By Bum Il Lee
Country Head – TDCX South Korea

Where else can you start the day wandering an ancient palace, whiz across the peninsula on a high-speed rail, and end the night at a K-pop concert where idols double as demon hunters on screen? 

South Korea is a place where history and modernity collide: folklore beside futurism, temples clinging to seaside cliffs, esports arenas buzzing with World Cup energy, and neon-soaked districts alive with karaoke and late-night eats. It’s no wonder the country sits high on the bucket list of travelers chasing culture, adventure, and spectacle. That excitement often begins online as they fire up their favorite online travel agency (OTA) app, only to be disappointed at checkout. 

A Seoul Metropolitan Government survey found that nearly 90% of five-star hotels in Seoul had misleading pricing, with final costs climbing 10% – 21% higher due to fees revealed only at the last step. Out of 27 hotels reviewed, only three displayed the full cost upfront.

For many, that discovery can change everything. Instead of locking in their dream trip, some hesitate, compare endlessly, or abandon the booking altogether. Others redirect their plans to other destinations where the customer experience (CX) feels more trustworthy.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. South Korea welcomed 4 million inbound travelers in the first quarter of 2025, with tourism expenditure reaching ₩2.6 trillion, a 34% year-on-year (YoY) jump. Domestic travel also surged, with 95.4% of South Koreans taking trips across the country. This is growth worth protecting, but it’s fragile, especially when trust breaks down on the booking screen. Consumer complaints already quadrupled from 2018 to 2020,  because of pricing, refunds, delays, cancellations, and so-called free add-ons. 

What price does South Korea’s OTA sector have to pay before consumer trust turns into frustration? Transparency is the currency that builds trust. CX is the vault that protects and preserves its value. Together, they convert trust into loyalty, with technology surfacing clarity at scale and human expertise making sure it resonates.

How transparency defines trust and safety in OTAs

One of the quickest ways to erode customer trust is through hidden fees. Service charges, cleaning fees, and taxes vanish from the first screen only to reappear at checkout. What looked like a bargain balloons at the finish line, a classic “dark pattern” that leaves travelers feeling duped.

It’s a problem that South Korea’s communications regulator already flagged in OTA user interfaces (UIs), much like how concerns were raised in Singapore. These dark patterns are UI elements that push travelers into choices they wouldn’t normally make, such as drip pricing, add-ons, and obstructed cancellations. In South Korea, they now carry fines that scale with violations, with penalties that involve up to 1% of a company’s annual turnover and business suspension. In fact, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC) already fined one platform ₩1.95 billion last year for misleading ads.

This doesn’t just affect hotels. A 2024 KCA review uncovered 47 new dark patterns across digital commerce, too. Hidden fees, obstructed cancellations, and endless pop-ups are spilling beyond OTAs into e-commerce and everyday digital services, proving how quickly trust wears away once transparency is lost.

Another pain point? Expectations vs. reality: Glossy photos that oversell rooms, vague cancellation policies hiding in fine print, and amenities dressed up as luxuries only to disappoint on arrival. For example, a KCA sweep of overseas theme park tickets found that nearly 40% of listings relied on hidden information, such as a child’s fare shown as the headline price, or a meal coupon promoted as if it were the main ticket. Half-truths lead the pitch, while the full story shows up only at the end.

The sting feels sharper when plans change. Refund battles turn disappointment into a drawn-out ordeal, so much so that regulators have to step in. The KFTC, for instance, forced eight travel agencies and 16 airlines to change rules about cancellations outside business hours and refund terms that stretched to 90 days. Analysis of customer complaints on OTA and accommodation platforms from 2021 to 2024 also revealed that excessive fees in overbooking cancellations and refund delays or refusals are persistent flashpoints.

South Korea’s OTA market is weighed down by these three recurring challenges, but the remedies are just as apparent. Each could land at the exact moment travelers want reassurance. Regulations pave a smoother path forward, but credibility depends on consistent execution.

The challenges and their counterpoints reflect in consumer behavior. For instance, nearly 50% of locals choose an OTA platform for the price, and 44% would readily switch the moment another app looks and feels better. Reviews also shape reservations for 82% of customers, a reminder that credibility is also earned in every experience that travelers share. 

The international lens only raises the pressure. The Korea Tourism Organization reported that 83% of foreign visitors booked through an OTA platform before traveling. Every hidden fee or unresolved refund is amplified in this global funnel, shaping not only individual purchase decisions but South Korea’s reputation as a destination. South Korean OTAs should not see transparency as a burden, but the competitive edge that keeps bookings and reputations intact.

How CX converts transparency into loyalty

In South Korea, trust rests as much on how you treat people as on what you sell. In the KCA survey, the net emotional experience skewed negative, with the lowest score tied to a lack of “feeling acknowledged” or valued. That cultural lens matters: Fairness, reciprocity, and clarity in value exchange are deeply rooted expectations. Transactions aren’t just economic exchanges, but also social contracts. 

Here's where OTAs and accommodation platforms can start rebuilding that trust:

Engineer transparency into the customer journey. Pricing engines should show all-in costs from the very first screen and across touchpoints. Cancellations and refunds should be as seamless as reservations, with multilingual clarity so that both locals and inbound travelers know exactly what they’re agreeing to. Modern, data-powered technologies and integrations can surface these consistently across touchpoints, while human expertise makes transparency meaningful, not performative.

Treat content moderation as a frontline function. Nothing shatters customer confidence faster than a “seaside view” that faces a concrete wall. Here, content moderation is the safeguard. Photos and listings need to be verified before they go live. Hosts should be pushed to replace vague, elastic claims with specifics, while reviews need to be verified for credibility. AI and generative AI (GenAI) can handle the scale by efficiently spotting duplicate images, mismatched locations, or suspicious review patterns. South Korea’s nuance-rich language, however, means human judgment remains essential for edge cases, cultural cues, and fairness calls.

Establish proactive, 24/7 omnichannel support. If hidden fees erode trust gradually, silence destroys it in an instant. In the same KCA survey, nearly 30% of users who reported dissatisfaction or problems with OTA platforms pointed to the inability to reach a customer service center. 

Visible and accessible omnichannel service hubs give travelers somewhere to turn, whether through in-app chat, phone lines, or the messaging platforms they already use. AI can triage routine issues and keep service running after hours, while handoffs to trained agents should lead to resolution, not doom loops or dead ends. Success should also be measured not just by ticket closures, but by whether travelers felt informed and treated fairly.

Break the language barrier with native and multilingual support. Nearly 95% of tourists rely on local, native apps, yet complaints often highlight language barriers across OTA, transportation, and delivery platforms. GenAI for CX can bridge some gaps, such as auto-translating FAQs, customizing replies, rendering real-time policy updates, and generating hyperpersonalized content across multiple languages. 

Scale, however, isn’t the same as trust. Word choice carries weight in South Korea, and mistranslations can come off as careless or even disrespectful. That’s where human reviewers close the loop, refining tone, catching cultural slips, and handling sensitive conversations where empathy matters more.

When trust wins loyalty: CX as competitive edge in OTA trust and safety

Indeed, the Hallyu wave doesn’t just move through stadiums, screens, and shopping streets. It flows through booking engines, too. For international visitors arranging their stays through OTAs, these platforms become the invisible infrastructure behind the tourism boom. It runs deeper for locals: 73% of OTA bookings go to independent accommodations and other spaces, a lifeline that extends into rural towns and alternative lodgings otherwise shut out of the global spotlight.

Herein the paradox: OTAs are fueling growth, but transparency issues are chipping away at the trust it’s built on. Hidden fees, fuzzy refunds, and vague listings might look like small annoyances, but for a sector that has pushed South Korea to command 53% of North and East Asia’s gross bookings, the price of transparency will gradually show up as abandoned carts, lost loyalty, and travelers choosing to go elsewhere.

TDCX has been helping some of the world’s largest travel and hospitality companies use trust to win loyalty — from gaming, customer and technical support, fraud detection and prevention, content moderation, and CX consulting to AI-powered CX solutions. TDCX Korea brings the synergy of local fluency and global expertise companies need to scale customer experiences in a nuance-driven market. Whether it’s a Seoul-based OTA, an international platform breaking into South Korea, or a global brand upping their game among locals, TDCX helps sell transparency as the first ticket, and win the next with CX.