Brazil taps love motels for COP30 lodgings
BELEM, Brazil—Environmental activists eagerly await Brazil’s turn hosting COP30, the annual climate summit led by the United Nations, after three years of the conference being held in countries without full freedom for public demonstrations.
But the so-called People’s COP, scheduled on Nov. 10 to Nov. 21, may not be as welcoming as they hope because of sky-high accommodation costs.
The government has turned to motels aimed at amorous couples, ferries that normally ply rivers, and churches and school classrooms as it aims to multiply the 18,000 beds so far available in this port city at the edge of the Amazon rainforest.
The government has already rescheduled the dates for heads of state attending the summit to the week before the main event, as the country tries to ease pressure on the city’s thin hotel supply.
Expected attendance
Two hotels are being built and two cruise ships will be docked in a nearby harbor, while entrepreneurs are hard at work figuring out other creative ways to accommodate visitors.
Developers also plan to use idle land to put up refurbished shipping containers.
Yorann Costa, owner of Motel Secreto, said he can tone down the “more sensual mood” of his establishment by removing erotic chairs.
“But the poles, for example, I can’t take out,” he said, adding that the ceiling mirrors would also have to stay.
Costa cited the fierce speculation around what visitors are willing to pay for their accommodations.
Valter Correia, Brazil’s special secretary for COP30, said his agency is planning to launch a booking website within weeks to organize the market, since the government expects around 45,000 people to attend the summit.
But activist groups behind People’s Summit, a side event of COP, say they expect an additional 15,000 participants.
Other organizers are planning to help with accommodations by building campsites.
Officials are encouraging residents to travel and rent out their homes. This has unleashed a gold rush of sorts in Belem, with ads charging hundreds of thousands of dollars in rentals during the month of COP.
Interviews with landlords, tenants and a building manager revealed dozens of cases of people being refused renewal of their lease, so landlords could prepare apartments for COP visitors paying ten times or more the usual rate.
“It was chaos. I had 10 days to move and look for a new place,” said Rafaela Rodrigues, a businesswoman who claimed she was refused renewal of her rental.
Even the cheapest rooms are going for $400 or are averaging around $1,500 a night.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said his goal in bringing COP30 to the Amazon was to bring the world’s attention to a forest that offers unique solutions to climate change.
