'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
One worker strips mirrored paneling off the ceiling, as another pries up the fiberglass shell of a whirlpool bath. A third man takes a sledgehammer to a life-size statue of Venus de Milo posing topless with a swirl of plaster robes hanging from her waist.
Conventional Rio hotels regularly hit an 80 percent rate and completely sell out at peak times such as New Year's and Carnival, said Cerqueira.
New hotels with another 14,500 beds are also in the works, he added.
