Afternoon Delight: New Service Lets Frisky Travelers Book Hotels for a Few Hours

by  Blane Bachelor | Feb 15, 2013
Couple on vacation
Couple on vacation / grinvalds/iStock

I’ve never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day (my nickname for the manufactured Hershey-and-Hallmark holiday is actually Vomitine’s Day). So, a day after the flurry of romantic travel deals and overload of couple-centric Instagram photos, I couldn’t resist sharing a slightly seedier take on the saccharine-sweet day: a new-to-the-U.S. offering that lets people book New York City hotel rooms for a few hours midday.

The website is called Dayuse-hotels.com, and it lures frisky customers by asking, “How about a naughty nap in a sexy hotel with your sex partner?” First launched in Paris (by five entrepreneurs at the L’Hotel Amour, no less), the service throws the covers off what many frequent travelers, both for business and, ahem, pleasure, have been doing forever: enjoying an afternoon rendezvous in a hotel.

But the hotels promoted by Dayuse aren’t of the hot-sheet variety; instead, they’re three-to-five star properties, offered up to 70 percent off. And though the service also claims to cater to the “nomadic urbanite” as a second office and the constant traveler “looking for a comfortable and quiet room to drop their suitcases,” it’s main target is customers looking to drop their pants for an afternoon roll in the hay.

In fact, dig a little deeper on the website (which needs some polishing in both the grammar and cultural etiquette departments to appeal more to the U.S. market), and you’ll find mentions of both the term “cheaters” and Ashley Madison, the infamous website that caters to those looking to have an affair. The Dayuse website boldly (although a tad confusingly) states: “It is not given to every cheater to be able to live two relationships parallel, but it will get easier with Day Use,” presumably because the service doesn't require credit card details and allows last-minute reservations and cancellations with no charge.

Not that everyone looking to book a hotel for a few hours in the afternoon is partaking in some sleazy affair. In fact, the business model – making use of the typically dead time when hotel rooms are empty during housekeeping, while offering travelers a way to meet their various, um, needs – is pretty enterprising. And, at least for this anti-schmoopy gal, pretty irresistible to share as a darker follow-up to Cupid's heyday.

What do you think about hotels capitalizing on affairs and afternoon delights?

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