A future where guests and hosts thrive together with AI
⚠️ All rights reserved. Cite this piece as 'ONDA (온다)' when quoting.
Today's Weekly ON
🏨 AI for Small Lodgings... Pension Plus Launches 'ONDA AI' Beta
💡 Top App Users in May: NOL #1, Trip.com #1 in Growth
⌨️ #Yanolja Loses Case #Booking.com Wins #Yeogi Eottae Pensions #October Golden Week #Big Platform Boom
🏠 Industry Story
(Sponsored) AI for Small Lodgings... Pension Plus Launches 'ONDA AI' Beta
AI services that anyone can access are gaining traction. Just like everyone texts via KakaoTalk, we need AI that's just as easy to use. Enter a specialized AI service built exclusively for small and midsize lodging operators. ONDA, a digital solutions provider for the hospitality industry, has launched the beta version of Pension Plus ONDA AI — accessible right from the Pension Plus mobile app.
What makes this release noteworthy? Data-driven decision-making, once exclusive to large hotel chains, is now available to small properties. As AI technology democratizes across travel, even tiny guesthouses can tap into the power of big data.
Hospitality Data Made Simple
The core of Pension Plus: real-time competitor monitoring and local event intelligence. If you run a pension in Boryeong, you can track how nearby properties price their rooms during the Boryeong Mud Festival — and adjust your strategy on the spot.
Better yet, you can partner with local vendors to craft special packages. A Jeongseon property might bundle traditional culture experiences during the Jeongseon Arirang Festival. A Hwacheon lodge could pair fishing gear rentals with stays during the Hwacheon Ice Festival.
This goes beyond information delivery. It's like having an in-house consultant or revenue management team — inside a mobile app. ONDA's connections with 70+ OTAs worldwide, aggregating data on roughly 40,000 lodging products, makes it all possible.
CEO Oh Hyun-seok says: "Our goal is to deliver intuitive, effective services that even less tech-savvy operators can use easily. Through data-driven pricing optimization and AI, we want to equip small properties with the operational capabilities of large hotel chains."
A New Competitive Landscape
This shift has major implications for the hospitality industry. The sophisticated revenue management once monopolized by big chains is now accessible to small operators.
ONDA currently serves 4,000+ lodging owners directly, with around 30,000 properties using its ONDA HUB booking platform indirectly. That's a sizable market shift in motion.
ONDA plans to expand into more hospitality-specific AI services, delivering a mobile-first Vertical AI platform. Expect small properties to grow even more competitive.
Pension Plus isn't just a new product launch. It's a symbolic case of how accessible AI is reshaping travel. Sophisticated data analysis and personalization — once only feasible for well-funded giants — are now within reach of a one-room guesthouse. This will make the hospitality industry more level and dynamic.
Guests and Hosts Thriving Together with AI
The ultimate beneficiaries? Travelers. As small properties harness AI to offer more refined services and sharpen their competitive edge, travelers get more choices, better prices, and more personalized experiences.
The Pension Plus beta is rolling out first to existing ONDA customers, with more insight features coming in the second half of the year. It'll be fascinating to watch how this ripples across Korea's hospitality sector.
One thing's certain: surviving the AI era isn't about how well you use the tech — it's about how accurately you understand and meet customer needs. Tools like Pension Plus could make that process far more effective. We're excited to see how it plays out.
👉<Pension Plus Inquiry>
💡 Hospitality Trends
May App Users: NOL #1, Trip.com Leads in Growth
IGAWorks released the May 2025 rankings for comprehensive travel platform apps, analyzing user behavior and card payment data via its AI-based SCI technology.
Top 10: NOL came in first with 3.65M users (+7.8% MoM), followed by Yeogi Eottae at 3.59M (+11.8%), Agoda at 1.86M (+8.0%). Trip.com ranked fourth but logged the highest growth rate at +17.9%.
Rounding out the top ten: Airbnb, Triple, Hana Tour, MyRealTrip, NOL Interpark Tour, and Klook. Agoda led in average session time at 27.1 minutes, and most apps skewed female in user demographics.
⌨️ Keyword News
1️⃣ Yanolja Loses Case 👉[Full Story]
TL;DR: Court rules Yanolja's "no refunds 10 minutes after booking" clause is unfair and invalid.
The story: A Korean court declared Yanolja's "no cancellation after 10 minutes" policy an unfair contract term, rendering it void. Yanolja claimed to be merely an intermediary, but the court ruled it functions as a seller or hybrid seller-intermediary. Yanolja and the hotel were ordered to jointly refund consumers for canceled bookings.
2️⃣ Booking.com Wins 👉[Full Story]
TL;DR: Supreme Court sides with Booking.com on non-refundable clauses; legal opinions divided.
The story: At a law seminar at Jeju National University, legal scholars clashed over whether OTA "non-refundable" clauses represent rational price differentiation or e-commerce law violations. In 2023, Korea's Supreme Court overturned an antitrust regulator's order against Booking.com, viewing the clauses as voluntary consumer trade-offs for discounts. Experts disagreed on whether online lodging contracts fall under distance sales law and whether non-refundable terms are inherently unfair.
3️⃣ Yeogi Eottae Pensions 👉[Full Story]
TL;DR: Yeogi Eottae goes beyond pension brokerage, develops PMS solution; ends 'Ttonayo' partnership to strengthen proprietary channels.
The story: Yeogi Eottae is building its own pension management system (PMS) and expanding beyond simple intermediation into solution-based revenue streams. After ending a channel partnership with Coupang Eats subsidiary Ttonayo, the company is doubling down on direct distribution to secure data control and long-term profitability. Pensions are booming among Gen Z travelers seeking value, positioning the segment as a blue ocean for platform expansion.
4️⃣ October Golden Week 👉[Full Story]
TL;DR: If October 10 becomes a temporary holiday, Korea could enjoy a 10-day break without burning vacation days.
The story: This October's Chuseok holiday chain-links with Gaecheonjeol and Hangeul Day for a seven-day stretch. If October 10 becomes an interim public holiday, the break could extend to 10 days. A National Assembly report notes that January's interim holiday set a record for outbound tourism, but domestic spending actually dropped — suggesting limited economic stimulus. Critics also point to lost production days and inequality, as employees at businesses with fewer than five workers don't benefit from these holidays.
5️⃣ Big Platform Boom 👉[Full Story]
TL;DR: Post-TMON/WeMakePrice fallout: travel bookings flock to big conglomerate platforms.
The story: Korea's online travel market is consolidating around large conglomerates after the TMON/WeMakePrice debacle. E-commerce platforms owned by big groups like Lotte ON and 11번가 have seen travel sales surge. Travel agencies like Hana Tour are investing in proprietary platforms to cut reliance on e-commerce, leveraging live commerce and special deals to attract customers. Consumers are splitting travel purchases across platforms to hedge against mass refund failures and increasingly using global OTAs' pay-later services.