Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008    Text size: 

According to an ABC News report, The Vincent Hotel, which is scheduled to open this May, will provide "intimate seduction kits" in each of its 60 rooms. The sealed kits will contain lubricating gel, massage oil, a vibrating ring and two condoms.

"As well as giving guests a design conscious venue to stay, we wanted to give them a decadent, inspiring and seductive environment to enjoy," Vincent owner Paul Adams said.

"We want to provide our residents with a distinct and highly individual experience in their own private, opulent space."

The Vincent Hotel is not the first to recognize an untapped market right under its nose. Hotels and hotel chains around the world — including Hilton Hotels, Ritz-Carltons, New York's Hudson, San Francisco's Clift, Six Columbus and a host of hotels in Canada — have already jumped on the pro-sex bandwagon.

Even communist China is getting into the act, albeit for other than salacious reasons. In an attempt to prevent soaring HIV/AIDS rates — which jumped by 54 percent in the city last year — Beijing has ordered hotels to provide condoms in all bedrooms.

Not all luxury hotels are supplying sex toys, either. Some are providing condoms and lube only, a move that has been met with consternation by some in the hotel industry.

In a column posted online in November 2007, Barry Napier from Hotel Online expressed dismay at a trend that he believes "panders to a seamy side of life."

"Theirs is not about service," he said. "It is about becoming providers of anything-goes."