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Anyone who is unfamiliar with travel in Rio de Janeiro needs to learn about some important matters when you are on your vacation. One critical lesson to take note of is the difference between hotels and motels as it pertains 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 notion for some time as you stroll the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. But you will soon observe that to Brazilians, there is a difference. A big difference.

What on earth 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 uncomplicated fact in Rio de Janeiro as well as the rest of Brazil. So when you are taking a holiday here, it is definitely something that you should know. If you're sipping that martini in a quaint little bar of Copacabana or Ipanema and an individual mentions a motel, you'll know exactly what they're talking about

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

Now this may well change eventually as Brazil becomes economically more important. As apartments and flats are springing up all over Rio. But then again, that's doubtful since this principle is so imbedded in the culture. Privacy is certainly something scarce. 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 utilize motels as a less costly alternative and trigger a cultural shift.

Even so, right now, at the time of this writing hotels mean sleeping and motels mean intimacy. Simple enough right? Shouldn't be any more errors as to the reason for this type of real estate. Hopefully this has solved some uncertainty to anyone who might be coming to Rio de Janeiro and help them avoid a potentially unpleasant situation of which accommodations to use. But then again, perhaps you should look at some apartments instead.