"Double Booking" Cannot Be Canceled Even for Mistakes Made 10 Minutes Before... "Is This Yanolja Technology?"

Yanolja Faces Repeated CS Controversies... Complaints Surge on Blind and Others
‘Double Booking’ Damages Reported... “Cancellation Calls at 1 AM from CS Center”
Billions Invested in Corporate Acquisitions... Criticism Over Reluctance to Invest in CS
Yanolja States “No Issues in CS Center Operations... Providing Adequate Training”

Leisure platform Yanolja has been strengthening its image as a global information technology (IT) company since this summer under the slogan "Yanolja Technology."
[Photo by Yanolja]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] #Office worker Kim Jeong-hoon (32, pseudonym) realized he had entered the wrong date while at the hotel lobby right after booking a hotel through Yanolja, the largest leisure platform in Korea. The hotel staff informed him that the reservation must be canceled directly through the platform, so Kim called Yanolja's customer service (CS) center. It took about 10 minutes from the time Kim booked the hotel on Yanolja to when he called the CS center. However, Kim was told, "Didn’t you agree to the partner cancellation and refund policy when booking?" and "According to the policy, cancellation is not possible." Kim pointed out, "The hotel said they would change the reservation mistake made 10 minutes ago, but the intermediary platform refuses, which I don't understand."

Users are increasingly dissatisfied with Yanolja's CS. Like Kim, not only are cancellations impossible even for mistakes made 10 minutes prior, but there are also cases of ‘double bookings’ where two or more users book the same accommodation simultaneously. It appears that the reason is that Yanolja outsources its CS center, unlike overseas platforms such as Agoda. However, Yanolja maintains that customer complaints and outsourcing of the customer center are unrelated.

According to the industry on the 31st, complaints about Yanolja CS center’s customer service continue. On anonymous office worker apps like Blind, posts criticizing Yanolja’s customer response regarding cancellations and refunds are easily found. One netizen who posted a review on the Google Play Store said, "I booked accommodation on the same day at 11:51 PM on the 14th of this month but made a mistake in specifying the date," and added, "I called the customer center 3 minutes later to request cancellation, but the agent only repeated that cancellation was impossible."

Another netizen said, "I booked accommodation for consecutive nights and was asked to pay an additional 20,000 won on-site," and added, "I requested consultation at Yanolja CS center, but the agent kept saying that partner regulations are up to the business owner and the company cannot do anything." He added, "With this kind of response, wouldn’t it be better to just call the accommodation directly to book rather than using the platform?"

A post related to Yanolja Customer Service (CS) uploaded on the anonymous employee application (app) Blind.
[Photo by Blind capture]

‘Double Booking’ Issue Also Present

There is also the issue of double bookings where multiple reservations overlap. This occurs when two or more customers book the same accommodation for the same date, resulting in all but one reservation being canceled. Especially on December 24th, Christmas Eve, the peak season for the lodging industry, damages caused by double bookings were reported one after another. Many users received calls from the CS center between 1 and 2 AM or were notified of cancellations by Yanolja only on the morning of the accommodation day. A netizen who posted on Blind said, "I had a family trip starting Friday, so I booked and paid for accommodation on Thursday night," and added, "Yanolja CS center called at 1 AM to unilaterally notify me that there were no rooms left at the hotel I paid for, canceling the reservation."

Careless responses due to outsourcing the CS center account for a significant portion of consumer complaints. Yanolja outsources to CS specialist companies such as KT CS to reduce labor costs. This differs from global lodging platforms like Agoda, which operate customer centers directly by country.

Reviews of the Yanolja CS-related application (app) posted on the Google Play Store.
[Photo by Google Play Store capture]

"Reluctant to Invest in CS" Criticism

Given this situation, criticism has also been raised about Yanolja’s recent actions. Since this summer, Yanolja has promoted itself under the slogan ‘Yanolja Technology’ to strengthen its image as a global IT company, but the quality of its core lodging reservation service is said to be below average. Although Yanolja raised about 2 trillion won in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund this year and invested hundreds of billions of won in corporate acquisitions, some say it is stingy when it comes to investing in CS, which is key to consumer satisfaction. This month alone, Yanolja spent about 400 billion won acquiring Korea’s first-generation e-commerce company Interpark and AI startup Dable consecutively.

Yanolja maintains that there is no problem with CS center operations. The company explains that it partners with CS firms that have industry understanding and personnel management expertise and provides sufficient training to avoid interpretations unfavorable to customers. A Yanolja representative said, "Cancellations and refunds basically follow partner regulations," and added, "Each partner has different rules, but in general processes, Yanolja cannot refuse cancellations or refunds against the partner’s wishes."