You know the situation, a couple becoming overly amorous and it’s clear to anyone who sees what they have in mind; at which point a prankster yells, “Get a room!” The question is, are they referring to a hotel room or a room in a self-storage facility? There is a growing opinion that renting out a storage room as a place for a little ‘hanky panky’ is going mainstream, but is this true or just an urban myth?
Let’s examine some of the problems. Horny couples with a pressing need to find a private place to put their thoughts into action is a well-accepted fact. So what are your options? It is safe to assume that they do not have the option of a nearby house or flat. The desperate may choose a quiet corner of a building, a park, or an alley. None is exactly romantic and they tend to be cold or dirty. Worse yet, the couple could easily be found out, which, except for the most exhibitionist types, is a pretty unappetizing prospect. There is also the modern curse of the surveillance camera. It is not surprising that the chosen place has traditionally been a hotel. The advantages are obvious; a bed (usually a double), clean sheets, a warm and dry room and privacy. Gone are the days when the hotel receptionist was looking for evidence of wedding rings and the same last name. So far, so obvious. So why look any further? Well, just the cost. Hotel rooms are not cheap and in large towns and cities they can be staggeringly expensive. It may be cheaper if you book early and get a deal, but our love partner is often not in that category.
So what about a self-storage facility as a place? Well, a potential client can come and rent a room on the spot. Room sizes range from the size of an old red phone booth to the size of a double garage or larger. Supposedly the length of stay is for a period of four weeks, but self-storage warehouse managers often allow shorter stays. The rooms are spartan. As spartan as you can. Four walls, a roof and a door is your thing. The walls and doors are usually sheet steel, the floor usually concrete. It will be located in a corridor of other similar rooms through which other clients may pass. It is clearly far from the comfort of a hotel room. It doesn’t get hot. It may well be dark and the walls and doors aren’t exactly sound proof. Clients are expressly prohibited from living in their storage unit and are certainly not allowed to stay overnight. In addition, the facility usually closes at five or six at night. It’s a perfect place to safely store possessions, but is there any appeal to the pressing needs of an aroused partner? Well, it’s private, it’s cheap, and many times there are very few customers. A week’s room rental is possibly half the price of a night in a hotel. An enterprising soul can install some sort of furniture to make the proceedings more comfortable, but that’s not exactly a thing of the moment. It’s also just an option for a daytime ‘gathering’.
So is there any proof of such goings-on? Simply put, do people really have sex in self-storage facilities? Unsurprisingly, there is very little actual evidence. My own experience working in the self-storage industry is that there is the odd suspicion, even a racy anecdote, but very few self-storage facility employees have encountered customers who use self-storage in this way. I don’t doubt there are certain horny souls out there who may have used their storage unit as more than just a means to store their personal possessions, but for the most part I’d suggest this is simply an urban myth.