Safe Stay and SelectBNBs Verify both show official Korean permit records, but they answer different questions. Safe Stay's permit search lets you browse five homestay-type categories by name, area and status. Verify takes the Registration details from a listing and tells you whether they match a government record. If you already have a listing from Airbnb or another site, paste its registration details into SelectBNBs Verify. If you want to look up a business by name or browse an area, use Safe Stay's permit search. With either tool, compare the name, address and status in the record with the place you plan to book.
What is Safe Stay?
Safe Stay (세이프스테이) is a campaign run by the Korea Tourism Organization. Its site says the campaign has two aims: to help travelers find and use legal homestay-type stays, and to encourage hosts to offer safe, clean and friendly service. About Safe Stay
The site has two separate lists, and they are easy to confuse:
- Permit search (인허가정보 조회): official permit records in five categories, whatever their status. Safe Stay permit search
- Accommodation directory (민박업소 안내): detail pages for businesses in the four Tourism Promotion Act categories that are currently operating and have agreed to share their information. Rural homestays are not listed. Safe Stay directory
When we checked on 22 October 2026, the permit search listed 79,715 records and the directory listed 1,257. If a stay isn't in the directory, it may still have a permit. Look it up in the permit search instead.
What does Safe Stay's permit search cover?
It covers five categories. Four are under the Tourism Promotion Act: urban homestay for foreign tourists (외국인관광 도시민박업), hanok experience business (한옥체험업), tourist pension (관광펜션업) and hostel (호스텔업). The fifth is rural homestay (농어촌민박업), under the Agricultural and Fishing Villages Improvement Act. For any other category, the site tells you to check with the local government. It says all its results are based on local government permit data (LOCALDATA).
You can filter by business name, address, region, category, operating status and permit date. The interface we checked was in Korean. We did not see a language switch or a field for the licence number shown on a listing.
Results can have any status: operating, temporarily closed, closed, or cancelled, deregistered, expired, suspended or stopped. Finding a business in the results does not mean it is open. Read the status on each record.
What does Verify need, and what does it show?
Verify starts from the listing. Copy the whole Registration details box: issuing region, licence type and licence number. A number on its own is not enough, because short local numbers repeat across districts.
Verify searches eight official permit datasets from Korea's Public Data Portal: urban homestay for foreign tourists, hanok experience, tourist pension, rural homestay, tourist accommodation (hostels are part of this one), lodging business, general campground and auto campground. Together they hold 145,296 records, 91,854 of them marked "Operating normally" (latest government source update 24 October 2026). Current coverage and status counts
A Verify result gives two separate answers. The government record shows the registered business, permit category, operating status, address, permit date, management number and source update time. The listing match says whether the details you pasted identify that same registered business. How Verify works
How do Safe Stay and Verify compare?
| Safe Stay permit search | SelectBNBs Verify | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Korea Tourism Organization, as part of its Safe Stay campaign | SelectBNBs, an independent service |
| What you enter | Business name, address, region, category, status or permit date | The listing's Registration details: issuing region, licence type and licence number |
| Permit categories | Five: urban homestay, hanok experience, tourist pension, hostel, rural homestay | Eight datasets: urban homestay, hanok experience, tourist pension, rural homestay, tourist accommodation (including hostels), lodging business, two campground types |
| Statuses shown | Every status, with a status filter | The status of each record found |
| Match to a listing | Not part of the search; you compare the record with the listing yourself | A separate listing-match result |
| Language | Korean interface (checked 22 October 2026) | English, Traditional Chinese and Japanese |
Which should I use?
- You have a listing with Registration details: use Verify. That's the job it was built for: going from a listing to a record.
- You know the business name, or want to browse an area or category: use Safe Stay's permit search.
- The stay is a lodging business, a hotel or a campground: Safe Stay's permit search doesn't list these categories. Verify covers them.
- You want a profile of an operating homestay: Safe Stay's directory has detail pages for the businesses that agreed to share their information.
You can use both tools. If both find the same record, you still need to compare its name, address and status with the listing.
What if neither finds a match?
That is not proof that the stay is illegal. Names differ, short numbers repeat, details get mistyped, and some stays fall in categories that a given tool doesn't cover. A record can also be waiting for a source update. Check that you copied the whole Registration details box. Then ask the host for the issuing region, licence type and licence number, or ask the issuing local office. Next steps after a no-match result
Questions and answers
Is Safe Stay a government website?
The Korea Tourism Organization runs Safe Stay as a campaign. Its permit search shows records based on local government permit data. SelectBNBs Verify is an independent service that uses official public data. It is not a government website.
Why can't I find a stay in Safe Stay's directory?
The directory only shows businesses in the four Tourism Promotion Act categories that are currently operating and have agreed to share their information, so rural homestays never appear there. A stay that isn't listed there may still have a permit. Look it up in Safe Stay's permit search or check its registration details in Verify.
Does a record in either tool prove the listing is safe?
No. A record shows that a business holds a permit in a category, with its reported status as of the source date. It does not confirm that the listing belongs to that business, that every operating condition is met, or that the place is safe today. What a permit check establishes
Can I check a hotel or motel on Safe Stay?
Safe Stay's permit search covers five homestay-type categories, hostels included. For other categories, the site sends you to the local government. Verify also searches the lodging business and tourist accommodation datasets. Which permit category should I check?
Is Verify free?
Yes. You can run up to five free checks per connection per day.
Before you book
Pick the tool that fits what you have. Then compare the record's name, address and status with the listing.
Check a Korean stay with SelectBNBs Verify →
This guide gives general information for travelers, not a legal opinion on an individual property. The relevant local authority can confirm a specific case. SelectBNBs Verify is an independent service using official public data; it is not a Korean government website.