White Day draws queues; love hotel operators: Don’t overdo the celebration

Reported by You T-Ru / Taipei

As annual White Day arrives, coupled with consecutive public holidays, many couples have already made reservation plans for celebrations. Love hotel operators in Taiwan noted that although room bookings are only at 70% due to the holiday, queues of people resting after work have already formed. They also reminded those planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day at love hotels not to get too carried away in the festivities, as damaging in-room facilities could turn the celebration into a disappointment.


▲ With Valentine’s Day here, many people may choose to party at a love hotel. (Photo / Provided by Weige)

Celebrating Valentine’s Day by throwing a private party at a love hotel seems to be a common plan for many. Cao, deputy manager of Weige Boutique Motel, said that it’s quite common to find rooms filled with romantic balloons when guests check out. Aside from that, many also celebrate with candles or cakes. “We once had a guest who got so excited lighting candles that they forgot to extinguish them, resulting in damage to several in-room items,” Cao said, reminding guests to be especially careful if they plan to use open flames in the room to avoid danger.

In addition to equipment damage caused by candles, love hotel operators often find items left behind by guests, averaging about 20 different items per day. “People leave behind all sorts of things they no longer need,” Cao explained, giving examples ranging from common electronics and adult toys to cosplay outfits like nurses and bunny girls — sights that love hotel staff have long since stopped finding surprising. “The most shocking thing we’ve found was a check worth over a million, along with land deeds and diamonds.”

Take Weige Boutique Motel as an example: the room dedicated to storing lost and found items is about three tatami mats in size, with partitioned shelving used to hold guests’ belongings, which are typically kept for around a year. “The chances of guests coming back to retrieve their items are very low — most just leave things behind and never return,” Cao said. Generally, love hotels never proactively contact guests, so if something really is forgotten, it’s up to the guest to remember and come back for it.