The residence faces two discreet streets in the center of the small town of Remiremont (Vosges). It is because of its tranquility, in addition to the access to a private parking lot, that Jessica and Raphaël De Abreu, a couple of restaurateurs, decided to buy an apartment there with a view to a somewhat special rental project.
Called Le Spa de la Quarterelle, this love room, designed as “a naughty nest”, It attracted its share of criticism even before it opened. “What mainly got people talking”recalls Raphaël De Abreu, is the contrast between the concept of housing, oriented towards carnal pleasures, and the history of the residence, which has long housed nuns. But the angry letters and anonymous calls “quickly stopped” after the studio is rented in early 2023, says the forty-year-old. “The neighbors noticed that the customers They are polite, discreet people who come simply to spend a romantic evening. »
Remiremont, but also Perpignan, Flers, Cannes, Saint-Brieuc… The regional press periodically reports on the opening of these love rooms, whose advertisements appear on rental platforms (Airbnb or Booking), as well as on a dozen specialized sites (LoveRoomers, Nuit d’amour, etc.). “The phenomenon has become widespread since the Covid-19 crisis,” says Jérôme Forget, specialist in the independent rental market and director of the consulting firm Guest & Strategy. “Before 2020, there were only a dozen products of this type, with very sexual connotations. Today there are more than a thousand throughout the country”points out.
A success all the more surprising since a similar concept, that of Japanese love hotels, did not take off in France in the early 2000s. “Love rooms embrace the same underlying trends that have since infused society: the need for couples to escape their homes to recreate bubbles of intimacy and a liberalization of sexual practices.”explains Didier Arino, general director of the company Protourisme.
Give life to your daily life discreetly
Justine, who did not want to give her last name, is the founder of the rental platform Evasion Romantique, launched in 2022 with her partner, after having searched for this type of property themselves. For her, “a love room is much more than a place of sexual escape Fifty Shades of Gray : it is a place to escape and that’s it”. “ Typical clients are couples, between 35 and 55 years old, who come to meet and spice up their daily lives.” agrees Samuel, co-founder of the Love’n Spa site, which brings together a selection of nearly six hundred properties of this type.
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