Hotel chains tend to make promises about safety, cleanliness, consistency and, depending on the price point, luxury and amenities.
But British Columbia-based mini-chain Hotel Zed has made sex-positivity, including queer sexuality, a core promise of its brand.
And not in a way that’s sleazy or seedy. With cheerful marketing, feminist-friendly principles and savvy staff training, Hotel Zed’s three locations are the kind of hotels you could spend a family holiday at—then come back later for a dirty weekend. Each year around Valentine’s Day, they promote their “Nooner” special, where guests can book a three-hour midday stay. This year’s included a private coaching session with a sex therapist for any guests who wanted it.
“When we started talking about the idea for the Nooner a few years ago, it was interesting because you’re at your workplace and we’re talking about sex. At lunchtime. And I recognized my discomfort in talking about sex at work. I thought about it and realized, ‘Wow, this is dumb,’” says Hotel Zed CEO Mandy Farmer. A married woman with children, she talks about sex with the wholesome enthusiasm of Dr. Ruth Westheimer crossed with a West Coast tree hugger. “One of the best things about hotels is that we often have the best sex in hotels. So that started things percolating. Hoteliers never talk about sex, ever. I started talking about sex with other hotel owners, hotel developers, and I was met with a blank wall of silence. No one wanted to talk to me about it. That’s when I realized there was an opportunity for Hotel Zed to embrace this.”
Hotel Zed is a spinoff of Accent Inns, a five-location British Columbia chain, founded by Farmer’s father. Farmer started out as a sales manager at Accent, taking over from her dad in 1998. Accent hotels have a playful vibe, but Farmer thought she could take it further.
“When I was a sales manager, I was on the road a lot, and I was staying at these hotels that were just so boring,” she says. “I would think, ‘If this was my hotel, what would I do?’ Like with that Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo, which I read as a kid. Then, back in the early 2000s, I got my MBA and decided that my final project was going to be on that concept.”
After 10 years of her concept being rejected, the company finally broke ground on the first Hotel Zed in Victoria in 2014. The place was quirky, with a 1970s retro-chic décor (though some rooms are ’80s), a grandma’s basement–style lounge with a pool table, and a pool with a waterslide. Plus, there are free bike, roller skate and longboard rentals—all of which can be used to cruise through the lobby and around the property. It was about being creative in order to nurture the creativity of guests. Locations in Tofino and Kelowna followed. Zed also doubled-down on Accent’s policy of being a hotel for everyone.
“That’s not just directed at queer folk; it’s also directed at body type and accessibility. Just recently, we had a very large person stay in one of our accessible rooms. It meant the world to them that they did not feel judgment, that they knew that this room was going to be built to accommodate them,” says Farmer.
Hotel Zed and Accent Inns have gone through the process of becoming Rainbow Registered, a certification system for Canadian businesses that want to be known as LGBTQ2S+-welcoming. They passed the process, Farmer says, with flying colours. As well as hiring people committed to her vision, and training them to be non-judgmental, the company has thought through many details around inclusion. For example, about six years ago, they realized that some trans people’s IDs didn’t match the name on the registration form, so they changed their software to make sure they didn’t deadname anyone in their system. All their marketing and social media includes images of a wide variety of body types and gender presentations.
“In our social media and on our website, you are going to see trans people. That’s always going to be front and centre and everyone’s going to see that,” says Farmer. “What I love about that is, if we get trolls posting things like ‘I’m never going to stay there,’ we can respond with the celebration emoji, because we don’t want those people coming. By promoting what we love, we’re also keeping out people like that.”
The sex-positivity component evolved from this lack of fear of offending prudes and bigots. The Nooner promotion seems to be just the start of it. Hotel Zed Victoria is in the process of launching a “romance room,” which will have a décor and, um, “fixtures” intended to inflame carnal desires. Though Farmer is secretive about the details, she says the room will be swanky—not at all dungeon-like—with hard points on the walls and ceiling where a sling could be hung or shibari ropes attached.
“The sectional couches have been purposefully designed after this 1970s couch called the playpen, which is just really a big cuddle puddle,” says Farmer. “People always ask me, ‘How are you gonna clean this room?’ I’m a hotelier, I know how to do that. People have sex in hotels all the time. Everything is designed to be washable.”
