Holiday pool lounger etiquette - who’s right?

Towel is enough. But if you're out more than 30min (or whatever time hotel determines) others are allowed to move your towel. I don't think you should be allowed to reserve it for duration of lunch/breakfast.

I do think hotels could do better job at monitoring. I've heard some hotels have an alarm every 30min and if there is no human on the lounger then the towel is removed.

It doesn't matter what anyone here says, it's what the rules are set by the hotel.

I've never stayed in a hotel where the lifeguard doesn't enforce the rules.

You can leave whatever you like to reserve the bed.

Our last hotel you couldn't reserve a bed till 845am. Unless no one returned within two hours, then the bed still belongs to the person that reserved it.

Lifeguard removed possessions after two hours. This is the way, with different time limits, wherever we've stayed.

I think if you're planning on a whole day by the pool then keep the lounger, have a lunch and go straight back
If you're going back to your room for a break / sleep etc then clear off the loungers for other people IMO.
I usually have pool holidays as I'm shattered and use holidays to rest, it annoys me when people put towels out, go out for the whole day and come back at 'last sun' - bloody ridiculous as the Loungers are often clear by then anyway!

How do you all know someone's been gone 2 hours?

Do you watch?

Count?

Set a timer?

It’s generally ok to leave your lounger for an hour or so in the day to grab lunch / recream. But yes, if you don’t leave a book on there (the international symbol of your intent to return), how is anyone to know!? We also make a point of being vocal ‘shall we grab lunch?’ Just so those around us know and can mention if asked.

I am however firmly in the anti camp when it comes to morning reservations. It’s infuriating when people reserve sunbeds from sunrise and then appear early afternoon to briefly use them.

That said, if everyone just took a bed when they needed it, there’d be a constant supply. Hotels don’t help this situation when they oversell relative to pool space. As if anyone is visiting their hotel in the middle of nowhere, height of summer - not to sunbathe.

No one wants agro on holiday so if someone kicked off when they found out I had taken their sun lounger, I would let them have it back.

He was unreasonable to expect the lounger to be saved for 2 hrs

You bugger off for 2 hours the loungers fair game .
If people don't like it tough sh!t why should others who would actually use it go without because they're a selfish inconsiderate AH

Unless your paid for it for a set amount of time, leaving the pool area IS freeing up your lounger for others.

You get 20 minutes away from your lounger for a poop.

Is that what I put? Sorry a pool towel card. Although maybe a poop card is an idea.

Every single place I ever stayed you can.

We went away a couple of weeks ago. There was a large family (about 12) who had the same loungers in the same spot for 3 days. Rarely there before 4pm and we actually saw them arrive back at the hotel from a trip at one point and then head straight to the pool (small complex with entrance/pool/bar all within a small area)

Their towels were left on the loungers overnight as we noticed night 2, which I thought was really selfish. On day 4 they came to reception while I was there and asked where their towels were. Receptionist said they'd sent them away with the hotel laundry as they'd classed them as abandoned and they wouldnt return until next day, laundered. They didn't appear by the pool for the rest of our holiday 😂I didn't hear the rest of the conversation but secretly hoped they were leaving that day, minus towels

If a towel is on a sun lounger then you leave it alone!!! Ffs
You can't claim a sun lounger for two hours with a pool towel.

For two hours while they weren’t there? Unless u have popped to the loo then you should vacate the sun lounger. But this is why I stay in villas. I’m not playing that game daily

If a towel is on a sun lounger then you leave it alone!!! Ffs

YABU if a towel is left on it.

A lunch break of up to an hr is fine. After that, it's taking the piss.
However, we stopped in a hotel this year that had a separate part for guests a royal level that always had beds available even in the peak times.

YANBU.

If his stuff wasn't left there he wasn't using it.

I'm with you that if you aren't just popping to swim or loo etc then you aren't using it because you are away long enough not to leave your stuff behind!

Surely if they return dripping wet, you’d know where they’ve been?

@TeenToTwenties

I think being in the pool is the exception to the 10min rule.
Without stalking people, it's unlikely you would know where the person was.
They might be in the pool. They might be in the loo which is a 5 min walk away. 5 min there. 5 min back. 5 min doing your business.
They might be popping up to their room to get something.
These are all reasonable things to expect to be able to come back from and find your lounger still available

A round of golf not so much

Thank god I've always booked places with plenty of sun beds and never had to experience the desperate measures some of you undertake.

Do you time people?

It all seems bizarre and aggressive.

Certainly not restful or relaxing.

Ah, I wasn't counting swimming in the pool. If you're in the pool area, swimming or getting a drink or whatever, it's fine to keep a lounger. It's people who expect to reserve a lounger and then go off to order a long lunch or a sightseeing trip who are the problem.

Not at all.
Many people just leave the towel when they vacate the lounger for the day. They pack up their things and leave the pool towel behind.

10 mins is a bit stingy. I can be swimming in the pool for longer than that. It's not unreasonable to be able to swim for 20 min and get back to your lounger.
2 hours though is not on