-Securing 1,000 facilities with a subscription-based integrated operations management system.
The lodging industry, with its unique vendors and manual management, has made costs unpredictable.
Accommodation operators had to manage reservation systems, cleaning companies, pest control companies, and consumable suppliers separately. Problems arose, and they called each vendor to confirm, and orders were recorded manually. Costs were unpredictable, and quality control standards varied widely. Monthly maintenance costs were unknown, and there was no data to compare changes from the previous month to the current one. Despite the 270 trillion won (approximately $230 billion USD) hospitality market, accounting for 8.5% of Korea's GDP, irregular and manual management remained dominant.
This is a scene Baek Seung-jun, CEO of Viniz, who has been working on accommodation remodeling projects for over a decade, witnessed firsthand. The conviction that "this problem can be solved with data and systems" was the starting point for his startup. His interior design experience gave him a deep understanding of facility structure, equipment flow, and maintenance cost structure, which became the foundation for the "Dearwell" service design.
The company is located in the Cheonan Green Startup Town in South Chungcheong Province. It employs approximately 20 dedicated professionals, including the Strategy and Operations Office, the Dearwell Solutions Division, the Dearwell Partners Division, and the Development Team. Each department collaborates closely with its respective roles. The development, operations, and field management processes are integrated into a single data flow.
Dearwell is a brand that sets a new standard for hospitality operations. Beyond simple services, management, and operations, its goal is to systematize and improve efficiency across the entire hospitality industry, which has been outdated. Its core structure is a subscription-based integrated operations management system.
Previously, accommodation facilities had to place separate orders for reservations, cleaning, pest control, and consumables management to each company, but Dearwell integrated these into a single platform in the form of regular subscriptions or single-item orders.
Specifically, a monthly subscription provides approximately 40 services, including cleaning, linen, amenities, quarantine, and after-sales service. The cost is 4,400 won per room per month, or 170,000 won per month for 40 rooms. A "service history database" allows for proactive identification of issues without customer request, automatic scheduling of recurring maintenance or orders, and periodic inspections of facility conditions.
Dearwell is currently building infrastructure for data-driven predictive management and advanced inventory and product management capabilities. The company is designing a system that analyzes customer ordering patterns and trend data to automatically predict, notify, and order inventory shortages. The biggest challenge remains data acquisition. The nature of the lodging industry, with its often unstructured and manual management, has made digital transformation challenging.
Results were rapid. Starting with 36 facilities in March 2023, the number increased to 125 by August 2024. Currently, over 1,000 accommodations and 30 distributors nationwide are using Dearwell's services.
The average monthly growth rate (CMGR) is 12.3%. Its primary customers are small and medium-sized independently operated establishments such as motels, business hotels, and pensions, and its recent expansion into franchise chains is also evident. The average subscription retention rate is 93.5%.
The rationale behind its expansion is clear. Operators can directly experience cost savings and management efficiency. The most impressive feedback was, "Thanks to Dearwell, I can now manage the business, not just the branches."
Currently, Viniz's main focus is subscription-based maintenance services and B2B online wholesale ordering services.
In August 2024, we signed an MOU with Yanolja Partners, marking the beginning of a full-fledged collaboration. Collaborating with Yanolja Partners and others is a strategic move to accelerate the digital transformation and efficiency of accommodation operations. This will enhance system reliability and scalability, lower the barrier to entry for new facilities, and provide customers with an integrated service experience on a single platform.
He said, "We're also preparing to enter the Chinese market," adding, "We signed supply contracts with several Chinese companies last April." We export accommodation supplies on a FOB basis and via T/T payment, and we're expanding our network with accommodation facilities in China.
Technology development is also progressing in stages. Currently, through selection for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' TIPS program, we are building an OTA integration and automated digital transformation system, and we recently secured Pre-A investment from Shinhan Card.
"In the future, Dearwell Platform 1.0 will provide customized services to customers. In 2.0, we plan to strengthen our win-win structure with suppliers and develop a system that automatically proposes customized solutions for each customer through an AI engine."
He views "office workers who understand the field and field workers who understand data" as the ideal candidate. When hiring, he prioritizes a balance of field experience and technical understanding, and all new employees are required to undergo on-the-job training through the "Dearwell Academy," an internal training program. While the organizational culture is horizontal, the company maintains strict, quantitative standards for service quality and data accuracy.
CEO Baek Seung-jun emphasizes, "Beeniz aims to increase the sustainability of the local lodging industry by increasing transparency in lodging operations and improving service quality."
The hospitality industry is a vital pillar of the local economy, but many operations remain informal and non-standard. Dearwell's long-term vision is to systematize this and create an inflection point where the hospitality industry transforms into a data-driven industry.
From reservations to air conditioning cleaning, pest control, and even consumable ordering, lodging operations, which were previously dependent on separate vendors and manually recorded, are now being integrated into a single platform. This shift, which has led accommodation operators who previously had difficulty predicting costs to now say, "We can now manage our business," is taking place across 1,000 properties.
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