Busan hotel hurls slurs at Japanese tourist, cancels booking — and now faces fraud probe

A Busan accommodation has stoked controversy after sending an abusive message to a Japanese tourist who asked about cancellation options, then unilaterally canceling the reservation. The Busan city government and the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency confirmed the incident, launched a fraud investigation and are working to establish the full circumstances.

According to the city and online community posts, the Japanese tourist, identified only as A, recently booked a Busan accommodation through a global lodging platform. After coming across reports of other properties canceling reservations without notice, A grew uneasy and sent a messenger inquiry asking whether the booking might be canceled.

Instead of a straightforward answer, the property responded with a string of crude insults — roughly translating to "What kind of pathetic piece of trash are you" — before adding "Reservation canceled. Good luck," and terminating the booking.

A secured alternative lodging, then posted screenshots of the exchange on social media and filed an inquiry with the booking agency. A said the property's name would not be disclosed publicly out of concern over potential business-interference claims. The Busan city government has since moved to identify the establishment as part of its fact-finding effort.

The incident has poured fuel on an already-burning debate over price gouging at Busan accommodations. The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and financial crimes unit announced June 2 that it had booked a lodging establishment on fraud charges and opened an investigation. The property is accused of canceling a room reserved in January for around 90,000 won (about $58), citing overbooking, and then reselling the same room for roughly 700,000 won.

Busan now faces both opportunity and risk as it prepares to host BTS's world tour "Arirang in Busan" on Friday and Saturday. The surge in demand could translate into a "BTSnomics" windfall for the city, but price gouging by some operators is damaging Busan's image and putting its competitiveness as a tourism destination to a serious test, observers say.

The government has taken notice. President Lee Jae-myung, speaking at a May 27 briefing on preparations for the 48th World Heritage Committee session held at BEXCO in Busan, said the city's image was suffering because of accommodation price gouging tied to the BTS concert and called for strong punitive measures.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety conducted a first round of special on-site inspections with relevant agencies on May 29, focusing on whether lodging businesses were complying with mandatory price-display rules. Second and third rounds of inspections followed Sunday and Monday. Experts, however, warn that enforcement alone has its limits and that voluntary self-regulation by private-sector actors must come first.

"When it comes to price gouging, private organizations such as local tourism associations and merchants' groups play a far more important role than government agencies," said Lee Hoon, a professor at Hanyang University's Department of Tourism. "If the private sector monitors itself, cooperates and pulls this concert off well, it could mark a new turning point for Busan tourism."