South Korea Mohegan Inspire Casino Gains Prestigious Hotel Rating

Posted on: January 25, 2024, 12:49h. 

Last updated on: January 27, 2024, 11:22h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort in South Korea’s Incheon has been bestowed a great honor by the Korea Tourism Association — the exclusive five-star hotel rating.

Mohegan Inspire casino South Korea
Mohegan Inspire has been designated a five-star hotel property by the Korea Tourism Association. The distinction means the hotel offers exceptional service and amenities. (Image: Casino.org)

Mohegan opened the first phase of Inspire in November at a cost of $1.6 billion. The initial resort has 1,275 hotel guest rooms, suites, and villas, 10 restaurants, an immersive entertainment street, and a 15,000-person arena and events center. The resort also has an indoor pool and waterpark called Splash Bay.

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority announced this week that the Korea Tourism Association had designated Inspire a five-star hotel. The government agency uses a rigorous assessment called the Korean Hoteling Rating System to evaluate hotels nationwide.

A five-star hotel must have impeccable hygiene, extraordinary design and amenities, and exceptional service standards.

“I am delighted that Inspire’s hotel facility has officially achieved a five-star rating, and I would like to thank our team for their hard work in all areas, including facility, hospitality, and operations management,” said Chen Si, President of Mohegan Inspire.

Ray Pineault, CEO of Mohegan, was in Incheon for the five-star designation ceremony. Pineault said the classification “is a testament to our relentless pursuit of excellence and our commitment to providing world-class experiences.”

Casino Coming Soon

Mohegan Inspire is a planned $5 billion destination development that will be completed through several additional construction phases. The resort is located at Incheon International Airport.

For Mohegan’s big bet to deliver a return, the company — owned by the Tribe based in Connecticut — says a casino is needed. Mohegan executives expect to soon receive the resort’s gaming license and open the casino in the first quarter 2024.

The Inspire casino space measures about 200,000 square and has 1,500 slot machines and 250 table games. The casino is reserved for foreigners, as South Koreans aren’t allowed to gamble in casinos except at Kangwon Land, a remote resort owned and operated by the Korean government.

Incheon is one of the busiest airports in the world. The primary commercial airport serving the Seoul capital, Incheon, handled more than 71.2 million passengers in pre-pandemic 2019. That ranked 14th in the world.

Korean Hotel Ratings

Since 1971, the Korea Tourism Association has been rating hotels as part of the government’s commitment to promoting the nation as an ideal tourist destination for foreign travelers.

In 2015, the Korea Tourism Association revamped its hotel ratings from using five hibiscus (mugunghwa) flowers to stars. The symbol change was to make the rating classes more familiar to foreigners.

“It may have been confusing for consumers to decide where to stay in Korea solely from checking the ratings before, because there have been discrepancies in arguing whether five mugunghwa flowers are equivalent to the widely known five stars,” said Steve Yong, the executive director of the agency at the time.