Put the shagging in Shaggin’ Wagon this Valentine’s Day

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“If this van’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’.” That oh-so-’70s maxim certainly applies if you find yourself tromping through the woods of Tofino (Vancouver, B.C.) during Valentine Day’s week. The West Coast surf town’s Hotel Zed is offering a new twist on its popular Nooner Package, which for nearly a decade now has offered amorous couples a memorable and fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day at its properties in Tofino, Victoria, and Kelowna. The Collins English Dictionary defines “nooner” as slang for “a sexual encounter in the middle of the day, especially during a lunch hour.”

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“Give the gift of their sexy selves for Valentine’s Day, with a lunchtime of love,” is how Mandy Farmer, president, CEO, and chief visionary of Hotel Zed and Accent Inns, describes the Nooner Package, which sees guests check in at 11 a.m. and check out at 2 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.

This year the retro hotel chain is giving guests the opportunity to put the “shagging” in Shaggin’ Wagon. The company recently purchased a truly classic 1978 Chevrolet conversion van, complete with large windows; shag carpet on the floor, walls, and ceiling; a record player with a collection of mood-inspiring LPs; and playful games, including Truth or Dare.

“I am slightly addicted to bringatrailer.com,” admits Farmer. “I saw it on the website and I had to buy it. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I had to buy it. It’s gorgeous.”

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Thanks to the CEO’s healthy obsession with the classic vehicle online auction site, Hotel Zed has an eclectic fleet of shuttle buses, including several classic Volkswagen buses, a wood-paneled ’70s station wagon, and a Chevrolet Corvair. “Hotel Zed’s tag line is that we are ‘Rebels against the Ordinary,’” notes Farmer,” And nothing says ‘ordinary’ more than a Econoline white shuttle bus van.”

Hotel Zed’s Shaggin’ Wagon rolled off the factory line the same year the Starland Vocal Band performed their hit (and Nooner-inspired) “Afternoon Delight” on the Midnight Special (YouTube it, kids). Clearly, mid-day hookups were in the air back in the day.

As part of the Nooner Package, Hotel Zed has partnered with Good Night Out Vancouver, the non-profit that started in Vancouver in 2016 with a mandate to address sexualized violence in the hospitality industry.

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“When you talk about sex positivity, it’s very important to talk about consent, especially in the hospitality industry,” says Farmer. “In hotels, there can be human trafficking, there can be prostitution. There can be sexual assault.”

In each Hotel Zed lobby, there is a Shaggin’ Wagon display. For every selfie post of someone with the display, Hotel Zed will donate one dollar to Good Night Out. Hotel Zed’s design house, Function, has committed to donating one dollar for the first one hundred Shaggin’ Wagon-tagged selfies. That’s in addition to $5,000 the hotel chain has already donated to the organization this year.

For Good Night Out co-founder Stacey Forester, the partnership on the Nooner Package is a perfect fit for Good Night Out.

“We’re called Good Night Out, we’re not called Bad Night Out,” Forester said. “We seek opportunities to talk about these things that are positive and engaging, even fun.”

And there’s no denying that the Shaggin’ Wagon is all those things.