Would You Check Into A "Divorce Hotel"?
The "divorce hotel" phenomenon may be hitting the U.S. soon.
I think we've started taking divorce a lil' too casually. Sure, we shouldn't stigmatize divorcees, but we could stop being so cute about our ending marriages. Things like divorce parties, divorce rings, ring caskets and ex-wife shaped urinal cakes (patent pending) sort of make a mockery of the institution of marriage, and the estimable Irish practice of just dealing with something until you die. But now Gothamist is reporting that some entrepreneur wants to make splitting from your spouse especially easy.
The divorce hotel is the brainchild of Dutch entrepreneur Jim Halfens, who came up with the idea after watching one of his friends go through an excruciating five-month divorce (I heard it was more painful than getting a full-body wax). It breaks down thusly: A couple is no longer feeling the love, and they check into a place for the weekend to cut the cord, cameras roll, and Sunday morning they are no longer man and wife. Yes, they record the whole thing as part of a possible reality show scheduled to hit little screens in the autumn. Currently, this service is only available in six hotels in The Netherlands, but Halfens is negotiating to make this happen in hotels in New York, L.A. and other cities. Price tag? A flat fee of $3,500 to $10,000, depending on how complex the marriage is.
Evidently, hotels in American cities are champing at the bit to get in on the action. But some very highly compensated people in the matrimonial law industry don't think people realize how complicated divorce usually is (the Massey Pre-nup is impregnable). You'd imagine that a lawyer would be against anything that involved decreasing billable hours and making their profession seem anything but impenetrable.
But, if the option is to drag this sucker out for months and months or just go to some swank hotel, write a big-ass check and rip off the Band-Aid, I think I would know what I would do. Plus the possibility of last-time, hate-and-relief-fueled hotel sex is almost too good to pass up. The reality show part of it makes things a little sticky, as if getting kicked to the curb wasn't crappy enough. But if all it took were a reverse honeymoon to get free and clear of a sinking ship filled with hurt feelings and secret grudges, I suppose you could let cameras trail me for a weekend while I got horribly drunk, showed off my abs, made unforgivable passes at spray-tanned women and pretty much humiliated Georgians, the Irish and loudmouths (the three groups I most identify with) everywhere. 10 Ridiculous Jersey Shore Love Quotes
What say you? What do you think of a reverse honeymoon stay at the divorce hotel?
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