Orange Square, which operates the Wowpass, an all-in-one (payment, currency exchange, transportation card) prepaid card exclusively for foreign tourists visiting Korea, announced on the 5th that it has signed a business agreement (MOU) with the Korea Hotel Association to promote the convenience of foreign tourists visiting Korea and the development of the hotel industry.
Orange Square, which was selected as the '2024 Star of Korean Tourism' in the tourism innovation content category by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization expert group, and the Korea Hotel Association, which was established to promote the development and rights of the hotel industry (in accordance with the Tourism Promotion Act), are joining hands, raising expectations for the revitalization of domestic inbound tourism.
With this business agreement, Orange Square will expand the free distribution of WowPass unmanned currency exchange kiosks in hotels, thereby improving the convenience of foreign tourists. The decision to provide free distribution was influenced by the popularity of WowPass, which includes payment, currency exchange, and transportation card functions. In particular, foreign tourists who have conveniently issued, recharged, and exchanged WowPass at hotels have shown high satisfaction, considering it as part of the hotel service.
The association also plans to widely publicize the expected effects of installing Wowpass unmanned currency exchange machines in hotels, such as improved service quality and increased work efficiency.
Currently, reviews are pouring in on overseas SNS such as Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) about how happy they were to see the WowPass unmanned currency exchange machines at hotels. There are even customers who only use hotels that have a WowPass machine installed.
The K Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul is a representative example of a device that was installed in response to requests for the Wowpass service from foreign guests. As word of mouth spreads in the hotel industry about the high satisfaction level of the 140 or so devices already installed and in operation in the hotel and the needs of foreign guests, the number of hotels requesting the installation of such devices is expected to increase.
Orange Square currently operates around 250 Wowpass unmanned currency exchange machines nationwide, and plans to expand the total to around 400 by the end of this year. Currently, they are installed and operated in luxury hotels such as Lotte Hotel, Signiel, and Paradise City, as well as various global brand hotels such as Four Points, Courtyard, and Ambassador, as well as major domestic brand hotels.
In addition, hotels that have installed the Wowpass unmanned currency exchange machine are recognized for their currency exchange service or receive bonus points for currency exchange in the hotel industry rating evaluation that is conducted every three years. In addition, the hotel front desk and concierge team can skip the currency exchange work and direct related inquiries to the phone attached to the unmanned currency exchange machine, allowing customers to directly connect to the multilingual call center, making the work of all departments in the hotel much more convenient.
Lee Jang-baek, CEO of Orange Square, emphasized, “In addition to expanding the distribution of Wowpass unmanned currency exchange machines in hotels, we will continue to discover additional services that foreign visitors to Korea want, such as tax refunds and E-SIM purchases, and we will work to revitalize inbound tourism and domestic demand, and contribute to the development of the hotel industry.”
Yoo Yong-jong, chairman of the Korea Hotel Association, said, “With this business agreement, hotels are expected to be able to focus more on improving the quality of their original customer service through efficient staffing by replacing currency exchange services with unmanned ones.”
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.