Socar "1 in 7 Carsharing Customers Use It Alongside Accommodation"

One out of seven Socar car-sharing users was found to have used both car-sharing and accommodation facilities together.

Socar announced on the 6th that based on stop location data analyzing members' accommodation usage patterns, about 15% of Socar members used car-sharing and accommodation simultaneously in regions such as Jeju and Gangwon from August last year to July this year. Over the past year, the number of accommodation reservations reached 650,000, with a total of 900,000 nights stayed.

This survey analyzed Socar stop location data over one year from August 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023. To increase the reliability of the results, cases with a stop time of more than 4 hours, including midnight (12 a.m.), within 500 meters of accommodation facilities during the period were classified.

About 15% of all Socar reservations corresponded to users simultaneously using accommodation and car-sharing. Regions with a high proportion of accommodation reservations based on car-sharing departure locations were Jeju (44%) and Gangwon (25%). The regions most visited by Socar members were Jeju (12%), East Coast (11%), Gapyeong (10%), Seoul (9%), and Busan (8%), showing that Socar and accommodation services were used together in popular tourist areas with high travel demand. Based on reservation start dates, accommodation reservation rates increased during year-end and summer vacation seasons, and reservations on Saturdays were more than 50% more likely to include accommodation use compared to other weekdays.

Differences in accommodation choices were also observed according to the age groups and visited regions of Socar members. Overall, hotels (34%), motels (33%), and pensions (29%) were used, with hotels having the highest usage rate. Preferences for hotels and pensions varied by age group: people in their 20s mostly used pensions (40%), those in their 30s preferred hotels (37%), and those in their 40s used hotels the most (43%). Regionally, Jeju area mainly used hotels (54%), Gangwon used pensions (45%), and the metropolitan area primarily used motels (45%). In Jeju, the number of hotel nights stayed exceeded 60,000 over the past year. In Gapyeong, pensions were used alongside car-sharing for over 40,000 nights annually.

Among accommodation facilities with over 300 nights booked annually by Socar members, 90% were hotels. The main hotels used include Jeju Shinhwa World Hotel & Resort, Skybay Hotel Gyeongpo, Lahan Select Gyeongju, Grand Hyatt Jeju, and Parnas Hotel Jeju. Considering customers’ travel patterns, Socar officially launched ‘Socar Stay’ in May, enabling simultaneous reservations for car-sharing and 25,000 hotels & resorts nationwide.

Park Miseon, head of Socar Next Division, said, “The survey results based on Socar stop location data allowed us to more accurately understand customers’ needs for using transportation and accommodation simultaneously. Based on these results, we will launch various products and services tailored to customers’ accommodation styles to provide an innovative travel experience.”