5/05/2011

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

By Claudio Tostes


Any one who is a newcomer to travel in Rio de Janeiro ought to learn about some essential things when you are on your vacation. One important lesson to take note of is the difference between hotels and motels when it comes to Brazil. From an American perspective, you likely would think that the difference is price and quality of these kind of rentals and you may keep this idea for some time as you stroll the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. But you will soon find that to Brazilians, there is a difference. A big difference.

What is this difference you ask? Well, to put it blunt and simple, hotels are for sleeping and motels are for making love. There really isn't any other way to put it and this is a straightforward fact in Rio de Janeiro as well as the rest of Brazil. So in case you are taking a holiday here, it is definitely something that you should be aware of. If you're sipping that martini in a quaint little bar of Copacabana or Ipanema and another person mentions a motel, you'll understand specifically what they're discussing

One may be inquiring as to why this is. While in the United States, motels are typically rest stops for people who are looking for low-cost quarters for the night. Just a place to snooze. In Brazil, you need to look at things from a cultural standpoint. Most people live in close quarters. It's not normal 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 common to live with their families.

Now this may change in time as Brazil becomes economically more influential. As apartments and flats are springing up all over Rio. But then again, maybe not since this principle is so imbedded in the culture. Privacy is certainly something rare. Usually people in Brazil who are travelling on business are going to gravitate toward hotels anyway. Though, as infrastructure becomes more enhanced, you will have more people who have lower budgets. This lower middle class will likely be the kind that may take advantage of motels as a less expensive alternative and cause a cultural shift.

On the other hand, right now, at the time of this writing hotels mean slumber and motels mean making love. Simple enough right? Shouldn't be any more errors as to the function of this type of real estate. Hopefully this has solved some confusion to anyone who might be coming to Rio de Janeiro and help them avoid a potentially embarrassing situation of which accommodations to use. But then again, perhaps you should look at some apartments instead.




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