Yeogi Eottae acquires Japan's Relux to launch app booking in August
What's the deal? South Korea's Yeogi Eottae has completed its acquisition of ReluxDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Japanese premium accommodation booking platform. The deal size and stake were not disclosed.
How will it work? Yeogi Eottae will run both platforms separately while collaborating on sales and technology, a structure the company frames as basing itself in both the South Korean and Japanese markets.
What changes first? The two companies are technically linking their accommodation inventories, and Yeogi Eottae app users could start booking Relux's Japanese properties from as early as August 2026. The company aims to connect roughly 3,000 properties this year, including traditional ryokan and luxury resorts across Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and smaller cities.
What's the endgame? After the systems link, the firms plan to share local sales networks and expand exclusive products. Yeogi Eottae is also weighing using Relux's customer base to draw Japanese tourists to South Korea and adding overseas stays, flights, and leisure tickets to Relux.
Why now? Japan's inbound market is growing. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, about 42,680,000 foreign visitors came to Japan in 2025, up 15.8% from the previous record of roughly 36,870,000 in 2024.
Relux, which has focused on premium stays for customers in their 30s and 40s, plans to widen its range to include casual and mid-priced options for those in their 20s to 40s, and to redesign its interface for foreign travellers.
What they said: "Just as Yeogi Eottae grew from domestic accommodations into a travel and leisure platform, our goal is to establish a second global Yeogi Eottae in Japan," said chief executive officer Jung Myung-hoon. He called the acquisition an inflection point for finding new sales channels in both countries.
The signal: The move reflects South Korean travel platforms looking beyond a saturated home market, using acquisitions to plant roots in a Japanese inbound sector running at record highs.
Read more: Platum
Image credit: dalecruse
