Argentina scores with first gay hotel

The first five-star gay hotel in Latin America opened in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, an increasingly popular destination on the worldwide gay tourist circuit.

The hotel is the second of its kind developed by Spain’s Axel corporation, which opened a five-star, 66-room gay hotel in Barcelona in 2003.

“Like any other business, we have economic objectives,” general manager Nacho Rodriguez said.

But “we’re also about fighting to help the normalisation and acceptance of gays in society.”

He said the hotel was designed to be open and airy.

“Many gay hotels and places are closed off and can’t be seen from the street,” Mr Rodriguez said. “We wanted our hotel to be open and visible. Why should we try and hide ourselves?”

Swimmers in one of the hotel’s two pools certainly can’t hide themselves: The hotel’s top floor is a glass-bottomed pool that draws visitors’ gazes upward as they enter the lobby.

Visitors can also choose between the typical “do not disturb sign” or a racier “please disturb” sign.

The 48-room hotel is “hetero-friendly,” company officials say, noting about a quarter of the Barcelona hotel guests are heterosexual and predicting a similar pattern here.

Buenos Aires has vied with Rio de Janeiro for the title of South America’s “gay capital.”