Hotelier is a 2001 South Korean television drama series set in Seoul Hotel, a fictional five-star hotel undergoing an expensive expansion and renovation. The word "hotelier" means "a person who owns or runs a hotel." Starring Bae Yong-joon, Song Yoon-ah, Kim Seung-woo and Song Hye-kyo, it aired on MBC from April 4 to July 7, 2001, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. Bae's character is based on Korean-American businessman Hong Seung-pyo. Synopsis President Choi, hotelier of Seoul Hotel, dies from a heart attack hours after his old friend Kim Bok-man informed him that his company Hankang Distribution was buying shares of Seoul Hotel in preparation of a takeover. Choi is succeeded by his wife, Yoon Bong-sook, who had never assumed any managerial position in the hotel before. Her son, Choi Young-jae is a dissolute young man who refuses to work and spends all his time partying. To fend off the competitor, Madam Yoon sends one of the hotel employees, Seo Jin-young, to America to try to rehire Seoul Hotel's former hotel manager, Han Tae-jun, who was forced to resign after a scandal despite his innocence. Tae-jun is currently taking care of Jenny, a drug-addicted Korean-American girl. To assist him in buying Seoul Hotel's shares through whatever means possible, Bok-man hires Frank Shin (aka Shin Dong-hyuk), a wealthy Korean-American lawyer, businessman, and mergers and acquisitions specialist. Frank only agrees to take the job after meeting Jin-young in America and being fascinated by her. Traveling to Seoul for the first time since he left the country as a child, Frank and his loyal business assistant Leo move into a chalet at the Seoul Hotel to better conduct their secret business deal. Through Frank's double dealings, Bok-man learns of Seoul Hotel's mismanagement problems. But Frank finds himself falling in love with Jin-young, and Jin-young feels torn between him and her old friend and colleague Tae-jun. Meanwhile, Young-jae falls for Kim Yoon-hee, melancholic heiress and Bok-man's daughter, after meeting her at a nightclub. But Yoon-hee is attracted to the kind and mature Tae-jun, whom she'd encountered at a birthday party held at Seoul Hotel. Tae-jun is weighed down by his numerous responsibilities: defending the hotel from its competitors, protecting Yoon-hee from her abusive father, preventing Jin-young from falling in love with the suspicious Frank, and helping Young-jae mend his ways. Frank soon discovers that Jenny, whom Tae-jun had rescued, is his