Hotel Dokkaebi (2026)

Fluffy show, more of a popular Korean mukbang for foreigners to taste than a Jeju scenic trip

Note that I watched this on youtube on the MBC every1 channel with AI subtitle translation. I couldn't find official or fan translation.

This pop-up hotel show has the light humor you expect. It's very food-heavy, though mostly showing Korean comfort food and the guests' reaction to it. What's unique and charming about the show compared to other B&B/hotel shows is that the cast travels with the guests outside the hanok for events like walks, lunches and snacks at times like friendly tour guides.

Overall, the show isn't business oriented at all, so there's no stress other than making the guests feel welcome. The first episode has a different vibe than the rest, and each other episode feel more relaxed than the last. Most of the show is focused around mealtimes, with only a few parts about sightseeing (though one event with the first guests was canceled due to bad weather). My favorite parts to watch are the planning, prep, and work parts, but there's not many of these until the second guest group. I also enjoy the amount of cast interaction with the guests. The cast eats breakfast and dinner with the guests, and a few of them also stay with them for lunch, planned events, and snacks or desserts, adding in plenty of comfortable small talk. Aside from Go Doo Shim and Jeon Seong Gon, the cast speaks English impressively so their communication is great and they even try to communicate well with the few guests who don't speak English.

While the cast did a great job, I felt that the production/editing is a little lacking. It's possible the youtube cut is not the same as the original broadcast, but I have no clue. There are some events they show in flashbacks that they never show otherwise. The first guest group felt like something went wrong with the footage because it was not as good as the second half, but it feels too heavily edited as we don't see anything but the "big" stuff. Their formula is "introduce the guest and show them their room" into "here's lunch/dinner!" and then "here's snack/event!" and then "here's breakfast!" and the cycle repeats. It might have been interesting if we could also hear stories about either the guest's or the cast's itineraries and plans. When we follow the team that goes outside, we don't hear much about what the kitchen team is doing, at most, a small flashback during dinner about that dinner's preparation. The producer interviews the guests, but they only have a handful of soundbites from the cast at the end.

It's a bit closer to a lighter/shorter version of the Chinese variety show The Inn season 4 than other Korean B&B shows I've seen.

Not bad to watch if you want something relaxing or are fans of any of the cast. Lee Dae Hwi, Son Na Eun and
Lee Joo Young stood out for me.

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