A themed hotel in Hefei is popular among lovers, especially on Valentine's Day, Zhu Lixin reports.

In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, Li Xiaolan's phone was ringing off the hook. Li is the general manager of Anyway Boutique Hotel - otherwise known as the "love hotel" - in Hefei, capital of Anhui province.

Most of the calls were from hotel booking website agents, who were trying to secure rooms for their customers, even though the boutique hotel was no longer accepting online reservations. "We don't have any vacant rooms," she tells one caller.

The days around Valentine's Day are a peak time for all hotels of any type. But the "love hotel", which offers guests a romantic stay, is one of the most popular choices among young couples.

The Anyway Boutique Hotel, which opened in 2011, is the first of its kind in Hefei. The 62-room hotel features 14 themes. The most kinky is the "Prison Jail", where one partner can play a prisoner and the other a prison guard. There are metal bars, handcuffs and a height chart in the room.

The hotel only has two prison jail rooms, since "most customers are still a little too shy to get such a room", Li says.

The hotel has 13 different themed rooms. The Pole Dance, Air-raid Shelter, European Countries and Dark Times room are the largest and most expensive. The most common ones are the Purple Dreams and Dark Times rooms (there are 10 of each).

In order to make customers feel more comfortable, the hotel introduced the city's first self-booking machine at the hotel's check-in desk in November. "They seldom use the machine. My understanding is that once they come, they don't worry about anything. Using the machine will make them feel more embarrassed."

The hotel occupies the top two floors of a five-story building and is located on the 1912 Bar Street, one of the most famous streets in Hefei.

Right below the hotel is a wine shop, where you can buy a bottle of fine wine and bring it upstairs. The owners of the hotel are three young people born in the 1980s.

"The owners can easily find things that may become popular among young people," says Li, adding that the owners also have other businesses.

Not all of the customers are young. Some are middle aged and there have also been a few senior couples. "With the fast pace of modern lives, more and more couples need to have some fun, or life would be a little boring," says Li.

Many themed hotels have opened in recent years, although Li says most are gimmicky. "They just have colored walls and bedsheets instead of the regular white ones," she says.

"Every room in our hotel is specially designed, so the costs are much higher than other hotels".

Li declined to say how the hotel was doing financially, but she added the two new branches will be opened in Hefei, with two more also in the works in another city in Anhui province.

One of the branches in Hefei is almost finished and will open soon, Li says. "The business will still grow in the future. This is a very large market, but one thing to be sure, you must have real and specially designed themes."

Li says the hotel stays busy year-round, especially during holidays such as Valentine's Day, Christmas or National Day. Spring Festival is one exception, Li says, since it's "a time for the family, not just lovers".

(China Daily USA 03/24/2015 page9)