As discussed on this blog before, Japan’s love hotels have increasingly become focused on amenities.
In spite of the western stereotype of love hotels as gawdy, crazy lairs of kinkiness, the actual number of themed chambers and unusual rooms is low — and largely consigned to the countryside (notwithstanding the odd exception in Tokyo like this steampunk hotel).
Instead, the love hotels in the inner cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe have to compete against each other in terms of value and facilities. And that comes down to more mundane yet important things like baths, food, wifi, karaoke, video games, television channels, and so on.
Considering the media would have us believe that no one in Japan is having sex, it makes you wonder if these amenities are just desperate gimmicks to entice couples who otherwise wouldn’t consider a roll in the hay.
Now a love hotel in Kobe has announced a new food service for guests that it hopes will not only bring in plenty of yen from short stays but even get it a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
While we don’t think the Guinness Book of Records has a specific section for Japanese love hotels (but how cool would that be it did), Hotel Chapel Sweet in Kobe thinks its parfait is good enough to make the cut.
Guests can choose a free parfait from among 500 varieties. After all, there’s nothing like something sugary to get two people in the mood for some fun.
The free parfaits have been around for a few years, it seems, but the hotel operators upped the ante this year and increased the number of available flavors to a whopping 500. And with that, boldly applied to the Guinness Book of Records.
The parfaits are, it must said, nothing if not visually impressive.
