"Love nest" hotels on the rise

(Updated Dec. 7, 2007) -- Although the overall number of hotel customers is going down, Czech hotels are compensating for the drop with “hour hotels”, or “love nests”, according to Mladá fronta Dnes.

The Czech hotel market was hit by a slump in 2005 and returns have been recovering at a rate of two to three percent per year. This makes the growing demand for “short-term bookings" very attractive, the newspaper reports.

“We are constantly full, and we don't need you to write about us," a Prague “hour hotel” owner told MfD, adding that competition is on the rise.

“Love nests” are an ideal way to avoid the tax collector, according to Viliam Sivka, owner of Euro- Agentur Hotels and Travel in Prague, which runs over 30 regular hotels in the country.

“The owners don't report the proceeds. They don't pay VAT (value-added tax), income tax or local duties," he told MfD.

The reason is discretion.

“If I asked for their identification cards, I might as well shut the place down," one “love nest” owner told MfD. Without evidence that the customers were there, the hotel can get away with not admitting the profits.

Of course, hour hotels may not even be subject to a hotel tax.

“I've never encountered a case like this. I suppose they don't have to pay it because it should be paid for every bed per night – and these customers do not take advantage of that," a Prague Town Hall official told MfD.

Other articles in In the Czech press (5/12/2007):

• War of the sexes
• Court impounds army property worth billions
• Poll: Voters like Klaus
• Plane crash kills five Czechs
• Nanotech company Elmarco wins award
• Police investigate Green Party chair
• Czechs/Poles work together on radar base negotiations
• Defense ministry cancels transport vehicle contract
• Kurdish doctor sues Czech media for 26 million Kč
• DA investigates former Finance Minister Sobotka
• Passengers complain about vagrants at Prague airport
• Former Čunek secretary sues Czech justices, police
• Czech-German border town blocks road with a boulder

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