Love Hotel Janitor Turns Tycoon With Plans to Sweep Away Sleaze
- ‘Let’s Play’ app draws 17,000 hotels as firm prepares for IPO
- Entrepreneur shaking up industry by pushing motels to upgrade
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Lee Su-jin used to work at a love hotel in South Korea, changing sheets and cleaning up after couples who had paid for a few hours of privacy. Sixteen years on, he’s using the knowledge he gained to transform the industry.
Lee is founder of Yanolja, Korean for “hey, let’s play” and the country’s most popular app for booking rooms at the short-stay lodgings, which South Koreans call motels. He’s trying to persuade owners to jettison their long-held image of sleaze, sex, extramarital affairs and suicide and upgrade facilities to appeal more to business travelers, families and tourists.