Minimalism, torsos and tango: it must be Argentina's first luxury gay hotel

The receptionists are slender immature work force in glossy suits, the booklet characteristics chiselled male torsos, the suite are soundproofed and stocked with rubbers and every now and then Judy Judy Garland croons in the bar: welcome to Latin America's first extravagance cheery hotel.

The Axel Hotel open ups for concern today in the bosom of Argentina's capital, and it claims to be the first of its sort in a state celebrated more than for machismo and Catholicity than open homosexuality.

The £3.5m five-storey composite have been conceived and designed as an out and proud jubilation of cheery personal identity and sexuality, said Nacho Rodriguez, the general manager. "This hotel is not just gay-friendly. It is gay."

From the open-plan designing and crystalline lifts - "we have got got nil to hide", said Mister Rodriguez - to the modern-day and minimalist decor, the low-fat restaurant menu, the rainbow lighting, the four types of soap, everything is intended to appeal to the hotel's vision of a body-conscious guest.

Male tango professional dancers and retarding force Queens will execute at an startup political party tonight to which 1,000 people have been invited, creating a bombilation of outlook about which public figs will demo up.

The hotel, aimed squarely at cheery men, not women, is the 2nd opened by the Axel group, a Spanish company which started its maiden 1 in Barcelona in 2003. Named after a former fellow of the founder, Juan Julia Blanch, the grouping programs rapid expansion. It declares itself "hetero-friendly", meaning consecutive people are welcome but as a discreet minority.

The move to Latin United States is a mark that a continent once pronounced by conservativism and homophobia is liberalising, albeit slowly and unevenly. Republic Of Colombia have recognised cheery rights and Republic Of Venezuela have outlawed favoritism based on sexual orientation.

Argentina blazed the manner with a law allowing civil labor unions among homoes which have helped do Buenos Aires Latin America's cheery capital. Long celebrated for its fashionable residents, vivacious societal scene and European-style architecture, it have discovered the powerfulness of the pinkish pound, Euro and dollar.

Argentina's 2001 fiscal meltdown devalued the peso, making the metropolis a deal to aliens and giving local concerns an inducement to pull a moneymaking niche market. Some 300,000 cheery visitants are estimated to pass £300m here each year.

Last calendar calendar month the metropolis hosted the 10th Cheery World Cup association football tournament, a first for South America, and adjacent month it will host the first cheery tango festival, Tango Queer.

The Axel Hotel, located in the Gypsy San Telmo district, styles itself as the gem in Buenos Aires's cheery crown. "This is the most unfastened metropolis in Latin America. It is very happy to have got us and we are very happy to be here," said Mister Rodriguez.

Neighbours welcomed the new arrival. "Gays are refined and aesthetic and that's what we're looking for," said Paula Repetto, conservator of a sex-themed gallery, So Much Desire, opposite the hotel. Apartment block occupants said the hotel would hike place values.

Rates for the 48 suite scope from £90 to £275 a night, costly by local standards, but most were booked up for the adjacent few months, said Mister Rodriguez.

No inside information have got been spared: futuristic piece of furniture by Prince Charles and Beam Eames, Mies avant garde der Rohe and Eileen Gray, a garden pool lined with crystalline lavish cubicles, a watering place pool suspended over the anteroom as a crystalline roof, and deck chairs positioned in presence of gymnasium equipment. If you like to watch work force stretching, bending, straining, sweating, soaping and swimming you are in the right place.

The eating house have a calorie-conscious menu and the barroom offerings wellness drinks as well as cocktails. The music is defined as "chillout", with a prejudice towards 1980s melodies as well as the occasional Judy Judy Garland classic.

Rooms are stocked with rubbers and a card which states "Have Fun". The booklet shows two muscled, bare work force clinched in evident bliss. Another photograph shows a invitee in a bathrobe studying his spouse in the shower.

"This topographic point is going to be a hit," said Jean-Laurent Julieno, a newsman with the Gallic website Citegay.com World Health Organization was invited to the launch. "A good vibe and intimate. The kind of topographic point where you can do friends."