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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Hotels or motels, where will you reside in Rio de Janeiro?

By Claudio Tostes


Virtually anyone who is a newcomer to travel in Rio de Janeiro must learn about some significant things when you are on your vacation. One essential lesson to take note of is the distinction between hotels and motels as it pertains to Brazil. From an American view, you likely would think that the real difference is price and quality of these kind of rentals and you may keep this notion for some time as you stroll the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. But you will soon realize that to Brazilians, there is a difference. A big difference.

What exactly is this difference you ask? Well, to put it blunt and very simple, hotels are for slumber and motels are for intimacy. There really isn't any other way to put it and this is a very simple fact in Rio de Janeiro as well as the rest of Brazil. So in case you are taking a holiday here, it's really something that you should become aware of. If you're sipping that martini in a quaint little bar of Copacabana or Ipanema and another person refers to a motel, you'll know exactly what they're discussing

One may be interested as to why this is. While in the United States, motels are typically rest stops for drivers who are looking for low-cost quarters for the night. Just a place to rest. In Brazil, you need to look at things from a cultural point of view. Most people live in close quarters. It's not common for Brazilians to have their own apartments, rentals or flats. Usually people can't easily afford these kind of accommodations alone, so it's very usual to live with their families.

Now this may well change eventually as Brazil becomes economically more important. As apartments and flats are popping up all over Rio. But then again, maybe not since this concept is so imbedded in the culture. Privacy is certainly something rare. Usually people in Brazil who are travelling on business are going to move toward hotels anyway. Though, as infrastructure becomes more enhanced, you could have more people who have lower budgets. This lower middle class will likely be the kind that may make full use of motels as a less expensive alternative and trigger a cultural shift.

Nonetheless, right now, during the time of this writing hotels mean sleep and motels mean having sex. Simple enough right? Shouldn't be any more errors as to the intent behind this type of real estate. Hopefully this has settled some uncertainty to anyone who might be coming to Rio de Janeiro and help them avoid a potentially humiliating situation of which accommodations to use. But then again, perhaps you should look at some apartments instead.




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