I've addressed the madness of a lack of clarity regarding what's the proper position for nudity in lower Hotel Street (see the Google Maps thread).
There, I make the point that, in theory, upper Hotel Street could and should be regarded as naturist at all times, and the new link road at the side of Natura World theoretically joins up upper Hotel Street to the remainder of the Zona. And because the hotel have decreed lower Hotel Street 'textile', clothes must be worn (again, this is only a theoretical position, as there are random outbreaks of naturism on lower Hotel Street, particularly in high season).
But let me turn to the hotel's own rather ludicrous part-time naturist policy, and something those of us who enjoy Vera Playa could give our consideration.
The hotel is 12h naturist (8am to 8pm). Thereafter it reverts to being a textile hotel. Obviously, the thinking here is 'bums on seats', and making it textile attracts in people who would not consider themselves to be naturist.
Fine. It's economics, up to a point. However, hotel guests are paying to stay in a
naturist hotel. Why
should they be forced to wear clothes after 8pm? OK, OK, I know a lot of people enjoy getting dressed up in their finery of an evening. and many sit on the terrace to watch the evening's entertainment.
But...but...they're
naturists! Would it be so offensive if those, dressed up in an entire wardrobe of new clothes bought specifically for a naturist holiday
actually saw others who chose to take an evening swim? If others chose to walk the corridors naked? If other chose to walk from their room, out onto the beach, for a nocturnal skinny dip? I don't think so.
Perhaps the time has arrived to extend naturist hours (many sit naked on balconies anyway, even on the ground floor, only metres away from the bar). Perhaps the time has come to lay a few ground rules in relation to 'nocturnal nudity', a practice that is common on a 24h basis in the urbas (although many still persist in the 'pool closed at 8pm' rule) and on the streets of the Zone.
I wonder what hotel users would feel about a line quite literally being drawn about halfway down the hotel's pool (sort of level with the crazy golf pitch, for anyone who knows it). Let's call it, 'the double yellow line' for the sake of argument. Far enough away from the entertainment not to be distracting. Beyond this, I propose hotel residents (or guests) could use the pool for an evening/night time swim if they so chose.
There would, of course, need to be regulated up to a point. If the hotel demands 'textile' evenings, then by all means legislate that people cannot be nude on the stairs, in the lifts or lobby (although, as it's a naturist hotel, it is baffling to comprehend why visitors wouldn't understand that or accept that). But for the sake of argument we could suggest anyone wishing to swim at night use the back stairs. They cannot cross the 'double yellow line'. All entry and exit from the pool must be from steps within the double yellow line zone. No unaccompanied children in the pool, etc. Simple. The naturist hours could be easily extended as far as swimming is concerned.
'What about textile hotel visitors using the hotel's restaurant?' I hear you ask. Easy. Funnel them down the car park adjacent to the waste ground. Put a 'modesty screen' up beside the restaurant door that funnels them back the same way. It shouldn't be rocket science to extend effective naturism within the hotel through until, say, midnight. As some of us are up and in the pool doing serious swimming a little after 600am anyway, you're making this 12h hour naturist hotel into an 18h a day naturist hotel.
Again, the indoor pool is considered to be 'closed' after 8pm. There is no reason why it should be. A couple of panes of one-way glass would shield it from the restaurant users.
'Isn't the water cold at 600am? Wouldn't it be cold at 10pm?' I hear you cry.
Bloody freezing. But that's my choice to make. If I fancy the idea of a 10pm session of floating on my back, gazing up at the night time stars, then it's my decision. Of course, having thrashed up and down the pool in an energetic front crawl, I soon warm up.
In all the time we've ever stayed there, I've witnessed one mass flouting of the rules, when a Spanish family (obviously leaving early the next morning) decided to get one final midnight swim in in the main pool. And within seconds of
them taking the decision to have a midnight skinny dip, there were twenty-odd people in there. Were we part of this nose-thumbing at the hotel's rules? What do you think!
Come on, Playa Senator Hoteles! Wake up to the needs of the clientele!!!
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