For many aging men, a full set of thick, healthy hair can be a source of great pride. That’s why the earliest signs of balding can be a bit of a downer, especially for the extremely vain.
If it’s any consolation, there is a hotel in Japan that gives a higher preference to those who already have thinning hair.
For almost two years now, the Kitakyushu Hotel Plaza (a.k.a. Hotel Tetora Kyushu) has been giving a special discount to any patron their staff deem as bald or balding. After passing a careful “baldness” inspection of hotel employees, a client can have a 500 yen ($4.80) discount per night’s stay at any chosen room.
According to RocketNews24, the gesture was not actually meant to be an uplifting message on realizing a person’s “true inner beauty.” The real idea behind it, the hotel claims, was conceived after the the cleaning staff complained about too much hair clogging the drains. Was the company rewarding clients who have been losing hair in their hotels? It is actually not fully explained.
Kitakyushu Hotel Plaza and other hotels by the Tetora Group have been running the campaign since the management deemed it so to care for the follicly challenged. The bald mascot based on the hotel chain’s president Koji Miura in their lobby and bald merchandise prove that the firm is pretty serious about the campaign.
Reactions to the promotion, collected and translated by RocketNews24, range from curiosity (with many asking more questions) to being cautious and mildly taking offense:
“Does the staff carefully inspect the top of your head?”
“Cool, I don’t have any hair.”
“I like discounts, but I don’t know if my pride is worth 500 yen.”
“Do monks count too?”
“I think that’s kind of rude for a hotel to do. What if they gave discounts to women they felt were fat or ugly?”
“I like discounts, but I don’t know if my pride is worth 500 yen.”
“Do monks count too?”
“I think that’s kind of rude for a hotel to do. What if they gave discounts to women they felt were fat or ugly?”
For those who are willing to swallow a bit of pride to take advantage of the discount, you may find Kitakyushu Hotel Plaza at Fukuoka-ken, Kitakyushu-shi, Kokurakita-ku, Kaji-cho 1-9-8, Japan.
