Love Hotels

Love Hotels are a fairly simple concept, but a concept that is executed very effectively in Japan. Sometimes they are also called Boutique Hotels or Fashion Hotels, but the purpose is the same.

In addition to the obvious purpose, love hotels can also be fairly cheap accommodations when traveling.

The Love Hotel Experience

• Love hotels are very clean. Despite your expectations, love hotels are not the cousins of seedy, dirty roadside motels you may know of at home. They are well-maintained and the rooms are cleaned thoroughly after each use.
• Love hotels are designed so that nobody will see your face. Interactions with anybody other than your lovemate are kept to an absolute minimum, and when they do take place the person's face is often obscured or hidden behind a curtain -- you may find yourself yourself paying money to what appear to be a disembodied set of hands, or having your room service delivered by them.
• Love hotels are extremely profitable. People still need satisfaction even in a depression. The hotels are almost guaranteed income sources no matter the season or economic conditions. They make so much money that it's not unusual for love hotels to be constructed, last five years, torn down, and then completely rebuilt with newer and nicer rooms.

Payment

Love hotels will generally post their prices outside on a board near the entrance. The main thing to keep in mind is that the prices on the board are almost always the weekday afternoon prices, in the evenings and on the weekends they will go up, so don't be too surprised if your rate does not match the board exactly.

While all hotels have their own payment system, there are generally two types of ways to utilize a love hotel:

• "Rest" (休憩 kyūkei)

  With a rest, you generally pay a flat rate for two or three hours, and then pay by the hour or half-hour after that. The amount of money you pay per hour once you've exceeded the initial few hours is not necessarily written on the sign outside, so check the info book in the room.

• Overnight Stay (宿泊 shukuhaku)

  With an overnight stay, you pay a flat rate for the late night hours, generally covering you from 9:00pm to 9:00am...though these hours will definitely differ from hotel to hotel and may differ depending on the day of the week. Understand that the overnight stay fee does not cover the amount of time you stayed in the room before the evening cut-off hour. If, for example, the shukuhaku hours were 8:00pm~10:00am and you entered the room around 4:00pm, you would pay for those 4 hours in addition to the overnight stay fee...if the rest fee covered you for 3 hours, then your total would be the rest fee + an extra hour + the overnight stay fee -- this is assuming you check out on time. In general, checking out 5 or 10 minutes late will not incur extra money but much more than that and you may find yourself paying for an extra half hour (or hour) depending on the hotel.

• Tip: many love hotels these days have point cards, so if you like a place you can get a discount which are sometimes fairly substantial (like 20% off the total fee).

From Entry to Exit

1. Find the building and get yourself inside

   The entrance will generally not be easy to see and covered up by a curtain. If you're in a car, the parking lot is generally right under the building. If you encounter somebody else going in, they will likely try and hide themselves from you.

2. Select a room

   Make your way to the lobby and you'll see a panel with pictures of all the available rooms. Some hotels will have very diverse selections so you may need some time to decide your ideal match-making spot with your loving companion. Rooms that aren't available will be darkened -- as the cleaning is done thoroughly it generally takes a long time for rooms to be lit back up again so it's best to not wait around for one if it's unavailable. Note that in some hotels that are geared only towards drivers, the parking space you pick has your room number and there is no selection board.

3. Make your way to the room

   Once you select the room, a flashing light of some sort will generally guide you to your chosen den of sin -- open the door. In most hotels the door will lock automatically behind you and you won't be able to leave until you've paid, though in some older hotels

4. Enjoy yourselves...

   ...then enjoy yourselves again. Once you're done with that, many newer hotels have a wide array of facilities and amenities like room service, wide-screen TVs, movies, video games, karaoke, and nice bath tubs to keep you entertained and in the room longer...just in case you later find that you want to enjoy yourselves yet again.

5. Pay and leave

   Without fail you almost always have to call the front desk to indicate that you want to leave...often times you cannot physically leave the room until this takes place. The phone will tell you what number to hit (usually 9). Tell them you want to leave -- a simple "check out desu" is all you need. They will tell you the amount to pay over the phone, and then you'll hang up. At this point, in newer hotels either somebody will come to collect the money (through a window), or they will be a bank-style mechanism in the room for submitting your cash. Most newer ones will also accept credit cards. In older hotels, you leave the room and then pay in the lobby.

6. Congratulations

   You can now say you stayed in a love hotel. Was it good for you?

Notable Love Hotels

Northern Mie

• Yokkaichi : Chapel Christmas

  Yes, a Christmas-themed love hotel. You've very likely seen it from the train, it's the hard-to-miss building with a giant Santa on it immediately north of Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station. Worth a visit, though many have remarked it's not nearly as interesting on the inside as one would expect. A short walk from the station's north exit - walk along the train tracks until you see it.

Central Mie

• Matsusaka : Napori Part 2

  Full of interesting, kinky, and goofy rooms. It's proximity to Hunky Dory makes it a popular place to stay after a night of partying there, though it is still far enough away that you'll need a taxi.

Eastern Mie

None listed, but there are a number between Ise and Meiwa on Route 23.

Western Mie

None listed, but there's large amount of them in Ueno near the highway exit.

Southern Mie

None listed

Outside Mie

• Osaka

  A number of magazines have written over the years that Japan's best selection of odd yet amazing love hotels is in Osaka, particularly in the Uehommachi area (lucky for those of us coming from Mie). The cluster of hotels is actually closer to the Tanimachi 9-chōme subway station (purple line) than Kintetsu Uehommachi itself, so head towards the subway from the Kintetsu station, head up to ground level there. Explore a bit and you'll find them.

• Tokyo

  It is said the densest cluster of love hotels is on "Love Hotel Hill" (aka, Dōgenzaka), not 5 minutes away from Shibuya Station. From the Hacki-ko exit, head across the mega-intersection towards "Shibuya 109". Fork left at 109, and ascend the hill to love. Ikebukuro's north exit may have an even larger concentration though, and Uguisudani also has a lot...both love hotel clusters are clearly visible from the Yamanote Line.

• Beppu

  See the Beppu article's "Places to Stay" section, and maybe find yourself at a Jurassic Park themed love hotel.

Links

• Mie Love Hotel Map - NSFW

  Brilliant site with a huge number of hotels listed in their database, and many of them have detailed information about pricing, room types, and even some pictures. Some hotels even offer web-only coupons via this site that you can download and print out!