Though they're primarily used as a place to share an intimate moment, people are starting to realize they're not only about sex. A Yonhap News piece in August looked at the ways motels have changed to attract not only clients looking for a few hours to get away, but people who want to relax in other ways. Competition has pushed motels to offer more, and, the piece says, "more and more motels are transforming their guest rooms into private entertainment places equipped with wide-screen TVs and other high-tech gadgets as a means of attracting clients."
Large televisions, computers, big beds, and bathtubs are standard in the newer rooms, and some of the more stylish ones offer jacuzzis, Nintendo and PlayStation consoles, motorcycles in the room, and even telescopes on upstairs verandas, all for between 50,000 won and 100,000 won a night. The kitch of multicolored mood lights and swanky interior is a fun, welcome change from drab apartment rooms or ordinary faded beige of older tourist hotels. Prospective travellers can make informed decisions about nicer motels by browsing the maps and photographs on an online motel directory, available in Korean.
Not all motels are satisfactory, but many are. It's best to choose one that looks new and clean from the outside; in some places, like near Busan's Haeundae Beach, motels will list their rooms' features on the outside.
In spite of their ubiquity, there is a love-hate relationship among Koreans with motels and what they stand for. After all, there aren't hundreds of motels in each town because Koreans love to travel, and they don't rent rooms in two-hour blocks because Koreans have evolved beyond sleep.
Motels are also often the most prominent buildings in the neighborhood, and tend to make the news only when there's a suicide or when the police break up gambling and prostitution rings.
Because of the stigma, and because they only get mentioned in English in association with crime or kinky sex, people who haven't realized how great a value they are hold negative stereotypes of them. I wasn't too happy to see one of the stories on the news this morning was a suicide pact carried out at a Yangju motel.
The directories I mentioned are ones I've talked about several times on this site, and are Hotel 365, Motel Guide, and Yanolja. I've never made reservations online, but it's useful to see pictures, prices, and maps rather than just wandering aimlessly around a subway station. It's also fun to have a look around. Here are a few I just dug up:
The Nice Motel (나이스) in Uijeongbu, atop the rankings on Motel Guide. The "Party Room" is 100,000 won a night during the week, 120,000 won on weekends.
The Boracay (보라카이모텔) in Busan is one of the most colorful motels I've seen. Rooms are between 40,000 won and 70,000 won a night. Those are looks at two of the VIP rooms, 70,000 won a night, via Yanolja.
And, mentioned in the article, is the Motel El'lee and its autobike room. It's 60,000 won a night during the week, or 80,000 won on weekends. The motel also has a room with a stripper pole, the 나이트 room.
This is the "event suite" at the Ilsan Cyber Motel (일산사이버), via Yanolja. It's 70,000 won a night.
Finally, something closer to home, it's the Amortel in Hwasun county, which I profiled a little in February. The VIP Room has a balcony with a goddamn telescope. It's 80,000 won a night during the week, 100,000 won a night on weekends.
The first draft of the article was over the word-limit, so I cut out a suggestion to make more of these available in English, considering what we talked about earlier regarding the failed "Best Night in Korea" initiative. I think it would be useful to have more access to motels on, say, the KTO website, allowing for easier access to them for foreigners, but there are a few obstacles. First of all, when schools can't even get Korean English teachers who can communicate in English, what are the chances of getting love motel managers who can? Second, as we see with travel agents and taxi drivers who cater to foreigners, they are more expensive. Third, the experience would likely get watered-down to cater to what foreigners are assumed to want. I don't want to pay 25% as much for a toned-down version of what I can find on my own. It might also encourage motel owners to close their doors to foreigners if they figure there are "foreigner motels" out there. Finally, motels certainly get most of their money from Korean clients, and speciailize in renting their rooms out for two-hour blocks. I suspect many motels would opt out of such an umbrella organization. A few weeks ago I tried at several motels in Seoul to rent a room for two consecutive nights, but was told I also had to pay a daytime fee of 30,000 won to hold the room and, presumably, to help compensate for the money motels lose by not being able to rent them out during the day.
That was all speculation, though, for the sake of speculation, as the demand by non-Korean-speaking foreigners simply isn't, nor will be, great enough to cause any change. Nor should it, really. Some things are better when they're earned.
So, anyway, instead I wanted to just share those directories and encourage people in Korea to learn more about what's out there. In conclusion, Korea is a land of contrasts. Thank you for reading my essay.
9 comments:
Those rooms look ace, particularly the party room.
I like staying in love motels as it's always a fascinating adventure to get into the room and see what extras you get.
It is bizarre that Koreans tend to repudiate them so. Any other nation would salivate at the thought of a prolific, ready-made network of mid-sized 'boutique' hotels (I used the term advisedly, in acknowledgment of the many, many lower end love hotels out there). With their love of providing extra services and conveniences, they are the mirror opposite of chain hotels elsewhere in the world.
This was brought home to me when I stayed in a Travelodge in the UK year before last and found that they provided in the room, by way of my comfort, virtually nothing besides the bed. I emailed the manager after my stay and pointed out the differences between my UKP75.00 room in the UK and my (equivalent of) UKP25.00 in Korea, but she failed to take my point.
Come to think of it, I forked out some astronomical price for a fancy hotel room in Gangnam last year (it was an international hotel chain, but I don't recall which), and it was nowhere near as good as an upper-end love hotel. However, I have a difficult choice awaiting me next year: I have various family members coming over for my wedding - do I put them up in love hotels or somewhere more 'international'?
These places look like fun, but I hope they don't drive up the average price. When I stay in a love hotel it's because I'm bumming around and just looking for a place that's cheap but still has a western bed and shower. Anything else is just a bonus.
This is one of the best looking hotels I've come across so far:
http://rainbowhotel.co.kr/
Every single room has a unique theme with a clever name, and they even showcase the individual designers on the homepage.
An enterprising bilingual Korean should set up a service through which they book your "luxury" motel room for a nominal fee.
Long comment, sorry:
I see (at least) one flaw in the article and the post. I've always been trying to say that motels are half or a third as much as tourist hotels, and even though I said that in the article, too, I've done nothing but show rooms that are often 60,000 won +. It's true that even at 60,000 won a night they're still a good bit cheaper than tourist hotels---and about a quarter the price of an international chain---I also want people to realize you can get a clean room with all the basics for 35,000 - 50,000 won a night.
Love motels do go all out with the service. I stayed at the Noblesse in Haeundae and was impressed with all the ammenities. And, the coffee, water, and ramen is free. Something I'll explore in my dissertation---joking, but it's interesting---is the relationship between cost and how you feel about using amenities. For example, I splurged a little bit and stayed in one of the best hotels in Beijing back in 2008. In places like that, everything in the room costs something (the coffee, the water, the snacks, everything in the bar), and spending what I was spending in that hotel I of course felt cheap asking about certain amenities. After all, if somebody is going to spend $500 a night (not what I was paying, but still) on a room, are they really going to sweat an $7 bottle of water?
old_o, that looks awesome. I've stayed at the "Max" near Yeoksam station. Browsing some of the motel websites I saw it was one of the cheapest in the area. But each floor is a different nationality. The India Room looks nice, but I stayed at the Spain Room in 2006. I tried to go there a couple of weeks ago, but it was one of the places that wanted to charge a daytime fee.
Erik, I've always wanted to set up a motel directory website or blog (not necessarily hooking up reservations, but that'd be a heck of an idea). I wonder how much access somebody like me would get. I'm sure all the motels have given these directories their permission---indeed, they're basically advertisements---though I wonder if they'd cooperate with me. Something like a motel wiki would be a cool idea, though I found that it's very hard to get people interested in doing a wiki after very few helped out with the Galbijim one.
Those are some insanely cool rooms for amazing prices.
Old O that rainbow hotel site has some of the buggiest flash work ever. It totally barfs on Firefox and even Google Chrome. Bet it works like a charm in IE6 tho.
With both 'Nice Motel' and 'Motel El'lee' getting a nod in this entry, does this mark Uijeongbu as one of Korea's best destinations for high-end love motels?
I've never actually been to any here in town, though I did catch the Motel El'lee advertisements near the subway station and there's a new Noblesse about two blocks from my apartment. Might have to check one out the next time my internet connection goes out.
Anyone got a line on decent ones in Gwangju? There are actually quite a few Egyptian themed Hotels in Sangmu which Im curious about, but as with most things in Korea, I also harbor great fear and suspicion about.
Post a Comment