The Hotel Seigneur, located in a stately manor home, is a place stepped in tradition. Its amenities include a tiled ballroom, excellent dining room and wine cellar, and a formal garden bordered by hedges. Marketing is handled through word-of-mouth. Guests typically are couples and often are repeat visitors; no one below the age of 21 is allowed. All visitors are expected to understand before they set foot on the seven-acre property that here certain old ways reign.
In particular, at the Seigneur, male dominance is de rigueur. A man arriving with his wife or girlfriend can be assured of enjoying the upper hand over her while on the property. At this establishment, it is understood that while egalitarianism between the sexes may have a certain modern cachet, not all can be satisfied by such tepid arrangements, and not a few are those, male or female, who yearn for the hierarchy and discipline whereby a man gives the orders, and his woman obeys.
Naturally, the rooms are well-equipped with dΓ©cor and devices suitable for the practical implementation of that principle. The Pillory Suite, for example, is known for the eponymous wooden frame whereby a woman's head, arms and legs may be securely fastened. Made of fine mahogany trimmed with leather, and adjustable into various positions, the Pillory enables a variety of punishments and pleasures. It may be where an impatient wife is kept waiting while her husband takes his time reading a newspaper; where a surly girlfriend receives the whack of a riding crop on her bare bottom; where a newly submissive female is kept on her knees to offer a blowjob; or where a romantic evening culminates with a captive lady being bent over and taken by her lord and master.
The management and staff of the Seigneur have no tolerance for any who would abuse such privileges. Couples receive a safeword with the Wi-Fi password, and any deviation from the consensual would be treated with the utmost seriousness. Men at the Seigneur are expected to wield power over their women with judiciousness and decorum; and it is emphasized to the women that they shall only be here if they want to be here under such terms. Such consideration has helped solidify a thoroughgoing loyalty among the clientele, and indeed a majority of bookings, both first-time and repeat, are initiated by females.
What brings a couple to the Seigneur? Sometimes it's a sense that a woman has gotten a little too sarcastic or dismissive in her interactions with her man. That is how Tamara and I came to this establishment. Aided by a glass of wine or two over lunch, Tamara and her close friend Sheila had an earnest conversation to the effect that men today simply take too much nonsense from their female partners, allowing misbehavior and insolence to fester. The gals fretted that guys today have internalized some feminist dogma that prevents them from engaging in needed pushback, and that their remaining masculinity is expended on tedious sports or home-improvement activities rather than setting a firm tone in the household when necessary.
Sheila told Tamara that she and her husband Greg had found a place dedicated to restoring that missing element of current-day relationships, and soon emailed her a glossy brochure. A few night later, after some hesitation, Tamara shared it with me. The brochure had appealing photos of the house and grounds, but the greatest lure was in the text, which contained excerpts from the Seigneur Handbook, a volume that's left at bedside at every room of the hotel, and which was written by its owner, Mr. Montebello, as a concise explanation of his guiding philosophy.
"Since the days of yore," read one passage, "countless women have had their bottoms warmed by their husbands when they displeased them. As recently as the middle of the last century, a man turning a woman over his knee was a cinematic and theatrical staple, in both drama and comedy; this cultural motif reinforced that male authority, properly exercised on a female posterior, has a salutary effect in domestic and romantic matters. We at the Seigneur embrace this tradition, and provision our rooms with hairbrushes and wooden spoons accordingly."
Once we'd reserved for an upcoming weekend, I immediately sensed a change in Tamara. A little less backtalk, a little more compliance. Not a dramatic difference from our normal give-and-take, but she seemed to be preparing herself for the change that would occur at the Seigneur.