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Original poster

Holiday pool lounger etiquette - who’s right?

109 replies

BlueyTuesdays · 20/10/2024 16:33

Intrigued what people think on this one.

On holiday abroad somewhere hot and sunny last week. Hotel pool had (not enough) loungers, pool towels were available at the pool and given out as you arrive.

YANBU : if you are vacating your lounger for whatever reason - going for a swim, a walk, the loo, a very long lunch (another issue maybe) then you need to leave something on your lounger as well as the hotel pool towel that says it’s still in use. Your book, your own towel, a pair of sunglasses, your bag, your shoes next to the lounger. Anything.

YABU - leaving the hotel issue towel and nothing else is sufficient to keep your lounger held for your use whilst you’re away from it.

TL:DR I took a lounger (no others obviously available) that had only a hotel towel on it and 2 hours later a cross man turned up and demanded his lounger back - was IBU?

OP posts:
autienotnaughty · 21/10/2024 06:06

Fine to leave towel while you are in the pool /toilet/ getting a drink. Not fine to reserve a bed while you do a different activity.

PeloMom · 21/10/2024 05:19

More than 10-20 mins is unreasonable to block a sunlounger for. Even for lunch most pools offer food so you don’t have to give up your lounger to go get food.

Redgreenred10 · 21/10/2024 00:59

I always look at the reviews and if it mentions any fighting over sun loungers or having to get up at the break of dawn to put towels on we stay well clear. Can’t be arsed with all that on holiday.

LSTMS30555 · 21/10/2024 00:58

@Iwantmyoldnameback what's a poop card?

PumpkinSpiceMuffins · 20/10/2024 21:58

Iwantmyoldnameback · 20/10/2024 17:07

Actually if you leave a towel without handing it back you will not get your poop card and will be charged for the towel when you leave.

Poop card?

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 20/10/2024 21:54

Bollocks to people who reserve sun loungers. If I don't see you for 30 minutes I'm having the lounger.

Igavebirthtoabanana · 20/10/2024 21:51

footballfan1963 · 20/10/2024 17:30

Just go on holiday to Cyprus. There’s a group of hotels that allocate you a sunbed for the duration of your stay. Don’t know why more hotels don’t do this.

We did this first time this summer gone. Hotel in Cyprus that had an allocated sun beds. You can change your beds daily if you wanted to try different spots. It was brilliant. Removed all the agro and anxiety, don’t think I can go back to the old style now.

footballfan1963 · 20/10/2024 21:44

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 20/10/2024 17:54

This is how it should be.

I voted YANBU but actually I think no lounger reserving should be allowed for more than 20/30 mins.

Reserving for hours on end with something that doesn’t even belong to you is extra unreasonable.

More hotels should be removing stuff that is just left there.

Show quote history

I agree in principle but don’t think 30 mins is long enough. Sometimes I’ll stay in the pool for longer than that and no one wants to come out dripping wet and start looking for another sun bed.

An hour limit would be better.

TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 19:14

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 20/10/2024 19:11

Leaving your lounger for 11 minutes isn't "reserving" a lounger. It would be so rude to take a random one but I don't believe you do it anyway.

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Well as I said we rarely use loungers anyway.

But if there are say 30 loungers not being sat on, why on earth should someone who actually wants to use one, (as opposed to letting their towel get nice and warm) not be able to?

It makes zero sense.

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 20/10/2024 19:11

TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 18:59

No.

I would go to the pool area.

If all loungers supposedly occupied but many not, I would pick one without much on, wait by for a minute or 2, then move stuff to somewhere suitable, eg beside the lounger / table / wall. Then use the lounger.
If the owner returned within a suitable time I would move, if they didn't I would stay there.

I see absolutely no reason why I should not have a lounger because someone else has wandered off for 90 minutes. Most places I've been to say you can't reserve loungers anyway.

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Leaving your lounger for 11 minutes isn't "reserving" a lounger. It would be so rude to take a random one but I don't believe you do it anyway.

dollopofsauce · 20/10/2024 19:05

We went to a huge campsite in France this summer that had a large water park. At lunchtime, there was an announcement that said that if you had stuff on a lounger you had to return to it straight away. If you didn't, they picked up all your stuff and put it in a big pile by the lifeguards office.
Genius move.

dollopofsauce · 20/10/2024 19:02

Futurethinking2026 · 20/10/2024 18:45

One of the hotels we went to would have the life guard put a card on the bed with a time dial on it. If you were not back within 30 mins of the time he put the card on he would remove your stuff and free up the lounger.

This. It's sad that it's needed but it is.

TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 18:59

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 20/10/2024 18:54

Trying to understand this. So you go to the pool and every lounger is taken. You stand there scanning and after 10 minutes you pick a lounger to take?

Show quote history

No.

I would go to the pool area.

If all loungers supposedly occupied but many not, I would pick one without much on, wait by for a minute or 2, then move stuff to somewhere suitable, eg beside the lounger / table / wall. Then use the lounger.
If the owner returned within a suitable time I would move, if they didn't I would stay there.

I see absolutely no reason why I should not have a lounger because someone else has wandered off for 90 minutes. Most places I've been to say you can't reserve loungers anyway.

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 20/10/2024 18:54

TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 18:39

Well, I would use the lounger, but if someone then returned wet (having been in the pool) I'd then vacate.

We're not massive lounger users anyway Smile

Show quote history

Trying to understand this. So you go to the pool and every lounger is taken. You stand there scanning and after 10 minutes you pick a lounger to take?

Original poster
BlueyTuesdays · 20/10/2024 18:47

VioletCrawleyForever · 20/10/2024 17:01

YABU

Hotel towel is enough. And you know it.

I don’t though do I, hence the question. I think I’m right but I don’t know it and I’m checking what others think, am open to alternatives and can see that whilst I thought I was being reasonable, the man may have been justified in some people’s eyes about thinking “his” lounger was still his. He was very cross but when I was reasonable and nice he calmed down, and he didn’t need to be so cross in the first place really …

OP posts:
Futurethinking2026 · 20/10/2024 18:45

One of the hotels we went to would have the life guard put a card on the bed with a time dial on it. If you were not back within 30 mins of the time he put the card on he would remove your stuff and free up the lounger.

Original poster
BlueyTuesdays · 20/10/2024 18:41

Interesting array of replies and voting split thank you! I did offer to move when the man came back to keep the peace as he was so annoyed but I did point out that every other lounger had a personal item left on it and a hotel towel alone wasn’t the best indicator. We ended things on friendly enough terms as he found another lounger (also had only towels left on it and the people had clearly departed entirely).

OP posts:
TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 18:39

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 20/10/2024 18:13

Do the 10 minute people monitor everybody's movements so they can tell which loungers the people in the pool are using?

Show quote history

Well, I would use the lounger, but if someone then returned wet (having been in the pool) I'd then vacate.

We're not massive lounger users anyway Smile

DecafDodger · 20/10/2024 18:36

I bet the hotel had a sign that you can't reserve sunbeds. Just say the lounger was free, pool staff must have removed the towels, look here's a sign

PennyApril54 · 20/10/2024 18:26

If he was away for 2 hours he's being ridiculous. The hotel staff could've collected abandoned towels for all he knows. Proper signs and rules are clearly needed. It is unfair to expect people to want a lounger and not be able to get one while someone reserves one for 2 hours. No way. How selfish.

FuzzyGoblin · 20/10/2024 18:22

I think the towel is the sign of reservation and I would expect people to appreciate that going for a swim, a walk, the loo, a very long lunch (another issue maybe) are the realities of being on holiday. However, morally I think if your lunch is really that long that you should allow someone else to lie there.

ClairDeLaLune · 20/10/2024 18:18

Both options are unreasonable, no-one should be hogging loungers. But if you want to nick one, move it to another location so no-one knows it was you!

honeylulu · 20/10/2024 18:16

He was ridiculous. The reason none of his personal stuff was left there was because he was planning on being elsewhere for a significant period.

I've stayed at a couple of hotels where the pool staff move stuff off beds unattended for a long period and put them in a lost property pile. Quite right!

DeliciousApples · 20/10/2024 18:16

Agree 5-10mims max

Skyrainlight · 20/10/2024 18:14

TeenToTwenties · 20/10/2024 16:36

You shouldn't keep a lounger when not on it unless in pool or grabbing a coffee / toilet for 5-10mins max.

Agreed, this is the correct etiquette.