A view of the duty-free shop for cosmetics at Changi International Airport in Singapore, 

which will be run by Hotel Shilla from October for the next six years under the managing 

rights for the shop won by the hotel as the result of a hard drive led by 

President Lee Bu-jin. (Photos: Shilla Hotel)

President Lee Bu-jin of Shilla Hotel has not only seen the hotel’s business take off, but has also has been doing well with the duty free shops that she has been operating as a sideline business of the hotel. Lee not only had the hotel remodeled last year, but clinched the right to operate duty free shops in Changi International Airport in Singapore, one of the busiest airports in the Asia-Pacific Region, come October. 

Her business acumen and quick sense to size up the business have been lauded as a priceless legacy that she got from her father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee of Samsung Group.

She made a gutsy decision to plunk down 83.5 billion won in remodeling the aging hotel including a heated outdoor swimming pool that can be enjoyed all-year round, the first such swimming pool at a major hotel in Seoul. The remodeling job went as far as equipping a yacht-type bar in each guest room for those who want real privacy while staying at the hotel.

During the remodeling, the hotel’s officers and staff were sent abroad to learn the hotel services provided at some of the best hotels in Asia such as the Four Seasons in Hong Kong. “A luxurious hotel should be able to provide its own exquisite services to its guests,” Lee was often heard saying to the hotel’s staff.

President Lee Bu-jin of Shilla Hotel in Seoul.

The duty free shop operation has been a great success for her, too, now that she is about to take over the operation of the biggest duty free shop at Changi International Airport, the product of her hard work. The Shilla Hotel Duty Free Shop won the rights to offer such world-famous cosmetic brands and perfumes made by famous French and Italian cosmetics makers until 2020.

The duty free shops at Changi, true to its name value as a hub for Asian air travels, has been known to sell some 1.5 trillion won worth of various, world-famous cosmetic brands. Shilla Hotel officials are sure that total sales at Changi would be more than 4 trillion won during the next six years and when all the duty shops at the Singapore airport that Shilla Hotel has the rights to operate open for business, total sales from those shops would account for around 20 percent of the hotel’s total duty free sales.

The hotel had a good start for its business this year, too, with Q1 sales amounting to 594.1 billion won, up 24.3 percent YoY, operating profit of 21.7 billion won, up 195 percent YoY, and net profit coming to 11.6 billion won, erasing the red ink of the previous quarters. The hotel ended up with losses of 20.1 billion won in Q1 last year and a loss of 1.5 billion won in Q4, although its duty free shops did well.

The excellent performances of the duty free shops have been owed to the influx of Chinese tourists. The duty free shop sector of the hotel’s operations accounted for 29.5 billion won in operating profit.

The hotel’s operation has yet to return to normal, although they had high hopes that its remodeling would attract a substantial number of foreign tourists with the recent reduction in the number of Japanese tourists, which has been blamed on the low yen value.

But they still have high hopes for the hotel’s business as it will recover from the second quarter when the tourist season begins and the prospects for the duty free shop operation remains bright as long as Chinese tourists keep arriving Korea in droves.