A sign in a bathroom of Naumi Hotel Auckland Airport. Photo / Supplied
A sign in a bathroom of Naumi Hotel Auckland Airport. Photo / Supplied
Sexually loaded signs around an Auckland hotel have been described as ''yuck'' and ''degrading'', prompting the hotel company to review them.
Naumi Hotel Auckland Airport says its approach to describing ammenities are a ''tongue-in-cheek, light hearted and fun approach'' but a woman who stayed there says she would never goback and had received numerous messages of support on Facebook.
A bag with a hairdryer has the sign ''Naumi says blow me'', a book is labelled ''Naumi says open me wide'', while a sign in the bathroom reads ''Naumi says swallow, it's safe''.
Wellington woman Teresa Pomeroy said that when she booked the hotel through a travel agent she did a quick check of the place, which opened earlier this year, but didn't get any hint of the sexualised nature of the decor.
''When I posted pictures on my Facebook page it was clear that people found it shocking; several talked of boycotting Naumi Hotels and a couple of people talked of also feeling shocked when they had stayed there,'' she told the Herald.
''I was really surprised they had made that choice in the post #MeToo era ... it's not just the sexual nature of the messages but that it is clearly a female voice, a kind of 'soft porn' voice. Women, and good men, are over it ... it's time the business world takes it seriously,'' she said.
The Singapore-based hotel chain's manager of marketing and communications Allison De Cruz said these messages have been present in our other properties internationally for the last four years and we have not had ''major'' issues with guests finding it offensive.
''In our Auckland Airport property, the overwhelming majority of guests compliment these quirky features. Nonetheless, we take all our guest feedback very seriously and will review this internally,'' she said in an emailed response to the Herald.
Another woman who stayed there said on Facebook that she had stayed there and found the hotel was trying to be hip but had gone way too far.
''I'm not a prude but felt this was inappropriate on so many levels,'' she said.
Another asked whether it ''was a first cousin to Wicked Campers?'' - a motorhome firm whose offensive signs have prompted complaints.
Others described signs as vulgar, truly awful and tacky.
''It's basically a really cheap build with strange tacky glitz that's meant to con us into thinking its really funky,'' another Facebook post said.
On the hotel's Facebook page pictures from the hotel's opening function earlier this year shows a body-painted woman in a cage and other models lying around on beds partly clothed.
Sexual innuendo has planted across various items in the hotel. Photo/Facebook.
Before the opening, Gaurang Jhunjhnuwala, chief executive of Naumi Australia and New Zealand, said it had spent $50 million on the property and had plans to open more Wellington.
He said then that he hoped the rooms would be polarising.
''It should be akin to staying in a friend's stylish home. It should be someone's favourite room or someone's non-favourite room,'' said Jhunjhnuwala.
