Jeju's idle rooms get a makeover as 'halmang stays' for travelers seeking local life

Senior guesthouses along Jeju's olle trails, steeped in the island's everyday life and distinct culture, have been transformed into modern lodging spaces with backing from a global platform.

Airbnb said Jeju Olle, a nonprofit organization selected this year as a recipient of its domestic community fund, has completed preparations for "Halmang Stay" — a project supporting senior women in launching guesthouses — and opened four accommodations near the Jeju Olle trails.

The "Halmang Stay" project, led by Jeju Olle, traces its roots to 2009, when it began offering travelers lodging in the spare rooms of elderly villagers living near the olle trails. Jeju Olle has since revamped the initiative to reflect a changed travel landscape, relaunching it as Halmang Stay — a program in which senior women on Jeju serve directly as hosts, sharing their homes and local stories with visitors.

Airbnb selected Jeju Olle as a grant recipient in March and provided $150,000 for the Halmang Stay project. Jeju Olle used the funds to identify senior women hosts and renovate spare rooms and shared spaces into guesthouses. The organization also supported hosts through every step needed to open — space styling, branding, operational preparation, and the production and promotion of photo and video content — to help them run their accommodations sustainably.

Each of the four newly opened guesthouses reflects the personal history of its host and the character of its village. "Aewoldang Gyul-Bulteok Olle" in Aewol-ri features a ground-floor information center and shares the story of a migrant haenyeo who settled in the area. "Gwiideok Ondam" in Gwiideok-ri, Hallim-eup, welcomes guests through a haenyeo and her family who have spent their lives at sea. "Sunja Halmang Minbak" in Haengwon-ri captures the warmth of a family home built over 50 years of diving, while "Dumoak" in Namup-ri draws on the host's experience as an olle trail keeper and offers a garden with views of tangerine orchards and the sea.

Halmang Stay, which weaves the hosts' lives and village character into the lodging experience, aims to give travelers a reason to linger in Jeju's local communities while offering senior women the chance to pursue new economic activity by putting their spaces and life experience to use.

Seo Ga-yeon, country manager of Airbnb Korea, said she was delighted that the community fund support launched in March had borne meaningful fruit in the form of Jeju Olle's Halmang Stay. "Halmang Stay, where senior women hosts welcome travelers with their spaces and life stories, is an example of how space, content and people can come together to give visitors a reason to stay in a community," she said.