It’s not uncommon for hotels to offer discounts to selected guests. Perhaps you get a special rate because you’re an AARP or AAA member, or perhaps you’re working for a certain company. But this might just be one of the strangest (and funniest) discounts I have ever seen offered. Hotel Tetora Group, which owns 13 hotels in Japan, is offering a discount to people who are balding!
According to RocketNews24, it all started in Kitakyushu Hotel Plaza (or Hotel Tetora Kyushu). The owner heard complaints from the housekeeping staff about too much hair in the drain, and came up with the idea. If the front desk staff judges you to be balding, you get a 500 JPY (~US$4.8) discount per night! Whether it’s worth $5 to get some (perhaps unsolicited) opinion from a stranger about your balding situation is of course…your own decision.
Hotel Tetora Group is offering a 500 Yen discount if you’re judged to be balding!
It looks like the hotel has been offering the discount since 2014, which has since spread to all 13 hotels under the Tetora Group. They are spread across Japan, with locations in Tokyo, Hyogo, Fukoka, and Hokkaido, to name a few. Perhaps fascinatingly, the hotel chain’s president, Koji Miura, is himself bald. The hotel chain now even has a bald mascot, made after Miura.
Tetora Hotels now have a bald guy as the mascot. Photo by ホテルテトラ北九州/Facebook
I think this is a really funny discount, and I think most guest take it in good spirit. I doubt that people would choose the hotel based on this discount, but it would sure make for a pretty memorable check-in experience. But there are also so many unanswered question here…how do I maximize this discount? If two people are staying together and they are both balding, do they get double the discount? Is HUCA applicable here (I insist that I’m balding, find another employee)? Are they partnering with any hair loss treatment companies?
I kid, of course. Ultimately, I think whether you get happy, sad, or offended from the discount depend on how you perceive your baldness.
How would you react if you got the discount?
(HT Washington Post)
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2 comments
I really doubt Japanese people would get offended
I’d take the discount….that money can help fund the next trip.