Hotel weekends
In the Netherlands, one company is hoping to help more couples celebrate their divorce - together.
The business in question is called Divorce Hotel, and here is how it works.
For a flat fee of about 4,000 euros ($5,000; £3,000), couples going through a divorce check into a hotel on a Friday. They then meet with a solicitor who acts as a mediator over the weekend, before checking out on Sunday - divorced.
The company is brainchild of former marketing man turned entrepreneur Jim Halfens, who thinks that going through a divorce should be quick, and not too expensive.
He came up with the idea after seeing a friend go through a tough divorce, and after time working for a legal firm.
Rather than owning hotels, Divorce Hotel has partnered up with six such establishments across the Netherlands, and one in New York. Mr Halfens now plans to expand to other countries.
"We are convinced that when couples decide to divorce they want to do it in a positive and decent way, not fight for years," he says.
After signing the divorce papers on the Sunday, Mr Halfens - who claims that the company has a 95% success rate - says that many couples drink champagne together to celebrate.
Yet for those divorces which are significantly more acrimonious, there is always the option of ultimately shooting up your wedding dress or tuxedo in Las Vegas.
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旅馆周末
在荷兰,有一家公司能够帮助离婚后的夫妻二人共同举行庆祝。
上面介绍的这个公司叫“离婚旅馆”(Divorce Hotel),它的工作流程如下:
花费大约4000欧元(约5000美元;3000英镑),离婚夫妇就可以在周五凭借离婚证进入旅馆。然后他们会见到一位律师,也就是此次周末活动的调解人,一直到周日结账退房前。
这家公司是吉姆·哈尔芬斯(Jim Halfens)智慧的结晶,他曾经做过营销,现在已经转型成创业者。在他看来,离婚庆祝的进程应该快速,同时还不能太贵。
在目睹了一位朋友痛苦艰难的离婚历程后,吉姆突发奇想,有了这个主意。然后他又在一家法律公司干了一段时间。
“离婚旅馆”不仅仅是酒店而已,它已经和6家相同的机构结为同盟,遍布全荷兰,其中还有一家在纽约。目前,哈尔芬斯先生正筹备着在其他国家开分店。
“我们确信,当一对夫妻打算离婚时,彼此都想采取一种积极又得体的方式,而不是长年累月的不停争执。”他说。
这位声称公司有95%成功率的哈尔芬斯先生说道,周日签订了离婚协议之后,很多夫妻还一起用香槟来庆祝。
不过,对那些为离婚争执得不可开交的夫妻来说,他们还是可以选择去拉斯维加斯的射击场打穿自己的婚纱或燕尾服。
(译者 490252028 编辑 祝兴媛)
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