TOKYO — At 6:30 p.m. on a Friday, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" fills the lobby of the Hotel Mario outside Tokyo. A couple scans a board showing photos of the 50 rooms, rentable for a few hours. Only three are left.

Japan's 25,000 love hotels are making money even as companies such as Sony Corp., NEC Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. cut jobs amid the worst recession since World War II. Lovers can get a couple of hours of privacy for as little as $30, the cost of entry at a Tokyo nightclub, in a country where adults often live with their parents until their 30s.

"It's a recession-proof industry," said Steve Mansfield, chief executive officer at New Perspective, which helps manage six hotels owned by Japan Leisure Hotels Ltd. "We've even made some rooms more profitable by putting up prices."

The lovers' lodges are bucking the industry trend. Hotels in Japan have seen occupancy rates drop for three straight quarters, and the number of stays slid 3.2 percent in the three months ended December, twice the rate of the previous quarter.

By contrast, London-based Japan Leisure bought a sixth hotel last year and is planning further expansion, said Mansfield.

DIFFERENT MARKET

Love hotels fare better in this environment, said Martin Schulz, a senior economist in Tokyo at Fujitsu Research Institute.

"It's not the same as for luxury hotels, which are really in trouble now," he said. "The overall market for love hotels is not so much economy-related. It's for people escaping very narrow homes."

More than half of Japan's 127 million people live in metropolitan areas, such as Tokyo, where an apartment for two or three is typically about 646 square feet.

Next door to the Mario, on the nation's busiest highway, the luxury-liner shaped Queen Elizabeth has seen sales soar since it reopened in December, complete with life-size figures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet from the movie "Titanic" on its roof. Other love hotels lure customers with lower rates, Jacuzzis and even maid-costume rentals.

Customers choose rooms from a display with pictures of the suites. There's no check-in form and cashiers are hidden behind a screen.

LUXURY FEATURES

Many love hotels have abandoned the red velvet sofas, revolving beds and mirrored ceilings that made them famous in the 1960s and '70s. A renovation at the Bonita hotel in Sendai, north of Tokyo, recently bought by Japan Leisure, has rooms more akin to a boutique hotel, with 42-inch flat-panel televisions, black modern sofas and king-size beds.

"It can feel embarrassing to take people back home and so love hotels are popular," said Mitsuo Seki, a 32-year-old bartender in Tokyo who visits love hotels three to four times a month. "They have lots of extras as well that are very entertaining."

Just over 52 percent of the nation's leisure hotels predicted sales will be flat or increase this year, according to a survey in January by trade-magazine Leisure Hotel.

Japan Leisure didn't give net income in its earnings statement on May 18. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 2.6 percent to 491 million yen at its five Bonita-branded hotels in 2008, after taking out fees for services that include costs for its initial public share sale. Guest numbers at the Bonita hotels rose 1.4 percent, the company said.

Japan Leisure plans to raise $76 million to invest in Japan's love hotels, the London-based Times reported on May 18.

SERIOUS ROMANCE

Even at the top end of the lodging market, operators are looking for love to temper sagging business-customer sales.

The Westin Tokyo offers "Romance" packages with sparkling wine and strawberries from 50,000 yen a night with a minimum two-night stay in a deluxe room. The chain is targeting partners at a different stage in their relationship than its cheaper rivals, ones who may be thinking about proposing, said Yumi Kuriyama, a director of sales and marketing at the Westin Tokyo.

"We haven't been seeing a decline in those bookings," said Kuriyama. "Couples come to us when they're serious."