Hong Yoo

Style, Eat, Travel

Traveling with pets? Some Korean hotels are going all-in Lobby of Sono Pet Club & Resort at Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) HONGCHEON, Gangwon Province — In the lobby of Sono Pet Club & Resort at Vivaldi Park, families wait at check-in with their dogs. A standard poodle stands quietly at the counter next to her human."This is already our second visit here," said the guest, traveling with the poodle and a young child."The off-leash field is great. There's a place right here to wash her, we can eat together, and the rooms are clean and modern. I especially booked this trip because we're participating in the Dangdang Trekking event."The scene at Sono Pet repeated itself across Korea this May. Family month, which includes Children's Day, Parents' Day and Buddha's Birthday, pushed pet-friendly accommodations to near-total occupancy through the holiday stretch."We sold out for the entire May holiday," a Sono Pet representative said. "Last year's golden week filled up just as quickly."Kinock, a hotel catering to pets in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, run by Kyowon Group, exceeded 90 percent average occupancy. Kensington Resort in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, also sold out. The pattern has settled in enough that pet-friendly rooms now close months in advance, despite rates that run well above their standard equivalents.A rise in families with pets is fueling the demand. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in its pet ownership survey, saw 29.2 percent of households raising pets in 2025."The growing acceptance of pets as precious family members has helped the industry expand," said Lee Hye-mi, chief executive of Banlife, a pet-travel platform."Local governments are also increasingly interested in investing in pet-friendly tourism. There are so many beautiful destinations in the country that could be introduced to pet owners."Lee said pet travel is also simply enjoyable."When traveling, a lot of funny situations arise, and pets become great travel mates," she said. "Once you experience it, you want to keep doing it. It's not about being told to. Once you see how their expressions change, it's hard not to enjoy it." Rescue dog Deoksoon sheltered at Sono Pet Club & Resort in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, with her trainer Maki (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) Not just a hotelInside Sono Pet, check-in starts with paperwork. Dogs must show proof of rabies and combination vaccinations within the past two years, or three years for those ages 10 and older. Sanitation kits stocked with waste bags and deodorizing spray sit at intervals along the corridors.Despite the steady stream of dogs and people threading through the lobby, no one is barking. The staff attributes it to the kinds of people who travel with a pet in the first place, generally someone who has invested in training.A passport program called Pet'sport gives guests a stamp for each stay, with tiered rewards keyed to the count. "Because the average room rate is higher, we try hard to give guests plenty of amenities," said Kim Kyu-tae, a pet marketing manager at Sono Hotels & Resorts.A boarding area off the main hall lets pet parents drop their dogs with resident trainers for an hour, useful for a quick errand.Three in-house dogs work the room. Gaeul, Yeoreum and Sky greet arrivals from inside the gate, with Yeoreum, a Jindo, having joined the resort as a rescue.The rescue connection runs deeper. Through a partnership with the Seoul Animal Care Center, Sono Pet has taken in six shelter dogs who had struggled to find homes. Five were adopted within a month or two. The sixth, Deoksoon, is still waiting for a new family. She is deaf and a large mixed-breed."Rescue dogs usually show stereotypic behaviors when they first arrive, and most of them are very fearful," said Maki, a resident trainer, while introducing Deoksoon."We work with them through training so those things can improve. Deoksoon hasn't found a home for three months. The others were small breeds, so they were popular and got adopted within one or two months. While they're here, we do basic socialization training, and we provide up to three home visits after adoption."Some guests, Kim said, arrive with one dog and leave with two. Off-leash playground for guests at Sono Pet in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) Fire pits and steak Outside, the off-leash playground stretches across 5,000 square meters of natural grass, divided into separate fields for large, medium and small breeds. Resident trainers move between the fields, keeping an eye on play, and a private field can be booked in advance for pet parents who would rather not mix in with the group. By late afternoon, the fire pit zone, also outdoors, starts filling up. It runs Friday through Sunday for guests on a first-come, first-served basis, and seats are usually claimed well before dark. Sky, the resident dog at Sono Pet's Thinking Dog, a dining space where pets join their human companions for meals (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) A dining facility called Thinking Dog seats people and their pets side by side. Pet chairs at varying heights line the room, letting dogs sit at eye level with their humans.The menu for dogs goes far beyond water bowls. A 24,000 won pet steak course comes with a choice of one of four soups; a steak of chicken, duck or beef; pudding and a small pour of a cabbage-made "wine." Order a mungpuccino, a frothy dog drink, and a blue balloon comes with it. A baking class for dogs and their pet parent is offered every Saturday.Leash hooks are bolted at intervals along the walls, and a paid self-grooming station, Foamy, lets people hose down their dogs after playtime. Silver Pet Club room with a park view at Sono Pet in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province (Sono Pet Club & Resort) Sono Pet has 157 rooms split across five different tiers. Inside, the design works around the dog as much as the pet parent. Floors are non-slip throughout to spare pets' joints. Beds sit low to the ground, with a wooden ledge running along the side that lets dogs settle in near their human companions. The lighting is soft and indirect, tuned to a level easier on canine eyes. Each room comes stocked with pet cushions, bowls, towels, pee pads and odor neutralizers. Star dog trainer Kang Hyung-wook takes pictures with participants of the Dangdang Trekking event held at Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, on May 16. (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) 4,000 dogs on a mountain trailThe Dangdang Trekking festival, held May 15 to 17 at Sono Pet Club & Resort at Vivaldi Park, drew more than 4,000 dogs to what organizers call the country's largest annual pet event. Started in 2021 by trainer Kang Hyung-wook, the festival pulls in around 10,000 pet parents each year.Programs this year included the trek itself, a stay-and-wait competition, photo time and a talk show with Kang, and a show-off-your-dog contest. The course uses Vivaldi Park's mountain trail, which has 8-kilometer, 5-kilometer and 3-kilometer options. A group of Maltese dogs participates in the Dangdang Trekking event held at Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, on May 16 (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) Trekking began at 9 a.m. By then, the trailhead was already crowded with breeds rarely seen together on this scale. Sheltie parents had organized their own meetup, as had Maltese parents and Goldendoodle parents, each group moving up the trail in loose clusters. Some owners had dressed their dogs in matching outfits and stopped at every clearing for photographs. Others, kitted out in trekking gear and full packs, looked set on the 8-kilometer route.About halfway in, as the day grew hot, the trail dipped through a creek, and one dog after another waded in to cool off before climbing back out. Throughout the weekend, thousands of dogs moved through a single forest without any trouble between them, a quiet sign of how much the country's pet culture has matured.