Brazil 'love hotels' slash prices

Brazil's "love hotels" are luring amorous couples with promises of special "Black Monday" deals in a bid to shed their seedy reputation.
The promotion for Monday, December 1 will see love hotels nationwide -- which are rented by the hour and often luxuriously equipped with jacuzzis, private pools and saunas -- slash their prices in half.
The initiative is a Brazilian take on the "Black Friday" post-Thanksgiving Day sales in stores across the United States, when shoppers snap up bargains.
"The idea is to demystify this reputation the hotels have as being exclusively reserved for love-making," Antonio Cerqueira, chairman of the Brazilian Association of Love Hotels (ABM), told AFP.
"Making love is a pleasure and good for your health, but love hotels need another connotation to do away with prejudice and false morality."
"We chose the Monday as it's a day when love hotel visitor numbers fall off," Cerqueira said, adding other promotions would follow to "bolster the visibility" of such establishments.
Some love hotels were converted into regular hotels during this summer's football World Cup with overhead mirrors removed while round beds were replaced by traditional models.
"A lot of professionals prefer our hotels as they are cheaper than the traditional variety," Cerqueira said.
Rio de Janeiro alone has 182 love hotels and many will again be used for the 2016 Olympics.