February 11, 2009 2:20 PM

Sex Packets Becoming Popular Hotel Amenity

(AP)  At The Water Club, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa's ultra-posh luxury hotel, you've got 60 seconds to decide if you're in the mood.

If a package of adult personal care items including condoms and other intimate products called "The Passion Kit" isn't put back on the shelf by then, the hotel automatically charges you for it.

Since the hotel opened next to the Borgata at the end of June, the sex kits are the top-selling in-room item. Drew Schlesinger, vice president and general manager of The 800-room hotel, says they've sold more than 1,500 of the kits at $18 a pop.

"I actually had one woman get upset because there was only one kit in her room," he said. "I didn't ask why."

It's definitely an edgier trend in the hotel business, but one that's catching on. Some hotel chains offer similar packages, and a few hotels in Manhattan offer free condoms as part of their bathroom array, along with the toothpaste, shampoo and soap.

At Six Columbus, a hotel in New York City, guests can purchase a "Shag Bag" including condoms and other intimate items. Its sister property, 60 Thompson, offers an `Intimacy Kit," which is "a step up from the regular Shag Bag," spokeswoman Olivia Taylor said.

The kits are a big seller at the Thompson properties as well.

"It's kind of an easy way to purchase these items without having to go to a store," she said. "Guests really seem to like it."

At The Water Club, right there on a display atop the dresser next to boxes of peanuts, chocolate-covered cherries and other goodies, sit the Passion Kits. A light sensor determines when the item is lifted from its spot in a dresser-top display, and automatically charges the item to the guest's bill if it's not replaced within a minute. (Schlesinger assures that someone who doesn't use the kit but is billed for it will get a refund upon request.)

The Water Club kits also include scratch-off "lottery tickets" that tell which particular type of intimacy the user has "won."

"If you do it right, everyone is a winner," Schlesinger said.

The hotel definitely discourages children. You must be 21 or older to rent a room there, and even if accompanied by an adult, children are still banned from using the hotel's spa and five swimming pools.

"We would actually rather you didn't bring your children," said Larry Mullin, the Borgata's president. "You've got a Passion Kit in the room; that's for adults to have fun with."

The kits can be hidden or removed from a room if a guest requests in advance.

And last but not least, the hotel's "Do Not Disturb" signs go into much greater detail than those elsewhere, with a movable wheel listing numerous possible reasons why the occupants don't wish to be interrupted at a given moment. The appeal of the signs is so great that they have become collector's items.

"I lose those things by the thousands," Schlesinger said.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 22 Comments
by tigerboo58 September 15, 2008 7:02 PM EDT
s-e-x....s-e-x....s-e-x....s-e-x....s-e-x....s-e-x
Take that zapper!!!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by tigerboo58 September 15, 2008 6:59 PM EDT
Odd that *** ( s-e-x ) would be edited/zapped out of comments re; an article about s-e-x.
Reply to this comment
by erasmus81 September 15, 2008 6:59 PM EDT
"LOL gee, people don''''t think to bring that junk with them when they travel??" Posted by newster1 at 01:32 PM : Sep 15, 2008

Well, there are probably some business men that don''t "plan" on picking up some tramp off the street.
It just HAPPENS.


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by u-r-right September 15, 2008 6:28 PM EDT
Do these packets include blow up dolls and/or vibrators?
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by yongamerica September 15, 2008 5:10 PM EDT
hecklerbird - seeing as the Republicans have a larger constituency of *** than the Democrats how sure are you of that statement? By the way, just because they are known to be closet *** doesn''t make them any less gay.
Reply to this comment
by yongamerica September 15, 2008 5:08 PM EDT
An incredible ripoff. What curious person wouldn''t inspect a bag on a shelf and take more than a minute to examine its contents and return it to the shelf without knowing htey were automatically billed for it?
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by nothappyatall September 15, 2008 4:32 PM EDT
"It''s kind of an easy way to purchase these items without having to go to a store," she said. "Guests really seem to like it."

LOL gee, people don''t think to bring that junk with them when they travel??
Reply to this comment
by rushliberal September 15, 2008 4:19 PM EDT
*** Packets Becoming Popular Hotel Amenity

--

However - these packets are only available in towns and cities that the McCain/Palin joint campaign stops are held.

Join in the Fun and ''Poke a Pig with Lipstick'' Republican stopover and get FREE McCain Palin *** Packets.

I think the Republican Logo should be changed to a PIG with Lipstick on!

The GOP insults Elephants EVERYWHERE!
Reply to this comment
by krenz4 September 15, 2008 3:58 PM EDT
impeach: I have to be stupid for suggesting that all the hormones and antibiotics, tranquilizers and god only knows what else may be contributing to the marked increase in pedophiles, rapists, senseless killers and pervs of every stripe? I cannot be the only one who has thought of this!!! You are an ignorant idiot if you think that "humans ar *****" is some sort of answer. If that were true, the perversions in this country would have become so common as to be legal by now. take look at our society,more people than ever before are gay, thinking they are gay, raping kids, killing their wives and children and doing some of the most sick *** sen on the planet. My thought is that perhaps we''ve been exposed to so many drugs in the water that are changing our behaviour! think about iT!!!
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by cheeta21 September 15, 2008 3:49 PM EDT
by putting these into hotels & motels are saying to people lets be more premiscus do''nt we have enough problems std''s
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