Love motels go upmarket in Mexico
Mexico This article is more than 9 years oldThis article is more than 9 years oldLong-established custom of the hotel de paso is undergoing a style revolution, offering luxury on top of privacy and discretionPirámides del Valle hotel – in pictures
For decades their windowless exteriors have looked out over major traffic routes roads through big Mexican cities, and their neon signs can always be spotted along the main roads leading into the smallest of towns. But while millions of Mexicans have a hotel de paso or two lodged in their memories, it is not usually for their decor.
But now, this long-established custom is going upmarket. The "love motel" has always offered privacy and discretion, now it is adding a little luxury to boot.
Where once it was rare for rooms to have more than a bed, a TV, and perhaps a mirror, today it is not unusual to find jacuzzis, rotating platforms, poles, swings, and cushioned corners kitted out with handcuffs.
"Before, they weren't exactly horrible, but they weren't nice either," says regular client Josimar. "Now some are really great."
Josimar is fond of the Pirámides del Valle hotel in Mexico City. It now includes a room with a catwalk, and a long, undulating swimming pool which disappears into a water-filled grotto behind a cascade.
"I thought that if making love is so beautiful and fun, how come the spaces for it are so ugly and boring," says designer Aurelio Vazquez, who is credited with detonating the boom after he insisted on a free rein when asked to renovate another traditional hotel in the capital.
Vazquez recalls the owners' initial scepticism and fear, rooted, he says, in distrust of their clients, who they accused of vandalising the rooms and stealing furniture. But when the first new-look hotel proved an immediate success, the offers to do more came rolling in.
Similar hotels are now springing up around the country, assiduously promoted and reviewed on social media to ensure that no new feature goes undissected.
The prices are considerably higher than the basic versions that still abound, but with the fanciest rooms costing around £150 for five hours, it is still less than paying for a whole night in many hotels. Threesomes and more usually involve additional charges.
"This is a design revolution," Vazquez says.
Hoteles de paso are primarily a Latin American phenomenon which, those involved in the business say, has always been particularly developed in Mexico. It took off in the 1940s, spearheaded by immigrants from Galicia, whose grandchildren still dominate the sector. A new wave of Galicians is now being enticed over, all too happy to flee economic crisis at home. But this is also a very Mexican tradition, thriving in a culture that, while conservative on the surface, accepts sexual peccadilloes, as long as they are not flaunted too openly.
"It is a deeply rooted in our double standards," says cultural commentator Guadalupe Loaeza. Double standards, she notes, that are transforming with more liberal attitudes to sex, but not disappearing.
Love motels rely on young people who live with their parents, even when they have decent independent incomes, and would never think of having sex in the family home, even with an established partner. The difference is that the luxury versions appeal more to couples from higher up the economic ladder.
"It would be disrespectful to my family," says one lawyer. "I have been with my boyfriend for two years now and I am sure my parents know we have sex; they just don't want to know that they know."
Gay clients, like Josimar, also rely on love hotels to avoid gossip. While he lives on his own and came out years ago, he says, his partner has not, and is the son of a public figure, into the bargain. "I need to protect him," he says. "And we feel very comfortable in the nice hotels."
The Mexico City lifestyle magazine Chilango recently delved into the sex lives of more than 8,000 readers with a survey that included a question about love motels to which only 16% responded that they did not frequent them.
Aidee Iribe, who runs a website dedicated to what she calls hoteles kinky, says there is also a growing market among married couples and what she terms "neo-singles". In both categories, she says, women are a driving force behind the popularity of luxury love hotels.
"Women are beginning to take a much more active role that recognises the importance of their sex lives," she says, "and women care more about the design."
And then, of course, there is the old-fashioned clandestine affair, with Mexico's designated Day of the Secretary, on the third wednesday of July, remaining one of the busiest days in the calendar in all classes of love hotels.
But they don't appeal to everyone, no matter many new gadgets they boast. One high-level bureaucrat in his 40s said the similarly successful married woman with whom he is having an affair avoids them precisely because they are so popular. There is, after all, always the risk of your car being spotted before the garage door comes down.
"She is nervous of bumping into colleagues," he says. "We go to ordinary hotels."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5FpaG1no5q9cHyUaKOorpViurDAxKWqZqCfqbKtecOeZKmZo6R6trzMmqmknaRiubbE1KuwZqWVrbakuw%3D%3D