Nudist B&B Owners Fight Killjoy Official Over Closure Threat
A pair of Las Vegas naturists claim they are being harassed by authorities for hosting fully-nude travelers at their home, accusing “authoritarian” local officials of trying to shut them down over their free-spirited ways.
Max and Corinne Dufloo insist their three-bedroom B&B, known as the “No Tan Lines Republik,” is not a business, but a non-profit “spiritual” association welcoming nudists who are “seeking peace and protection from our consumerist society,” according to a federal lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast.
“NTLR dedicates its donations and contributions to collectively helping, exploring, practicing, and sharing joy and well-being in harmony with our bodies,” the Dufloos self-filed complaint states. “NTLR also offers and practices nude yoga, as well as sophrology and meditation in the nude. All NTLR members are fully aligned with these principles and practices and gather for this purpose. In this environment, Max, a recovering alcoholic (member of AA) sober for 18 years, shares the spiritual values of AA with other addicts who are still suffering, and wish to avoid the temptations of the Strip.”
The French-born Dufloos have been married for 41 years. They emigrated to the U.S. some years back and became naturalized citizens in 2020, they told The Daily Beast. The couple is acting as their own lawyers in the case because the only attorney willing to take them on as clients wanted a $25,000 retainer and $500 an hour thereafter, they said on Wednesday.
The two have both “long believed in the naturist doctrine of the Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates of Kos, considering naturism as a spiritual and physiolatric endeavor,” their complaint states.
“Like Hippocrates,” it continues, “they practice holistic naturism, including nudism, and base their spirituality on the existence of a higher power represented by the universe and nature itself (physiolatry). In contrast to commercial organizations seeking material abundance, NTLR focuses on the pursuit of well-being through relational abundance and equitable sharing.”
But the couple, who are 61 and 68 years-old, respectively, say they have been unfairly targeted by the chief code enforcement officer of Clark County—where short-term rentals have been banned since 2022 and fines for violators run $1,000 a day—who alleges the duo are in fact running a commercial enterprise rather than a legitimate charity.
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Room rates at the No Tan Lines Republik range from $135 to $145 a night, and while house rules are loose, they do exist.
“Clothing is optional that means you can wear or not wear clothes, of course nothing is required,” the NTLR website tells prospective visitors. “Some guests enjoy the clothing optional option only in the cozy spa area (recommended for men to go in the jacuzzi, no large short) Some other guests enjoy to be naked everywhere in the estate. The pool spa and pool deck are shared with all guests of our 3 suites. So you can meet people in birthday suit in the back yard or at the pool, you and you guest must be comfortable with that.”
No day passes are available, and “absolutely no Uber or cab drivers, or delivery guy into the property,” the site warns. No photos are allowed in communal areas, no posting of pictures to social media, no smoking, no alcohol, and “no sex on [sic] the jacuzzi.”
The organization has been registered since 2023 with the Nevada Secretary of State as a domestic nonprofit, a search of public records shows. Accordingly, the Dufloos’ complaint pushes back firmly on the for-profit allegation levied against them.
Max Dufloo.
“NTLR… has relentlessly, for 8 months, tried to assert its rights to peaceful spiritual association reserved for its members, just trying to have the right to exist,” it contends. “From the constant refusal to consider its spiritual particularities and its exception, abusing their position and in a deliberate authoritarian drift, certain officers have been guilty of aggressive actions disrespectful of fundamental rights, individual and collective freedoms.”
Things with Clark County first went south last August, when a neighbor filed a “racially and hatefully [sic] motivated report” objecting to unspecified disturbances on the property. (The Dufloos’ complaint says they never previously had any such issues, as house rules prohibit both music and parties.)
Clark County code enforcement personnel duly posted a notice on the front door of the Dufloos B&B, warning them they were violating the rules, according to the complaint.
It says a now-removed Airbnb listing was only visible for 31 days before being delisted, but that Clark County Code Enforcement Chief Jim Andersen ordered one of his officers to “spy on the home.”
“Since the illegal and unjustified intrusions and visits… proved futile, Jim Andersen, in disregard of civil rights, attempted to compel third parties (Airbnb) to transmit all NTLR data, including private conversations with our members,” the complaint goes on. “Jim Andersen made it clear that the purpose was the collective imposition of daily fines.”
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He and his team “have inflicted numerous harms with the intention of leading to the disappearance of NTLR,” the complaint states. Anderson “aims to impose fines in bulk, hoping to obtain an amount high enough to financially destroy NTLR,” it alleges, claiming that Anderson “proudly stat[es] that he cares neither for the association nor the judges.”
The Dufloos say they have contacted Andersen’s supervisor, who has ignored their entreaties, “thus confirming her intention to let him act against our rights.”
She “appears to wish to weaken NTLR, hoping for its disappearance,” the complaint states.
The two point out in their complaint that there are roughly 16 million “naturism enthusiasts” worldwide, about three million of whom live in the U.S.
“All are in search of refuges, and spirituality, when they must leave their homes and are obliged to travel,” the complaint argues. “... The Clark County Code in no way prohibits a non-profit spiritual association from hosting certain of its members in very limited numbers (never more than 6) regardless of the duration of these gatherings.”
In sum, the Dufloos argue, the county “must constitutionally recognize the NTLR association as a spiritual, physiolatric, and holistic association.”
A motion to quash a subpoena over the same issues, previously submitted to state court and shared by the Dufloos with The Daily Beast, deemed NTLR the “only place in the entire state of Nevada” where naturists of all stripes, “aiming for self-acceptance, can hope to rejuvenate in a serene, protected, and private place, sheltered from ridicule and segregation.”
The crackdown and enforcement attempts have hindered the No Tan Lines Republik’s operations, sapping it of resources and the time necessary to organize events including naturist desert running, hiking and camping, and naturist conventions, which the Dufloos’ complaint describes as “all the usual activities of NTLR.”
“The association was also supposed to organize holistic meetings in Arizona around Quartzite on private land and also on ‘clothing optional’ areas managed by the BLM,” the complaint’s “injuries” section concludes. “Our members will therefore not benefit from the services and dedication of NTLR, as it is deprived of its most fundamental rights to simple existence, and the possibility to gather peacefully.”
Corinne Dufloo told The Daily Beast that Max was a successful businessman in France and that “if we were were doing this to make money, we would choose other paths than hosting six naturists.”
Jim Andersen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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