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Sweden hotel chain offers refund if a couple divorces within a year of stay
The hotel chain says their initiative is meant to bring couple closer together —the more time a couple spends together, the less likely they are to separate.
A Swedish hotel chain is offering to refund the money of married couples — provided they divorce within a year of their stay.
The Countryside Hotels group said their initiative is meant to bring couple closer together — they are offering what they call a “relationship guarantee”, with the idea that the more time a couple spends together, the less likely they are to separate.
There are some riders — the couple must already be married, must stay together, and at the time of asking for a refund, must provide court-authenticated divorce papers. If the paperwork is in place, the hotel chain with reimburse them with the cost of two nights’ stay.
“Some people have been surprised by the idea and asked if it’s actually a joke, but the offer is real. The “radical approach” is designed make people realise how beneficial it can be to get away for a while and devote time to each other,” Countryside Hotels marketing officer Anna Madsen was quoted by The Local, an English-language news publisher in Sweden, as saying.
Marriage rates in Sweden are high compared to the rest of Europe, with the country’s official agency Statistics Sweden stating that the country’s crude marriage rate — how common it is to get married — is higher in Sweden than in European Union member countries in total.
However, Sweden’s divorce rates are also similarly high — the number of divorces per 1000 inhabitants increased from 2.2 in 2005 to 2.8 in 2013. This is higher than the rest of the EU.
