Are Hotel Pool DJ's Getting Too Loud?
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The family has been driving you nuts. Ten-hour work days gifted you nothing but bags under your eyes. You needed this vacation; a week or so to unwind under the Tuscan sun next to a glistening cerulean pool with nothing but a book in hand. You finally get settled onto a green-cushioned chaise lounge, and open your copy of Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road. Still tranquil bliss eludes you: just as you're about to exhale into relaxation, beats of computer-generated robotic noise fill the air. Ta-ta quiet getaway, you're basically in Vegas now.
Would you rather: hear a finance guy yell into a phone at a pool, or hear a pool DJ? While the first is just plain annoying, the latter is trickier. Pools in party-centric cities like Ibiza, Las Vegas, and Miami are incomplete without one, and those who are heading there don't have room to complain. But, what about the hotel properties that are in this sort of gray zone, like Mallorca, Paros, or even Palm Beach? Do they opt into the party crowd? Or do they turn their noses up and accept that peace is the ultimate luxury?
"There's nothing worse than being at a hotel and being forced to listen to music from a DJ that's a little bit too loud while you're just trying to read or chat with your significant other," Chris Black, the writer and co-host of the podcast How Long Gone, tells T&C. He avoids the loud DJs by staying only at "adults" hotels, like the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton. "Those kind of places will never have a DJ at the pool. This isn't the Ace in Palm Springs, where you have to have a wristband to sit on a chair by the water. You have to avoid a certain kind of hotel."
At the Grand Hotel Son Net in Mallorca, Spain, which would probably fall into Black's category of "adult hotels," a pool DJ is nowhere to be found. The property sits atop a hill in the small village of Puigpunyent; one hour away from the buzzy town of Deia and about 45 minutes from the party scenes of Palma. Built in the 17th century as a family estate, the hotel keeps this air of historic aristocracy by keeping the location quiet and free of noisy crowds. It's an example of how keeping a pool DJ-free is beneficial. Some visitors on the island may call it a bore, but others may call it a slice of heaven.
Not all hotels are meant to be quiet, though. Some feed into the crowd that enjoys sitting poolside with some background noise. But according to a few of those who are fixtures in the social scene, there's a certain formula that makes it okay. "I hate pumping club music," the LA-based artist and photographer Nadia Lee Cohen tells T&C. "But if it's jazz or something soft then it's fine." New York gallerist Hannah Traore agrees. While she usually enjoys music at a pool, she "hates the type of pool music that they play... it very Ibiza."
Down in Palm Beach, something of a gray zone between posh and party vibes, Pamela Tick is the resident-in-house DJ of the popular Colony Hotel (have you stayed at Gwyneth Paltrow's blush pink Goop Villa yet?). "Music is one of the many ways that we engage with our guests," Sarah Wetenhall, president and co-owner of the Colony Hotel tells T&C. "Music sets a tone, it paints a picture, and it evokes emotion. Whether it be recalling fond memories, relaxing with a cocktail in a subdued atmosphere, or dancing until the sun comes up." According to Wetenhall, the right playlist is one that elevates experiences and makes them more enjoyable, and those who visit or stay at the pink hotel should expect tunes to be playing throughout. "The Colony is more than a hotel, it is a state of mind."
And, if things get too loud, well, we at T&C know that there is nearly nothing that a well placed $100 bill can't solve.
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