Love motel: a hotel rented out in small time increments ranging from one to three hours. These are found throughout Asia as well as South America to provide a place for locals to go with their lovers or prostitutes.
A love motel is a perfect getaway for single men and married men alike looking to hook up. Single men and women commonly live with their parents until marriage in Korea. If either sex is looking for some intimate time, their mom's house is the least likely place to go. Married men obviously do not use their homes for these endeavors. As such, a need was formed and, as it is not illegal to run a cheap motel, the love motel industry was born. Dependent on the area these hotels can range from windowless hook up rooms to exotically lighted and colorfully decorated rooms equipped with anything from a moving bed to mirrors strategically placed about. Prostitution in Korea makes up for more of the national income than agriculture if that says anything about the size of the industry. (paraphrase from speaking Korea) As you walk through the streets you can find pornographic advertisements for coffee girls. (coffee girls are ordered to deliver coffee to your home or hotel and for a small additional fee a number of other things) They are amongst the poorest paid prostitutes in country going for about ten to twenty bucks a pop according to one of my foreigner friends.
Well, I can now honestly say I have stayed at a Korean love motel. It was by accident of course, but it was interesting all the same. On my weekend trip to Seoul with my parents we looked for a hotel in the Gangnam are. It is a nicer shopping district in Seoul and is full of great spots for food and fun. We thought it would be a great central location to stay. We had our boss book it for us. It was not cheap so we thought it was legit. Well lets just say we found out otherwise as soon as we stepped into the elevator. The walls were covered in iridescent darkness accented by a stunning leopard print velvet. Our room was " beautifully" decorated with blue and red mood lighting that pulsed above both the bed and hot tub. The overhead light only was bright above the sink. The room was littered with little cups with condoms inside. It was pretty hilarious.
We had to check in early so we had an additional fee. The normal check in time was at 11:00 pm. Pretty hilarious if I do say so myself. The time for full night check in is strategically chosen based on public transit availability. I will say on the hotel's behalf that it was clean and the staff was pretty friendly. One more thing to check off on my life's to do list. haha
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