Luxury hotel provides counseling for Pokemon Go obsession

(ANSA) - Lucca, August 11 - 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.