Bike to Berlin Brothel, Get a Discount

What’s more annoying than driving down to your local brothel only to find that there’s no parking available? It’s enough to make you stay home – and that’s exactly why Berlin’s Maison d’Envie, or House of Desire, is now offering discounts to clients who arrive on bicycles.

Thomas Goetz, the brothel’s owner, hopes that the discounts will stimulate sales and help the environment at the same time. From New York Daily News:

The bordellos in the capital of Germany, where prostitution is legal, have seen business suffer with the global financial crisis. Patrons have become more frugal, and there are fewer potential customers coming to the city for business trips and conferences.

But Maison d’Envie has seen its business begin to return since it began offering the euro5 ($7.50) discount in July, Goetz said.

To qualify, customers must show the receptionist either a bicycle padlock key or proof they used public transit to get to the neighborhood. That knocks the price for 45 minutes in a room, for example, to euro65 from euro70.

Those who arrive on foot, however, are out of luck.

“We haven’t found a way for people to prove they have walked here,” Goetz explained.

It’s a win-win: get double the exercise, see Berlin up close and personal, and get a discount on a prostitute. Who can argue with that? Even Berlin locals who don’t frequent brothels are cool with it, since it cuts congestion and pollution in this busy urban capital.

But why stop at brothels? This concept could be used by practically any kind of business and it’s a trend that we’d like to see remain long after the economy has picked back up again.

Link [New York Daily News]
Photo credit: Flickr user jesse.millan

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