In Japan's Love Hotel we trust...

[wop]

Love hotel business zooms despite downturn - CNN.com

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Even in the midst of Japan's deepest economic recession since World War II, the country's love hotel industry is thriving.


The Style A hotel in Tokyo offers amenities.

"I'd hate to use the term "recession-proof," but it's certainly proven very resilient over the last six to nine months," said Steve Mansfield, CEO of New Perspectives, which operates six love, or "leisure," hotels in Japan.

One of them, the Bonita Hotel in Isawa, boasts a 257 percent occupancy rate. Rooms can be rented for three to 24 hours.

Mansfield's company estimates the industry in Japan pulls in $40 billion a year in revenue.

"It's a natural human desire. Even these days, on the weekend, every love hotel is full of people -- it's hard to get in. You can never stop sexual desire," said a woman with her boyfriend in Tokyo, who laughed in embarrassment when asked for her name.

Love hotels fill a need for privacy in a country where high population density often means couples have little time alone.

Rooms offer a broad assortment of features, including karaoke machines, PlayStation game consoles, DVD players, a variety of cosmetics, customized condoms and indoor-outdoor Jacuzzis. Watch Morgan Neill's report from inside a love hotel »

Though required by law to have a front desk, most can be rented and entered without talking to a clerk.


The days of Japanese being ashamed to enter love hotels are coming to an end, though, Mansfield said.

"Seventy-five percent of our guests are members of our points program," he said. "They carry our points cards, they collect points and they receive gifts. That's something people are very comfortable with, and I think that reflects the customers that we attract."

Takashi Yamamoto, who designs love hotels in Tokyo, agreed.

"The bad image that love hotels had has faded over time. Also, customers started to raise their voices and became more selective about choosing hotels. In response, management has improved."

The flashiest love hotels are found in Osaka, including a Hello Kitty-themed hotel and one with a room featuring a merry-go-round.

Tokyo hotels tend to be tamer, focused on winning customers with amenities. The Style A Hotel, for example, offers a suite for $190 that includes a full-size Jacuzzi and a private sauna.

Though young couples make up the majority of customers, they are not the only ones. One man, who declined to be named, said: "I go to love hotels when I'm drunk and don't feel like going home."

Whatever the reasons, the hotels have been doing well enough that Mansfield recently went to London, seeking investors to expand.


"The industry has 25,000 hotels, and through our research we've worked out that 90 percent of owners have five or fewer hotels," he said.

The flashiest love hotels are found in Osaka, including a Hello Kitty-themed hotel and one with a room featuring a merry-go-round.

HAHAHAHA

[Priran]

The flashiest love hotels are found in Osaka, including a Hello Kitty-themed hotel and one with a room featuring a merry-go-round.

obviously for classy women of legal age

[Guitarman]

Nothing says lovin like a playstation.

[hagun]

Legalized prostitution or a place for couples to have alone time? If the latter, where do people live that the need a hotel to shag? If the former, wtf?

[Beckwin]

the latter is for young couples who still live with their parents. not exactly sure how japan functions socially, but love hotels in korea are a necessity because you're generally expected to live with your parents until you marry.

they're also a cheap place to crash if you're too fucked up to get home, haha.

[wop]

they're also a cheap place to crash if you're too fucked up to get home, haha.

Can't be cheaper than Capsule hotel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[hagun]

I always thought that Sienfeld episode with the JP tourists who slept in Kramer's dresser was a joke.

Until now.

[thestalkmore]

I remember reading an article on CNN about these (that had pictures) a while back and the really fancy rooms were pretty ornate and decked out

[Correction]

the latter is for young couples who still live with their parents. not exactly sure how japan functions socially, but love hotels in korea are a necessity because you're generally expected to live with your parents until you marry.

they're also a cheap place to crash if you're too fucked up to get home, haha.

They're a convenience in Japan because most folks don't own their own home until after they've started a family, and the walls of apartment buildings are very very thin.

Yes you can take hookers there. No, you don't have to take a hooker there, regular Japanese girls will follow you to one just fine. Most of the .jp girls I knew were too loud to take back to the apartment, anyway.

[Senoska]

Love hotels are probably the coolest hotel rooms you'd ever stay in and are pretty reasonable in price.

[Dazd]

When I was stationed in Japan there was one not far from base. We weren't technically supposed to have females in our rooms so if someone was out after curfew, or thought they might get caught banging a chick, they'd just stay at the love motel. The place had themed rooms like jungles and deserts and shit, was pretty cool.

[Ivve]

If the latter, where do people live that the need a hotel to shag?

My guess would be either couples just looking for an interesting change of pace or a younger couple where one or both of them lives at home with their family or other roommates, making sex at home kind of awkward.

Pretty good place to take someone just to hook up, either if you're cheating or just getting some no strings sex and don't want to take the other person to your home.

[thebearofscience]

This should be a no-brainer... sex shops and hotels are recession proof.

[Shenrien]

This should be a no-brainer... sex shops and hotels are recession proof.

qft

[Kyreth]

This should be a no-brainer... sex shops and hotels are recession proof.

Even porn industry hit by slumping economy - Media- msnbc.com

Well, not quite- even if they are a lot more resistant to that sorta thing. Seems even Joe Horndog's porn budget is smaller nowadays.

[wop]

One of the few things I know that is recession proof is Hermes.