A chain of luxury hotels in
Tuscany said Thursday it is providing psychological assistance
to its VIP clientele obsessed with Pokemon Go.
The augmented reality game released in July this year calls
for players to hunt, capture, battle, and train virtual
creatures - called Pokemon - who appear on mobile phone screens
as if they were in the same real-world location as the player.
"Pokemon dependency knows no social barriers," said Soft
Living Places luxury hotel chain chief Salvatore Madonna.
"We're seeing billionaires, sheiks, emirs, their wives and
children, Russian oligarchs and Italian industrialists hunting
virtual creatures at the swimming pool, at reception, in the
hall. This is why I've decided to provide my clients with
counseling by multi-lingual psychologists, who can intervene in
the more extreme pathological cases".
This is the first service in the world of its kind, Madonna
added.
"We could call it a mass syndrome that knows no social,
economic, or cultural boundaries," said psychologist Serenella
Salomoni.
The Soft Living Places chain includes the Hotel Byron in
Forte dei Marmi and the Hotel Plaza e de Russie in Viareggio,
both rated five stars.
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