spiaggia convenzionata

19:22 Mar 21, 2006 

I accept that the beach could be construed as private from a certain point of view, insofar as there is no free access to it. But given that any member of the public can come onto the beach on payment of the entrance fee, I am concerned that embittered guests could have grounds for claiming to have been misled, if the brochure description of their chosen hotel stated that it had a private beach.

I stayed at a hotel in Paestum with a “lido” across the road from it. As a guest, I was entitled to free access to that lido. This arrangement is in fact summed up well by Elizabeth’s suggestion of “courtesy beach privileges”, although that expression could be bewildering to a Brit and is tricky to slot into the sentence. However, confirming what Gian points out, the beach I had access to was neither owned by the hotel nor for the exclusive use of its guests, unlike the hotel’s swimming pool, for example, which was both. To my mind, therefore, it would be fair to describe the swimming pool as private but not the beach, chiefly because there obviously are expensive hotels which do have private beaches in every sense (i.e. owned by the hotel and for the exclusive use of guests) and I think it is important to draw a distinction between the two, not from a pedantic, theoretical point of view, but in order to avoid the charge of misrepresentation. In this respect, “contract bathing establishment” does the job, but, as we know, is not appropriate to the register. “Beach with a discount agreement for guests” also sacrifices a fair amount of style in the name of accuracy, while raising the delicate question of whether guests merely get discounted access or free access, as I did in Paestum (it presumably depends on the nature of the agreement between the hotel and the lido).

Anyway, in the 24 hours that have elapsed since I asked the question, I’ve done a bit more research and it seems that in the UK, at least, the word “concessionary” is sometimes wheeled out on occasions like this. For example, city centre hotels which don’t have a car park of their own sometimes have an agreement with the nearest multi-storey, whereby guests can park there free of charge or at a reduced rate, and they call this “concessionary car parking”. I’ve also found a few examples of “concessionary golf” in a similar context and perhaps a bit of “concessionary fishing”, but sadly no “concessionary beach”. So in the end I adopted the amorphous “exclusive” approach recommended by Derek (on the grounds that the beach excludes those who choose not to pay the entrance fee) and slipped in a “concessionary” for good measure, with the following result: “[The hotel] provides the ideal setting for a peaceful vacation spent strolling in the extensive grounds or enjoying concessionary use of the exclusive beach”.
Thank you all for your input, it’s been a pleasure meeting you.

09:29 Mar 21, 2006 

17:10 Mar 20, 2006