This is the third part in a series exploring the seedy world of by-the-hour sex hotels. We previously visited the Liberty Inn and the Kew Motor Inn.
The fact that La Semana Hotel has a locked front entrance with a doorbell and front desk behind thick glass did nothing to put us, as potential clients, at ease. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the bizarre fixation with plastic flowers that we had seen at the Kew Motor Inn was obvious in the lobby. We paid for our room and were given a key with Mario on it, promoting a family-friendly visit to Nintendo World in Midtown. It was a bizarre choice of advertising, to say the least.
We had just started towards our room when we noticed a queen-sized mattress practically blocking the hallway. It was when we stopped to find a path around it that the smell hit us. It's hard to describe, but it was somewhere along the lines of an old swimming pool, overused tanning salon, moldy locker room, dirty microwave, and most terrifyingly, decaying meat.
My coworker Rachel's face immediately squished up.
"Zach," she said, hear eyes tearing up from the stench, "I don't know whether I should be afraid or if I should throw up."
-- Zach Mack