Ricardo Teixeira has spent the past few weeks freshening up Love Lomas, the “love motel” he owns in the Brazilian port city of Belém. He’s also mulling how to tone down some of the rooms’ more sensual aspects, including erotic chairs and menus of sex toys for sale. It’s all in anticipation of welcoming a very different type of guest than his usual clientele.
Love motels are common throughout Brazil, with rooms available by the hour often booked for romantic trysts. But as tens of thousands of people descend on Belém for COP30 — the world’s biggest annual climate summit — a dearth of accommodation has led to a scramble for beds. Love motels like Teixeira’s are ready and willing to fill the gap.
The prospect of diplomats, scientists and climate activists being asked to specify which erotic features they’d like removed from rooms is striking, but it also speaks to a serious issue. As delegates compete for beds, rates have spiked and some developing countries and non-profits say they are being priced out of the summit.
“Their voices (will be) silenced in the very rooms where decisions about their survival are being made,” said Harjeet Singh, a COP negotiations veteran and f
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