British couple claims they checked into Tokyo love hotel by “mistake”, stay a week

A story is going viral about a British couple from Brighton who claim they “accidentally” booked a room at a love hotel. And that they liked it so much they stayed a week.

After travelling for 27 hours and arriving in a new country for the first time, Hamnams and her boyfriend were probably just relieved to arrive at their hotel in one piece.

Having booked online through a reputable agent with no qualms, the pair checked in at the front desk and headed up to their room.

“This was kindly laid out at the head of our bed. As confident as we were that everything was clean, we made a point to push it to the corner of the room. I guess this is where the ball dropped that this wasn’t a family hotel.”

Speaking to i100.co.uk, Hamnams, 23, explained that while the stay was a mistake, the cleanliness and friendliness of the staff meant they had no regrets.

“If our trip taught us anything, The Japanese are a wonderful, hard-working, accommodating people. We made a gaijin [foreigner’s] error, but it turned out to be a happy accident. This isn’t a horror story, the hotel room was spotless, and next time I’m sure we’ll book deliberately.”

So… it was the lube vending machine, the wipe-clean sofa, the denma massager vibe (Hitachi Wand), the condoms, and the double doors that apparently caused the realization finally to dawn on the unwitting tourists.

Okay, here’s our take.

Firstly, it’s hard to stay a week in a love hotel without checking in again. You normally get a “rest” (a few hours) or a “stay” (overnight) package. You would have to check in again before you could stay another day. You might be able to do that by calling down to the reception but we doubt our friends from Brighton could manage the Japanese to do that. Or you would have to go down to the front desk again. And staying a week at a love hotel would actually work out as very expensive — much more than a regular hotel! Although the couple claim they stayed for a week because the place was “nice”, we doubt their wallets or their dignity would last that long.

Secondly, they claim they didn’t notice they were in a love hotel until they took in the amenities and facilities in the room. So it wasn’t till they spotted the vibrator and condoms that they understood? Bullshit. They would have noticed the garish lighting and neon decoration outside, plus the small fact that it would have been located in a district full of other love hotels. Only rural love hotels are isolated affairs, no pun intended.

Thirdly, we also think it would be hard to “book online through a reputable agent” in advance for a love hotel. While you can make reservations at many love hotels — it’s not the norm, though — this would never happen if you went through an agent. We have doubts that love hotels would be listed on regular accommodation portal sites in English.

Fourthly, how could they “check in” without Japanese? Most love hotels don’t have manned receptions and even if they do, they wouldn’t speak English or show their face.

The couple (in their twenties, it seems) have answered their critics with this explanation:

Q: There’s no way you could have stayed in an hourly rate hotel for a whole week.

A: We booked using Booking.com as we did with all the other hotels we stayed with. The arrangement was to pay upon arrival, which was a flat fee for all days. The staff seemed unphased [sic]. We saw bilboards [sic] outside which did seem to be offering an hourly rate, but after travelling for over 27 hours and being in a new country for the first time, we weren’t at our sharpest.

Sorry, but we think this is crap. We believe the couple walked into a love hotel and got a room for the experience. I mean, Japanese love hotels are super famous now — most tourists coming to Tokyo have heard of them.

They then took the pictures, concocted the story, and put it online to see the result.

Of course, nothing is beyond the realms of possibility but this “true story” seems suspiciously stranger than fiction to us…