Now US craze of daytime sex stops looks set to sweep UK
New 2-hour quickie rooms help couples to get inn-timate
BLUSHING as the hotel receptionist hands over a key, the frisky couple exchange a knowing glance before they clock the time.
The pair only have two hours of racy fun in their room before they must leave and go back to their normal lives.
But the couple are not having a secret affair.
They have been married for six years and are putting the passion back in their love life with the help of a new service in the UK.
“Day use hotels”, which have been popular in Europe and the US, cater for those wanting a room for a few hours rather than overnight.
Charging as little as £30 for a two- hour daytime stay in rooms around the country, the website dayuse.com boasts that bookings require no credit card and last-minute cancellation is free.
All very helpful for those playing around
But the website avoids any mention of sex, claiming that the rooms are simply for people who wish to “freshen up before appointments” during a working day or to take “a nap because of jet lag”.
Writer Polly Phillips visited a day use hotel with engineer Alan, 34, her husband and father of her child.
The busy couple decided to make use of an “afternoon delight” booking to see if it would spice up their modern relationship — where sex is regrettably low on their priorities.
Polly, 34, from Clapham, South London, says: “Like most couples with a young family, Alan and I are running short on quality time together.
“His job means he works such long hours that when he gets home he’s too exhausted to do anything more than flop in front of the telly.
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“When I read about hotels that allow you to book a room for the day rather than paying for an overnight stay, I thought it could be the just the thing we needed to put the spark back into our relationship.
“We have little time for each other intimately and this could be the perfect way to get things going.”
Recent statistics suggest couples are having much less sex than two decades ago — falling from five times a month in 1990 to four times a month in 2000 and three times a month now.
Leading statistician Professor David Spiegelhalter says if this trend continues then by 2040 the average couple could be having no sex at all — and he believes the internet and social media will be to blame.
Professor Spiegelhalter said: “We used to have a big separation between our public lives and private lives.
“Now they are so mixed up and integrated.
“People are checking their emails all the time.
“You do not have the sort of quiet, empty time that there used to be.”
Polly, who is mum to Elle, two, says: “I’m usually so tired from trying to combine looking after Elle with my part-time work as a writer that the last time I jumped on Alan was probably to grab the remote control.
“The days when we were first dating, when we might go out for drinks or dinner before coming home for an early night, seem like a lifetime ago.
“These days the only thing Alan gets passionate about is the football — and I can’t say I blame him.”
After hearing about dayuse.com where last-minute rooms can be booked without a deposit for around £70, Polly plucked up the courage to suggest a few hours offline to Alan.
She says: “Unsurprisingly, when I mentioned grabbing a few uninterrupted hours together Alan jumped at the idea.
“He even suggested he could wangle ‘working from home’ for a day if I could find somebody to look after our daughter.”
Polly booked The Mercure in London Bridge online and told Alan his luck could be in.
Like for most working couples with young children, dirty weekends away are rare — so Polly tried her best to think like a seductress.
She says: “I felt quite nervous in the run-up to our day out, or should that be day in. It was almost as if the clock had wound back and Alan and I had started dating again.
“I wasn’t sure what I should wear or whether the reception staff might mistake me for a lady of the night and think we were up to no good.
“At one point I even suggested to Alan we should take our wedding rings off before we got there and pretend we were having an affair, but in the end we decided not to.
“We shouldn’t have to feel ashamed for wanting to spend a bit of time together as man and wife.
“It did feel like a bit of a special occasion, though, so I spent a lot more time doing my hair and make-up and put on a nice dress.
“I bought some bubbly and strawberries to get us in the mood and we arranged to meet at the hotel.
“In the lobby, Alan did a double take when he saw all the trouble I had gone to and joked it looked like I was having an affair.”
Since day bookings have become more popular staff are unlikely to look surprised when guests check in for a hook-up.
Polly says: “I needn’t have worried about feeling seedy.
“The hotel was really smart and the receptionist scarcely batted an eyelid when we went up to the front desk and checked into our room without any luggage.
‘It gave me a thrill that they had no idea’
“There were a few people having business meetings in the bar and the lobby and I must admit it gave me a little thrill that they had no idea what we were there for.
“It felt a bit strange once we got up to the room but once Alan cracked open the prosecco and we had a couple of glasses, I began to feel less awkward and we were both able to relax.
“It was just like being on a normal date, only more comfortable as we were lying on a huge double bed.
“We had also made a pact before we got to the hotel that we weren’t going to talk about boring things such as childcare or work, so we felt almost carefree as we relaxed on the bed, our glasses of wine in our hands.
“It didn’t feel particularly natural to get romantic when I had to keep reminding Alan we were on the clock to check out and collect our daughter.
“But luckily he rose to the occasion and my nagging didn’t end in the bickering it usually does.
“Let’s just say we both realised the bed wasn’t there for sleeping on and without the intrusion of TV or having to do odd jobs around the house, we definitely made the most of our time alone together.
“But did it give our relationship back the spice it might have been lacking?
“We definitely left with big grins on our faces and I would recommend it to anyone in need of some intimate time together.
“The one-on-one time out of the home also made Alan and I feel closer and showed us we need to create more opportunities to be alone together — even if they can’t all be sexy time in a hotel room.”
While the staff remained professional, Polly admits they did acknowledge the reason for the couple’s short stay.
She revealed: “Although the woman who checked us in kept a poker face and gave us no judgment, the man who checked us out did give me a knowing smile that made me feel a bit sordid.
“And when we went over to my mum’s house to pick up Elle, fresh off the train from our dirty day away, she asked us innocently if we’d been up to anything nice.
“I couldn’t stop myself blushing.”
It's now a global trend
AROUND the world hourly hotel bookings for couples wanting some X-rated privacy is big business.
- Sex session hotels started in Japan where there are now 30,000. Some offer rooms for £10 an hour but the price goes up as silk sheets, flat screen TVs, porn and huge bathtubs are added to the bill.
- The industry now rakes in more than £20billion a year and some hotel rooms have niche themes such as Star Wars, Santa’s grotto or a clinic for visitors who fancy a game of doctors and nurses.
- In Nanning City in China, a bondage-themed room in one of the country’s first “love hotels” comes complete with a sex chair and bed straps.
- Love hotels are also popular in South America. In Brazil couples can pay by the hour and in Chile some are decorated like prison cells or fitted with Jacuzzis or mirrored ceilings.
- Dayuse is a start-up business which began in France and now operates in 14 countries. Bosses say rates are up to 80 per cent cheaper than full prices.
- Afternoon delight hotels are the latest development in a growing industry meeting the demand for more diverse sexual experiences. In Japan, sex robots, cuddle cafes, naked group bathing and vibrator bars which offer hundreds of sex toys are just some of the services available.
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