms stay cleaner and take less time to clean the next day.

Lately, lots of places on Anmyeondo offer BBQ, but many cut costs by providing only imported meat and kimchi — BBQ in name only. I'm tempted sometimes when I think about profit. But my baseline is always empathy. If I went somewhere and they served me imported meat, I wouldn't like it. So our margins are slim, but I see it as a service. Even if just one group comes on a weekday, I'll do it — even though prepping for one party takes over two hours. It's tough. But the reactions afterward make it worth it. And when guests go home and spread the word, that becomes our marketing. I try not to lose sight of that.

Q. Anniversary events, homebrewed craft beer — what are some of Laban House's signature offerings? Any SNS tips?

At first, the only promotion I knew was keyword ads. I'm a computer science major — what do I know about marketing? (laughs) Then I discovered blogging and worked hard at it. To this day, blogs are still the most effective for us. Everyone uses Naver, so search traffic is best. Recently, I've been active on Instagram too. You can't post aggressively for one week and expect instant bookings. It's like a daily habit — if I don't post once a day, it feels like I forgot my homework. The key is consistency. Your SNS image and property profile aren't built overnight. So take your time, stay diligent, and you'll see results.

The anniversary event is when someone books for a special occasion like a proposal, and we decorate the room with balloons, heart-shaped candles, etc. One memory that stands out: a husband in his late 50s requested balloon decor for their wedding anniversary. His wife saw the balloons and cried, saying, "I never thought I'd experience something like this in my lifetime." Young people have more opportunities and information, but older folks want to do these things too — they just don't know where or how. Our guest demographic skews older, so when they book the service while traveling and are moved by what we prepare, it feels so rewarding.

Also, this area is quiet on weekdays, so I started learning to brew craft beer when I got bored. I love beer — I've been drinking it for over 20 years, so I figured, "Shouldn't I try making it once?" Then I wanted more people to know about craft beer, so I started an SNS event offering homebrewed beer. The volume is limited, so I can't give it to everyone. Now it's included with the BBQ set (one glass per person), and if you promote Laban House on social media, you get an extra glass.

I keep one room nearly empty to control fermentation temperature. It takes 4–5 hours to brew and over a month to finish. People ask if it's worth giving away something I worked so hard on. But craft beer needs more awareness to create opportunities, right? If you only think about profit, it's a loss. But long-term, I believe it'll pay off.

Q. What's the ultimate goal for Laban House?

Right now, Laban House is just a pension focused on providing a comfortable travel environment. But going forward, I'm considering opening up experiential activities people can enjoy here. For example, a craft beer one-day class — spend the day brewing beer, then have BBQ in the evening and drink what you made. I've even named it "Beer Stay." (laughs) I'm thinking of launching it after peak season.

Also, this property is currently a single-family home, so I can't get a license to sell beer. But I'm considering getting a restaurant permit elsewhere and expanding. When we serve craft beer, lots of people show interest and curiosity — yet surprisingly, many have never tried it. When they taste it, they say, "So this is what craft beer tastes like!" and ask if they can buy some to take home. So I'm thinking about creating a space where you can both buy and experience craft beer.

Q. How did you hear about ONDA, and how's it been using the service?

A neighboring pension knew I used to work in IT and asked me to check out this company called ONDA that had contacted them — they didn't know who they were. So I went to the website, saw my junior's name as CEO (laughs) — first shock — then saw the clean, beautiful system interface — second shock. It felt different from existing systems. I told them, "Looks good," and started using it myself. ONDA Plus has no fluff. I've used a lot of booking systems over the years, and the longer companies develop their services, the more cluttered and bloated they get with useless features. But ONDA's core program is just clean.

Also, right now it's just the two of us running this place. If it were smaller, it'd be tough financially, and if we wanted to hire staff, we'd need more rooms — so we have no choice but to do everything ourselves. That's why we're especially meticulous about reservation management, and ONDA helps a lot. We pre-block rooms for multi-night stays, adjust inventory when phone inquiries come in, register in the system. If we didn't do this, we'd end up having to clean all the rooms at once — chaos. In those cases, we ask guests arriving early for their check-in time and plan the cleaning order. We manage every reservation carefully.

Q. Lastly, any hidden gems or personal restaurant recommendations near the property?

Everyone thinks Anmyeondo is just crab stew, raw fish, and blue crab. That's getting old, right? (laughs) So if I had to recommend something different, it's a place called "Anmyeondo Bap Iyagi" (Rice Story). Their main dish is stone pot rice sets — individual trays per person, home-cooked feel, affordable. It opened six months ago. Clean and delicious, perfect for a light meal. Now it's become a hot spot with lines out the door.

For sights, since this is the west coast, the sunsets are famous. Kkotji Beach has beautiful sunsets, and in winter there's a sunset festival. There's also a pine tree called "Anmyeon pine" that's been used by the royal palace since the Joseon Dynasty — it only grows on Anmyeondo and can't be taken off the island. The Anmyeon Recreation Forest, full of these pines, is popular with people who love walking. There's also a quiet pine forest path next to Batgae Beach — bring a picnic blanket and it's heaven.

Lastly, there's the Solhyanggi-gil and Noeul-gil trails on Anmyeondo. Like Jeju's Olle trails, there are about 14 coastal trekking courses here, stretching from the tip of Taean to the end of Anmyeondo. Walking from Batgae to Kkotji takes about an hour and a half — you pass the beach and hills and can catch the sunset. Kkotji Beach is only a five-minute drive, so we offer pickup service too.