By Coco Feng
“The love hotel we are building now will be so smart that the light and temperature of the rooms can change according to the mood and intimacy of a couple,” said Lin Degang, CEO of Chunshuitang, a sex toy company based in Beijing, China.
The new ‘smart’ love hotel is called Love Poem, which is set to open at the end of this year in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province of east China.
Lin said that there will be 50 rooms in total, decorated in about ten different styles. Some of them will have skylights, some with mirrors around the room, and some offer role playing activities to couples.
What about the ‘smart’ element? All rooms will be equipped with thermometers that monitor the communications and exchanges between the couples. The light and temperature of the room will be adjusted accordingly, in order to spice up the mood.
Also, guests can order wine, chocolate, costumes and handy gadgets including sex toys manufactured by Chunshuitang.
Lin Degang, CEO of Chinese sex toy company Chuishuntang, is creating a “hormone economy”.
Lin first had an idea of developing a ‘smart’ love hotel in 2009. He spent six years to research and design for his new venture. It was only in June 2015 that the construction work began.
Ariel Winter
Lin saw the potential of themed hotels in China, which is a $3 billion business, making up only 3% of the entire hospitality industry in the country. It seems to be a lucrative market for China, according to China National Tourism Administration, the love hotel market could worth up to $11 billion.
Developed by Japan, love hotels charge by the hour, offering both privacy and a venue for relaxation to couples. The themes vary greatly, from Hello Kitty to space ships.
There are more than 30,000 love hotels in Japan, visited by 2.5 million people per day, according to The Telegraph. On the contrary, there are only 300 to 500 love hotels in China where the population is ten times of Japan, according to China Radio International.
Peyton Royce
Lin chose Hangzhou to be the location for his first hotel Love Poem, because “Hangzhou is a romantic and beautiful city where the Legend of White Snake originated”. White Snake is an ancient Chinese folktale of a love story between a snake and a man. They met each other at West Lake, a landmark of Hangzhou, with beautiful scenery and historic relics. And Love Poem is located at West Lake.
Natalya
Love Poem targets the high-end market, It will charge couples somewhere between $92 and $232 for a night’s stay, similar to what Shangri-La in Hangzhou asks for on average. In the first half of 2015, there’s a whopping 287% more reservations made to stay in five-star hotels in Hangzhou compared to the same period in 2014, the highest increase among all cities in China, according to a report collaborated by Mafengwo, an online travel agency, and Biaozhun007, a ranking and rating company in China.
Chunshuitang has invested $3.9 million in Love Poem. The company started selling sex toys online in 2002, the first e-commerce company that specializes in sex toys in China. It has manufactured 16 types of products in 2014 and received Series B funding of around $12.4 million a year later.
Lin doesn’t want to run a sex toy manufacturing company only. He said he would like to build a “hormone economy” that covers everything about romance and intimacy.