Sun lounger towel battles in all inclusive holidays

Disagree. More people stay onsite if have food and drinks on tap.

The kanika and sunrise hotels in Cyprus do sunbed reservations, they are all 👌🏻

Would you really do that? Lots of people claim to do so but typing is much easier than actually doing it. Genuinely curious.

Went to Crete last year to a nice hotel and people were putting their towels onto sun loungers before breakfast then going off to breakfast. There was literally no-one outside at 8am but every chair was covered with a towel. I wish I had the guts to throw the towels off. We ended up spending most of our time out and about and just going swimming late afternoon when it had calmed down. We've not been to an all inclusive hotel since.

Buy some cheap airbeds when you are there , then you can use them in the sea, pool or as a sunbed if there aren't any

Noooo Lara Beach is awful, don't stay there. If you're looking at Turkey, Fethiye is nice and at Easter we stayed at TUI Blue Akra Sorgun. We also like Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus. Swim up rooms at Aphrodite are great - we've done it every time we've been.

I wouldn't chance that though after a holiday in Turkey where I was literally putting my towel down to lie on the hard tiled floor while the pool was surrounded by unused loungers with towels on. It might work ok if the pool is set in larger grounds where there are plenty of loungers away from the pool.

OP we went to Turkey in October half term last year. The resort was amazing however the pools were not heated so the kids didn't use them. It's the end of season at that time and I prefer it quieter, the weather is gorgeous but the cold pool is massively off putting. We are actually in Turkey now and experiencing the sun bed hogging ! My husband goes down to get two while we go off to breakfast but they are in random spots. Our children are older so don't need us close to the pool. Turkey is one of my fave destinations but definitely do your research if going AI.

I stayed at a hotel in Crete called Mitsis Laguna and they had family rooms around the family pool that had sort of mini gardens with a couple of loungers and chairs for sole use of that room.

Have a look at wyndham garden lara in Turkey. You can also use the sister hotel next door so more pools to choose from. The restaurants/snack bars are lovely and I've been twice and not had any issues getting sunbeds (at both Hotels and also at the beach) lots there for kids too

Worth paying a few hundred pounds more to avoid the social detritus that scrap for sunbeds and get up early to 'reserve' their beds; at a better resort.

Beach during the day with a parasol. Sunloungers by the pool early evening, though I love early evening at the beach..

Currently in Gran Canaria. Not AI but if you reserve loungers before 10am then staff remove them. It’s well managed so people don’t do it. We came down at 9am today and there was loads of available ones. Interestingly Trip Advisor reviews complained about lack of subbed so need to take reviews with a pinch of salt!

I’ve not come across any hotels that enforce the ‘no reserving sunlounger’ rule even if they state it on their welcome information. I’m sure there must be some that do this as it gets ridiculous.

We holiday at all inclusive resorts as it’s easier with kids and some people are bonkers. Either getting up at 5am to put a towel down (not what you want to do when you are on holiday) or in some cases where I’ve seen, reserve loungers at multiple pools on the complex which is an absolute mickey take.

We usually get up at 7am and grab sun loungers with shade before breakfast then head straight to them after so I don’t feel guilty to be honest as we are using them and take our towels when we’ve finished.

This year we had a ground floor room right by one of the main pools so we just left our towels on our terrace and could walk straight into the pool area which was great as no need to stress about a bed.

I must admit that sunbed wars are the biggest downside to this type of holiday and I agree it’s mainly all inclusive ones as people tend to stay at the complex all day.

This.
I never understand the angst.
If there's towels where you want to sit and no bugger around, just move the towel yourself!

I hate it too, but I can't remember the last time I came across.

If you're looking for October half term, then have a look at the Riu Palace hotels in Cape Verde - either Boa Vista or Sal (I've been to both and prefer the hotel in Boa Vista, but there's more to do out of the hotel in Sal). But there are loads of sun beds.

Because all inclusive usually means you are predominantly hotel based. So if you cant get a lounger and your hotel is miles away from anywhere else then that can ruin your holiday.

Op my understanding is that you dont remove towels during meal times. However if a towel is still unattended at say 11am and breakfast finished at 10am, then that towel is fair game. A tip I read on here is to move the actual bed too if you can then the person cant come screeching at you later

This can be very entertaining on cruises.

Not only does the earth turn, so the sun 'moves', but the captain moves the ship about, too. It's very funny when people bagsy a bank of loungers in the sun, only to come back hours later to find they are in deep shade, possibly in the wind, too. Occasionally the reservers don't understand this and start berating people on the other side of the ship, now in the sun, for taking 'their' loungers.

I've never found a shortage of loungers on a cruise and I'm confident that one in a suboptimal spot will improve as the day goes on.

@Gagamama2

Someone else started a thread about finding a hotel without sunbed wars, and lots of hotels were mentioned that don't have them, there's even some that allocate your sunbeds by your room and you keep them for the duration of your holiday. See below

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5238114-allocated-sunbeds-strict-no-towels-left-unattended

We had this at an AI in Turkey. Took kids to adult only pool as it was empty and we had the pick of sunbeds. Queue pool staff going around the main pool, taking towels off loungers for us. interestingly no one came back to the loungers all afternoon. After that we asked the pool staff. They always knew which loungers were reserved not used and freed them up for us.

"Most of the territorial weirdos seem to have gone by then. Not sure where."

To the buffet restaurant to ensure they have the best table with easy access to the food and bar.

@Gagamama2, if you’re looking at Cyprus I can wholeheartedly recommend this place as a lovely family friendly AI. The outside pool(s) area is so huge, you can always get a sun bed, I promise, even if it won’t be directly in front if one of the pools (people do get up early to reserve these). If you can’t seem to find beds, one if the lovely life guards will sort you out (they have spares tucked away) but it won’t be so busy in Oct so you will be fine.

https://louisphaethonbeach.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22182745142&gbraid=0AAAAADkk1wrVtk5vSLT2mc9sEPGCxkNiv&gclid=CjwKCAjwtrXFBhBiEiwAEKen1yxY6tOEs12D9AmzKWHF3PCRG8qarb2UeWd7MSyIyV-ZO3nUdag06hoC7bYQAvD_BwE

We also went here (in Tenerife) last year, lovely place where the no reserving sun beds before 10am rule (unless you are actually there, sitting on them) was VERY strictly enforced. It was most satisfying watching the towels being whipped away…

https://marylanza.com/?lang=en&partner=10953&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21577732077&gbraid=0AAAAA-DXIZ_UYGavH0LAkOOWcG0R52FNw&gclid=CjwKCAjwtrXFBhBiEiwAEKen12uZkciySOEcgXeJMQ2fxD63wbGjcFzBVBHTl9oHDuk-an5-ml0OURoC8Z0QAvD_BwE

Could you find somewhere that just doesn't allow it? Ive stayed in 'Golden' resorts, a chain with locations all around Spain, and they didn't allow you to take a sunbed until the pool opened at 8.30. We'd usually be down for breakfast at 8 and bring towels with us to take a spot after eating. If towels were left for 1 hour or more without any sign of their owners they would be removed. They were quite strict on this.

As some PPs have said, swim ups are quite good if you want to have easy access to a pool without sunbed issues. We are doing this in Sharm this October. We were planning to do so anyway but I'm really glad as I've read that although the hotel has a policy of no reserving sunbeds before 8am, the staff will gladly take backhanders and reserve sunbeds for their favourites... Those towels are out of scope for that policy!!

Yes I've seen this too! Thought it was a fantastic idea - you choose which sunbed/s you want at the start of the holiday and they are then allocated to you. You can change during your stay to any available beds via reception. Wish more hotels adopted it!