The Japanese government has announced plans to convert the country’s more than 10,000 existing love hotels ― which provide temporary lodging services to couples ― into regular accommodation facilities amid a hotel shortage ahead of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
According to the announcement, the government has also asked the state-run Japan Finance Corp and other loan lenders to provide adequate financial support to such hotels to help them renovate their facilities in line with the government’s plan, Sankei Shimbun reported.
The current occupancy rate of the country’s love hotels is approximately 40% on weekdays, according to a hotel association body, while overall lodging facilities are falling short amid growing demands by foreign tourists ahead of the Olympic Games.
The love hotels will need to provide accommodation for families and be equipped with facilities serving food, just as regular hotels do. Currently, under the Entertainment and Amusement Trade Control Act, love hotels ban visitors under 18 from entering. If they are renovated into regular hotels, however, this law would not apply.
A representative of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that the government hopes this plan will help ease the shortage of hotel rooms.
Nearly 20 million tourists visited Japan in 2015 and the government has set a target of 40 million by 2020.
© Japan Today
58 Comments
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Zaphod
Good grief this is weird! Forcing love hotels to install all sorts of gimmicks that their normal clientele does not want? And who pays for that? And what kind of families want to stay in windowless rooms?? Those who are OK with the existing love hotels can stay in them now already, without government intervention. Trust the J-government to come up with stupid ideas...
Sarunghakan Feng
Sacrificing something that holds an emotional value, to something that would bring a means of services.
retiree
Interesting.
nath
Whatever makes you think that this is tolerated? The fact that you seem to have read about it would indicate that this guy was arrested. When you are arrested for something it certainly means it is not tolerated.
And on top of that, the number of old guys going with underage girls to love hotels is an extremely insignificant amount of the patrons of love hotels. You're trying to say they should be shut down because of this one incident? Give me a break.
TheGodfather
"trying to remove all love hotels is another blow to what is one of the last remaining 'fun' part of this country"
You must have missed the news where a City Councillor was found to have gone to to a 'love hotel' with an under-age ELEMENTARY SCHOOL girl.
Sorry, but the rest of the world want nothing to do with a country that tolerates CHILD PROSTITUTION where a 45-year-old man can go to a 'love hotel' with a 12-year-old girl.
Is that what you call 'fun'?
daito_hak
The title makes it sound that the government can just ask a private sector to completely change its business model for the sake of Olympics. This won't happen unless a large amount of money (tax payers money) is put on the table to "buy" their decisions. And since its not a secret that a large number of love hotels are directly or indirectly managed by Yakuzas, it won't be cheap...
Asked the Japan Finance Corp? Ok, so who is still saying that the Olympics are not costing money to tax payers?
That being said, I should say though that trying to remove all love hotels is another blow to what is one of the last remaining "fun" part of this country. Abe is just making this country a boring place to live.... Sad for the people.
iamme
Does the government have the power to change or affect private sectors like this? How can they force love hotels to market specifically to tourists? I'd say it's the love hotels choice if they want to or not.
If the government does have power to do this sort of thing, I sure wish they'd use it in more productive manners, like forcing companies to treat employees better or actually sending corporate crooks to jail.
Bob Sneider
don't bring a black light
Tom Webb
So this action will drive the prices up. What are lovers going to do for their weekly rendezvous?
nath
Love Hotels are great for staying one night while travelling, many Salary-man also use them if they missed the last train.
Cheaper and more luxurious than business hotels which have very limited food serving facilities too.
sensei258
I'd like to know how much actual "conversion" would take pace. The "Love Hotel" status is driven by the demand of the customer, not the structure.
No Ginger
"Hey baby, would you like to temporarily lodge with me???"
(Sorry, its all just so ludicrous!)
Fadamor
chicka-chicka-WAA-WAA!
After watching the swimming events, you can conduct your own 100 meter breaststroke heats back in your room.
OOOOOHHHH YEAHHHHH!
No Ginger
"Mommy, I found this balloon under the pillow! Its a really funny shape..."
Black Sabbath
I wonder if the new guests will know what kind of place they stay used to be...
No Ginger
@randomnator "Going to be banned in Japan. Hotel association bribed some law makers to enact new laws to make it illegal."
The article you quote states that the law will be changed so that Airbnb stays are a minimum of one week. Airbnb will not be banned outright. So this may not affect people staying for the Olympics too much, maybe.
And, by the way, I've never heard it called "lodging" before. Guffaw!
Blattamexiguus
modern day Dejima? Same crap when the World Cup came here too.
Citizen2012
Papa Massata Diack would reply "because of about 2 millions reasons".
choiwaruoyaji
I'm doing my damnedest to keep that occupancy above 40%.
I just hope everyone else on this board is pulling their weight.
kohakuebisu
Mommy, why doesn't our hotel room have a window?
Alistair Carnell
Maybe they could just leave the hotels as they are, and then 2020 could be 'The Year of the Sex Olympics'.
glasshouse
Government had their smartest team working on this one.....
pumpkin31526
I'm curious to know if they will retain some of the bizarre names I often see..
FightingViking
@kitzrow
Exactly ! I remember when I first arrived in Japan my "fiancé" (who lived in the Kansai area and not being able to see me for a week) had booked a room for me at the Tokyo YWCA... The reception was VERY "cold" and the "Western style" bed extremely uninteresting ! I had so wanted to sleep on a "futon" !
Anyway, not to change the subject - are we STILL getting the Olympics ? After all the monetary/logo scandals, building delays, etc. ? Unbelievable !
kwatt
I don't mind converting love hotels into regular ones unless rotating and vibrating beds are removed.
GW
While I appreciate the thinking outside the box at bit which rarely happens here............that said seems a pretty stupid idea for what would be a used for about a month or so in one summer..............
I could see it might appeal to some LH's that might want to convert to more traditional style hotel...........but they also have to pray the levels of foreign tourists stay high & want cheap room. I mean I was in Osaka for a night down by the port for work & went to check out only to walk into the lobby with about 40 Chinese making one hell of a racket, thank god they weren't lined up to check out & I was able to escape with only minimal hearing loss LOL!!!
kitzrow
How about low priced Ryokans so that foreigner can experience that very nice side of Japan? Good meal, sleep on the floor and a nice bath. Would be more interesting than a hotel room.
Serrano
Good grief! One of the best things about Japan are the love hotels, and now, surprise, surprise, the government is going to ruin them, lol
BertieWooster
I can just imagine the sports fans, returning from a day's fun and games at the Olympics, stretching out on the bed and wondering why there is a mirror on the ceiling.
Hmmmm.
Disillusioned
The government is going to do it? Is the government also going to regulate the fees these money-pits charge? From what I e seen, most are around ¥3-5,000 for a couple of hours. If they charge the same rates for extra ended stays it's going to be a ¥20,000+ per night. They are not gonna get many families in at those rates. Furthermore, have they consisted what will happen after the Olympics? These hotels are gonna borrow tens of thousands of dollars to renovate their hotels, but after the Olympics they will have to renovate back and have a huge drop in revenue. This will be a disaster for the hotels and the financial institutions lending the money. Sorry but, to me, this just seems like a half baked idea thought up over a few glasses of sho-chu and they gave not thought this through at all!
goldorak
Don't forget Japan will host the 2019 rugby world cup before Tokyo 2020.
I would think many of those hotels would use it as rehearsal and see how easy it is to convert to a more traditional hotel and how profitable it is.
randomnator
Going to be banned in Japan. Hotel association bribed some law makers to enact new laws to make it illegal. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/fastest-growing-airbnb-market-under-threat-as-japan-cracks-down
nath
Are these love hotels supposed to operate as regular hotels after the Olympics as well? Seems like they would be shooting themselves in the foot by this conversion if they are. They will all of a sudden be competing with every other hotel out there, only able to serve one group per room per day (whereas they can serve multiple groups per room per day in a love hotel), and have nothing special to draw people to stay at their hotel. This whole idea seems short-sighted.
dcog9065
With stated occupancy rates of 40%, taking out loans to invest heavily in renovation for extremely short-term benefits 4 years down the road seems like a very poor idea and I would be surprised if it was taken up widely
Ghost rider
First build a stadium before thinking others.
Frederic Bastiat
Smells like fascism. The hotel owners have the right over the property. The boutique hotels serve a good purpose.
Moonraker
To be fair, there are already a lot of love hotels on booking sites like Agoda. With the number of young people declining these hotels are having to diversify their clientele. And an overnight stay can be cheaper than a recognised hotel with a bigger bed, better bathroom and even karaoke, for those who need singing to sleep.
Himajin
Where and how are they all supposed to suddenly get skilled kitchen staff, licenses for food, etc?
KnowBetter, LOL!
DaDude
Better hide the gadgets and contraception from the kiddies.
No Ginger
Ever heard of AirBnB?
Who am I
Isn't it up to the hotel owners to decide what they do with their hotels? And could they have them occupied after the Olympics? In their present form they might be attractive for some of the guests coming for the Olympics.
Harry_Gatto
So Tokyo won the games even though it could not satisfy one of the selection criteria and demonstrate adequate hotel accommodation? I wonder why?
Dan Lewis
So... it looks like we'll be footing the bill to update love hotels which already turn a pretty good profit. Someone please explain why it shouldn't be left to the hotel owners to decide if they want to renovate to provide accommodations for the Olympics - and to pay for it themselves!
Alistair Carnell
Gov’t to convert love hotels into regular lodging facilities ahead of 2020 Olympics
Is this to provide the yaks with another slice of the pie ?
nakanoguy01
i can't imagine many love hotels would convert. it sounds like a ton of hassle for the them to go through.
some14some
from love hotels to love apartments ?!
KnowBetter
@ Himajin Maybe it will be a new fetish for the unmarried and they can 'play house' and get their freak on by pretending to come home from a long day at work. Then start cooking in the kitchen which turns into more than just the veggies getting a little 'steamed' and hot... Oh jeez, now what have I started?
Himajin
This is SO weird...what are all these love hotels going to do with the kitchen facilities and family accommodations after the Olympics??
Alex Einz
TheGodfather, why? Do you have some sort of "low level ex -love hotel stay" fetish? Instead of renovating hotels in seedy areas, that actually are important for reproduction amongst Japanese, why not encourage development of normal hotels???
TheGodfather
Sometimes you read a piece of news and your heart almost leaps out of your chest with joy.
Aly Rustom
It would be even better if these love hotels were permantly converted into regular hotels. A large supply might drive down the prices a bit.
Peter Qinghai
Perhaps Japan could import about 20,000 mobile homes, to satisfy the lack of accommodations, afterwards they can be used as 'low-income' housing.
wildwest
I hope this dose not add to the population decline.