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AIBU?

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Original poster

If I was in charge of sunloungers…

88 replies

SunSunSunGimmeSun · 08/04/2024 15:05

…the front row (next to the pool) would be non-reservable. Only to be used by those people with children currently in the pool. No phones or books. “Eyes on”

All further back rows would be free for anyone, but they’d each feature a timer. If you leave your lounger, you’ve got 15 minutes ‘grace’ while you nip to the loo, go get a drink, drag child from pool, etc.

After those 15 minutes, a very loud alarm would sound, your things would be scooped up and piled into the Sin Bin.

I know, I know, you want to sit with your family, and it takes longer than 15 minutes to get your lunch, yadda yadda yadda… but if no one was hoarding loungers, there’d be plenty to go around; when you got back from your lunch, you’d find a row of lovely empty space, not rows and rows of abandoned towels.

<gavel>

OP posts:
Nicetobenice67 · 08/04/2024 17:17

AngelsWithSilverWings · 08/04/2024 16:07

@Nicetobenice67 it's Tereza's sunset hotel in Agios Stefanos - was lovely. Beach 5 min walk away and food fab ( we went half board as was a bargain)

Looks gorgeous I will take a look thank you

Topseyt123 · 08/04/2024 17:07

So, am I not allowed to go and swim in the pool because I am not allowed to leave my towel and book on the sun bed?

If anyone removed my stuff while I was using the pool I would be very angry. As for setting timers and klaxons to go off at intervals, that's just bizarre. Fuck that! It wouldn't make for a relaxing holiday at all.

Are you harking back to something like hi-de-hi?

itsgettingweird · 08/04/2024 16:48

Could you make a rule that the front row of loungers must be at least 1.5m from the edge of the pool?!

I once stayed in a hotel where the sister hotel provided lunch snacks for AI (literally across the road!)

There was a rectangle pool with loungers side by side all the way around with the legs actually on the edge of the pool - I was surprised to find people in it as couldn't find a way on or put 😫

Luckily the hotel I was staying in with a mixture of nationalities and the pool situation was never an issue.

MyFirstLittlePony · 08/04/2024 16:47

I live dangerously

I am a towel mover

Not got in a fight about it yet 😁 if challenged I just say: I'm so sorry I did not know any peas using this lounger

Then I move someone else's towel

TheFairyCaravan · 08/04/2024 16:42

Book a swim-up room then you don't have to worry about any of this.

Prawncow · 08/04/2024 16:36

No. I love watching the sea but swimming pools just don’t do it for me and all the people lined up in rows is too claustrophobic. You can have my lounger!

Original poster
SunSunSunGimmeSun · 08/04/2024 16:35

Hmm… seems like the market for my hotel might be rather niche (or non-existant) 😂

To be clear though, I certainly don’t think I’m more entitled/worthy of a sun lounger because I have kids. I do think that if people weren’t so bloody selfish then there would be plenty to go around.

For context, I’ve been lying on one since starting the thread. The three next to me have been unoccupied the whole time. No bags / clothes / phones etc, just towels on all of them. Why does someone’s towel need a seat more than the families wandering around looking for one?

OP posts:
MagentaRocks · 08/04/2024 16:34

People are allowed to leave their sun lounger. We tend to get up early on holiday and I always go down early, pick where I want to be and then sit and read while it is quiet and cool. At some point we will go for breakfast, maybe 20 minutes, then back to the loungers. We will then be up and down in and out of the pool depending on how hot it is. Same again at lunch which takes a bit longer. I wouldn’t be happy to find my stuff gone on my return as my time away from the lounger is minimal. When I go away we have busy day and lazy days and I enjoy the lazy days not having to worry about anything while relaxing by and in the pool. If it is somewhere really hot I like to be close to the pool, why shouldn’t I be allowed to do that because I don’t have children with me.

Mercurial123 · 08/04/2024 16:32

Sounds like a Communist beach holiday. Thanks, but I'll pass.

ovals · 08/04/2024 16:31

Weaving in and out of other people’s loungers to get to the pool also not ideal. At the front you can just jump straight in.

Bernadinetta · 08/04/2024 16:29

Prawncow · 08/04/2024 16:26

I don’t get the whole sunloungers around the pool thing. Why do you want to look at the pool? Isn’t it baking hot in the sun?

If the choice is look at the pool or look at the back of the head of the person in the row in front of you, then the pool is preferable. It can feel a bit hemmed in on the further back rows.

ClaudiaWankleman · 08/04/2024 16:28

Prawncow · 08/04/2024 16:26

I don’t get the whole sunloungers around the pool thing. Why do you want to look at the pool? Isn’t it baking hot in the sun?

You can’t for a minute imagine that people enjoy laying in the sun, and swimming in the pool, and having a place to lay in the sun near a pool is a convenient way to do both at the same time?

Prawncow · 08/04/2024 16:26

I don’t get the whole sunloungers around the pool thing. Why do you want to look at the pool? Isn’t it baking hot in the sun?

quizzys · 08/04/2024 16:20

Crunchymum · 08/04/2024 16:10

Blimey. Where is this Godforsaken hovel?

I thought they were going to put the sunbeds out, as they were so cramped 😮

Show quote history

Gran Canaria, according to YouTube. Resort not named 😉

loudbatperson · 08/04/2024 16:19

This sort of thing is why I never book a hotel with pool type of set up.

We tend to have either go on an "explorer" type holiday where we are usually out all the time and book a hotel that is purely a base not a resort, or for a very chilled out break book a villa so we have our own own pool.

The thought of a pool full of screechy children and playing musical chairs to try and get a lounger sounds far too stressful as a holiday.

ClaudiaWankleman · 08/04/2024 16:18

winesolveseverything · 08/04/2024 15:22

There's a campsite in France that plays a certain song once an hour. Idea is that when you hear it, you return to your sun lounger.

The lifeguards have a quick stroll around checking- any unclaimed loungers have their towels removed and the beds are freed up. Possibly not completely foolproof, but probably helps.

What a terrible idea.

Not only might you have nipped to the loo and miss the song, but what if you’ve only just stood up to go to the bar and you’re suddenly forced to sit down again?

Personally I’d prefer it if hotels simply had enough sun loungers for everyone and then people could use them as they desire.

Toottooot · 08/04/2024 16:18

Fit happens if you’re at a Holiday Village type hotel peak school holidays time? How do you determine fit parents get front row if the pools are full of geets - is there a tier system as to fa gets the loungers?

TunaCrunchy · 08/04/2024 16:16

I would charge for loungers, then people would occupy less of them, families may rent two instead of three or four etc. There would be different prices for different locations. All the money raised would be spent on more umbrellas as there are never enough.

exLtEveDallas · 08/04/2024 16:16

Christ, the way DH chats with everyone he can be at the bar for 30 minutes or more on an hourly basis!

No thanks OP. I'm up with the lark on holidays (and every other day) and one of the only upsides to this is the fact that I get a good sunlounger (although I don't tend to go poolside as I prefer to be away from the screaming, splashing kids). If someone took my bed whilst I was at breakfast or lunchtime I'd be VERY unhappy.

ForSnappyFatball · 08/04/2024 16:12

KreedKafer · 08/04/2024 15:10

YABU. It's not my problem that you've got kids, either in or out of the pool. If I've paid for my holiday the same as you have, I'm just as entitled to a poolside lounger as you are.

Not that I actually go on the sorts of holidays that involve sitting by a pool, to be honest! But if I did, I wouldn't want to be stuck at the back looking at a forest of parasols and the backs of people's heads just because I don't have kids.

Agreed.

If you have kids that need to be watched, then you need to be by the pool watching them. Doesn't mean you should get a front-row lol lounger when everyone else has paid for a holiday the same as you.

lotsofpeoplenametheirswords · 08/04/2024 16:11

Stand up and look after your kids!! I'll sit where I want!

Crunchymum · 08/04/2024 16:10

quizzys · 08/04/2024 15:39

Have a look at this. Hell is other people for sure, especially on a sunbed holiday!

Blimey. Where is this Godforsaken hovel?

I thought they were going to put the sunbeds out, as they were so cramped 😮

AngelsWithSilverWings · 08/04/2024 16:07

@Nicetobenice67 it's Tereza's sunset hotel in Agios Stefanos - was lovely. Beach 5 min walk away and food fab ( we went half board as was a bargain)

mynewname25 · 08/04/2024 16:04

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 08/04/2024 15:11

This sounds like a lovely relaxing holiday. Someone staring at me in my swimwear to make sure I don't glance at my phone while on the front row of sun loungers while loud alarms randomly sound behind me. Ahhh bliss.

🤣🤣

3WildOnes · 08/04/2024 16:03

AngelsWithSilverWings · 08/04/2024 15:18

This is why I go to small hotels. This was mid morning at the little three star hotel we went to in Corfu last year. Always loads of free Sunbeds any time of the day.

This is exactly the kind of hotel that we stay at. I've never had any trouble finding a sun lounger at any time of the day.

Rows of sun loungers sounds awful and like the pool would be very crowded and noisy.

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