{"id":447533,"date":"2026-05-27T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447533\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:50:13","slug":"busan-launches-low-cost-lodging-campaign-ahead-of-bts-concerts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447533\/","title":{"rendered":"Busan launches low-cost lodging campaign ahead of BTS concerts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Temples, churches, universities and public institutions offer free or low-cost stays amid controversy over soaring accommodation prices<\/p>\n

\"BTS BTS performs during their “Arirang” tour at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, April 11. (Big Hit Music) <\/p>\n

A growing number of religious groups, universities and public institutions in Busan are joining a “fair lodging” campaign ahead of BTS\u2019 upcoming concerts in the city, offering free or low-cost accommodation to fans amid soaring hotel prices.<\/p>\n

According to the Busan Metropolitan Government, local temples, churches, universities and public organizations began participating in the campaign following reports of accommodation prices sharply increasing around the concert period.<\/p>\n

Among the participating organizations are Beomeosa, Hongbeopsa and Seonamsa, which will provide temple stay programs free of charge.<\/p>\n

Several churches \u2014 including Suyeongro Church, Bujeon Church, Podowon Church, Gimhae Jungang Church, Segyero Church, Moriah Church and Geoje Church \u2014 have also joined the effort, alongside the Catholic retreat center Pureun Namu Education Center.<\/p>\n

Universities, including Pusan National University, Pukyong National University and Kosin University, are also offering lodging support, as well as public institutions such as the Korea Railroad Research Institute and the Arpina youth hostel.<\/p>\n

The city government added that more than 100 rooms accommodating over 400 people have been secured through the campaign so far. Many stays are being offered free of charge, while others are capped at 131,000 per night.<\/p>\n

Additional businesses are expected to join, including hotels such as Paradise Hotel Busan and Fairfield by Marriott Busan Songdo Beach, which also plan to sell canceled rooms at regular listed prices if vacancies arise.<\/p>\n

\"RM RM (left) and Jimin discuss the inflated lodging prices in Busan during a Weverse live broadcast on Tuesday. (Screenshotted from Weverse) <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the issue of inflated lodging prices also drew comments from BTS members themselves.<\/p>\n

During a livestream on fan platform Weverse on Tuesday, leader RM addressed the controversy directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of news about accommodation problems in Busan,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if we want to solve it ourselves, there\u2019s only so much we can do. Of course, prices can change depending on peak seasons, but I hope we can keep things reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimin, who is from Busan, also expressed disappointment, saying that he hopes \u201cfans leave Busan with only good memories when they visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A joint investigation by the Korea Consumer Agency and the Fair Trade Commission found that the average one-night accommodation price in Busan during the BTS concert weekend of June 13-14 reached 433,999 won ($289), about 2.4 times higher than surrounding weekends. Motel prices showed the steepest rise, averaging 325,801 won \u2014 about 3.3 times the usual rate.<\/p>\n

lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Temples, churches, universities and public institutions offer free or low-cost stays amid controversy over soaring accommodation prices BTS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-447533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}