I disagree, the overwhelming majority of amps don't require any verification, with minimal issues ever occurring.
I think just because they're 'higher end', in the city, there's so much business, that it's easier for them to get away with requiring it.
I will speak candidly here as I hope + assume that this is an honest open + sincere discussion without ulterior motive to malign, defame, or promote one type of place over another. This forum is to help mongers learn about their options and decide which option they prefer, and clearly different spas have different approaches to security.
With that in mind.... a few quick comments:
1) I mentioned before that some places are easier to screen at than others. (Example: BarbieGirls, which is new, screens less than SL, which has been around for a while). That's their choice, there are pros and cons and I'm sure the owners get that.
2) If a place screens in advance, that may be because they don't want to scrutinize you as much when you arrive. They are trying to find out whether they can trust you in advance. I suggest letting that sink in for just a moment or two. Or let me put it this way....If you don't trust someone yet, but for some reason you do invite them into your home.....would you perhaps be watching them carefully when they are in your home? If I let someone I don't know into my home, I would watch them more carefully. If I let someone into my home who my friends already know, or he has shared something that won my trust, I wouldn't watch that person as carefully because I know I can trust them.
As a guest, you or I are going into a place that they control. They have control of the cameras, and there are a lot of cameras. Cameras when you ring the bell downstairs. Cameras when you get to the door. Cameras inside the spa. After you undress and get that preview blow job, she wraps the towel around you and and brings you down the hall to the table shower room....there are cameras in that hallway.