Love hotel
A love hotel (Jp. ラブホテル) is an originally Japanese type of hotel offering privacy and discretion for a couple wishing to engage in sex. Alternative names include fashion hotel and boutique hotel.Love hotels are largely a modernized descendant of the traditional Japanese inn (ryokan), many of which could be rented by the hour with few questions asked. While such facilities exist in many forms worldwide, Japan's love hotels differ from the typical roadside motel in that a majority of the clientele are, in fact, married to each other and only seeking the privacy not available in their own small accommodations. However, love hotels are also used for prostitution and enjo kosai.
Love hotels typically offer rates for a rest of several hours (averaging ¥5000) or an overnight stay (averaging ¥10000). Love hotels are geared towards drop-in visitors, not travellers, which usually means that reservations are not possible, leaving the hotel will forfeit access to the room, and overnight stay rates only become available after 10 PM.
Entrances to love hotels are discreet and interaction with staff is minimized, with rooms often selected from a panel of buttons and the bill settled by pneumatic tube or a pair of hands behind a pane of frosted glass. While cheaper love hotels are utilitarian, higher-end hotels may feature fanciful rooms which are (for example) decorated with cartoon characters, equipped with vibrating beds or decked out like dungeons complete with S&M gear.
Love hotels are typically either concentrated in certain city districts (like Dogenzaka in Shibuya, Tokyo) or located near highways on the city's outskirts for convenient access by car.
See also: List of types of lodging