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Does New York Need A Divorce Hotel?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 28, 2012
Modified May 28, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 28, 2012
Modified May 28, 2012
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Because each and every corner of human misery has yet to be mined for the entertainment of others, a Dutch entrepreneur is looking to bring his concept of a Divorce Hotel to the United States. The premise is simple: check into a swanky hotel married on a Friday, and be divorced by Sunday, all while the cameras roll.
The Times reports that for a flat fee of $3,500 to $10,000, depending on how complex the marriage is, you can get split from your spouse in one of six hotels in the Netherlands. Jim Halfens, who thought of the idea after watching his friend go through an excruciating 5-month divorce, is negotiating with hotels in New York, LA, and other cities where people are desperate enough to get divorced on-camera and in a hotel, to bring the service to the United States. Several production companies are also hearing bids, and the show is expected to air in the fall.
“Divorce Hotel is as real as it gets,” the head of a production company says, presumably as he dripped saliva onto the reporter's notebook. “If there’s a conflict, it’s real because the stakes are real.”
But what do the traditional divorce attorneys think? Robert Cohen, who has represented Mayor Bloomberg, James Gandolfini, and Ivana Trump in their divorces, is skeptical. It may work if the couple is still friendly with one another, or if they don't have assets spread across the globe, but for most couples, it won't work. “The notion of being able to—at the beginning of a split-up—spend a weekend putting these various pieces together and coming to a solution to them would be virtually impossible," the man whose obscene fee structure is based on hourly labor says.
Yet some couples who tried it in the Netherlands say it worked. "It wasn't weird or wrong," one divorcee says. "We felt great—like friends." Halfens even recounts a time when a couple spent the final night of the weekend in the same hotel room.
We're looking forward to the premiere of Please Gouge My Eyes Out, in which a happily married couple is locked in the jacuzzi suite of a Howard Johnson and forced to watch reality television until they get a divorce, and then later beg each other to gouge out their eyeballs with one of several hilariously dull objects that the producers leave in the room.
Tagged
divorce
divorce hotel
human misery
reality television
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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