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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that holidaymakers leaving towels on sunbeds and disappearing for the morning/afternoon are selfish!

79 replies

timeforamoan · 21/08/2011 13:44

I cannot understand why people on holiday have the urge to put their beach towels on sunbeds and then disappear for the rest of the day, why do people do this, I have seen people as early as 6.00am rushing to put their towels on sunbeds in prime positions. I think hotels should stop this selfish act by thier guests and remove towels on unused sunbeds. Or put notices up that this is not allowed.

OP posts:
RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles · 21/08/2011 16:06

catgirl you wuld be very surprised at the 'sort of people' who are bagging their beds. Snobby, entitled Boden wearers.

Deesus · 21/08/2011 16:07

But if i removed the towels I wouldn't have anything to moooaaaannn about........ Wink

catgirl1976 · 21/08/2011 16:14

Boden wearers doesn't surprise me. :) Never been anywhere were you would take your own towels to the pool though. Seems a bit odd. Also never been anywhere with sun loungers on the beach.

catgirl1976 · 21/08/2011 16:20

Not that I go anywhere v posh - I just don't like resorts

RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles · 21/08/2011 16:36

This is an apartment complex, not a hotel. Most of the people who live here are Spanish. But there's 30% of so owned by English who rent them out in the summer months.

iliketea · 21/08/2011 16:36

YANBU - it is selfish.

Disclaimer: i get most Angry because my german dh will not get up early on holidays and claim a sunbed or 2, even though I pointed out that I believed this to be one of the plus sides of being married to a german man. If he did, I might think that it was a just reward for being stupid efficient enough to ensure the best poolside location.

catgirl1976 · 21/08/2011 16:39

It would tempt me to sneak about mixing all the towels up and confusing people!

catgirl1976 · 21/08/2011 16:39

This thread is making me want a holiday :(

exoticfruits · 21/08/2011 16:51

If there is no sign of anyone just move them.

Mutt · 21/08/2011 16:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

warthog · 21/08/2011 16:59

there was a case a couple of years ago about a brit who went to italy on hols and was so incensed by the towel wielding sunbed hoggers that he piled all the towels up and set fire to them.

the police were duly called but let him off because he was hugely provoked. Grin

baguettecut · 21/08/2011 17:05

This part of it really ruins the holiday for me. I'm going for a private villa next time. Brits are as bad as anyone in my experience!

VelvetSnow · 21/08/2011 17:06

Nothing beats a bit of early morning sunbed reservation on holiday!

I do it, I take my chances, although I'm suitably shamefaced when someone picks me up on it.

exoticfruits · 21/08/2011 17:43

They only get away with it if people are too polite to remove them.
If you don't want a fight you can just use it in the hours they are away and then move if they come back. Point out that they were not using it for the x hours that you have been able to use it.

milkmilklemonade · 21/08/2011 17:51

I used to until I started staying in better hotels where there are plenty of sunbeds and the beach towels are provided.

baguettecut · 22/08/2011 07:31

well yes, Milk. That would be the obvious option...if most people could afford that!

tulpe · 22/08/2011 08:09

Load of tosh to suggest that it "is always the Germans". Agree with the poster who suggested we had woken up to find ourselves living in 70's sitcom......

IME, the English are the absolute worst for this. Once stayed in a small hotel where majority of guests were English where Towel Wars was in full flow. It was ridiculous - guests glaring at you, tutting and making pathetic comments if you dared to have got up early and SHOCKER actually USE the sun beds that they had been reserving for the previous 3 days. The stupidly stressful attitude threatens the peace of the holiday. This year we went to an island with no direct flights from the UK. Our small hotel was populated with Dutch, Germans, Italians and Greeks. Nobody "reserved" a bed with their towel. Instead they behaved like mature adults and made use of what was available when they needed it.

Mitmoo · 22/08/2011 08:23

I was in one hotel where the hotel staff removed all of the towels, it was war for about an hour, one English pirrock trying to rouse the English holiday makers into a frenzy because they'd removed the Spanish towels last. How the hell can you tell from a towel who owns it?

It's shame to waste time on a holiday worrying about a sunbed. If no one reserved them there would be plenty for everyone so no YANBU.

cricketballs · 22/08/2011 08:31

should I hang my head in shame Blush although in my defence when I do reserve 2 beds (even though we have 4 in the family) we are there on them after breakfast!

The best hotel we stopped in for clamping down on this had a rule that if you were not with your bed then the towels were removed and as I am the early riser I am the one that sits there reading a book with a nice coffee whilst dh sorted out the kids Grin

catgirl1976 · 22/08/2011 09:18

Agree with tulpe. We deliberatley do not holiday anywhere where other "English" go and tend to go places where it is mostly Greeks, Italians etc and you never see any of this behaviour.

Whatmeworry · 22/08/2011 09:36

Avoiding the British package holiday market is always the best recipe for a stress free holiday IMO.

CocktailQueen · 22/08/2011 09:52

This is why I prefer to holiday in my own villa!!!!!

Panzee · 22/08/2011 09:55

This never happens on one's yacht.

LadyBeagleEyes · 22/08/2011 10:00

It's definitely the English doing this now.
I confess on my last two holidays, after realising that everyone else was doing it I started doing it myself.
My excuse is I'm an early riser and was always one of the first at the pool in the morning.
The number of people who nabbed the beds and didn't come down till about midday really annoyed me.
It became a very competitive business Grin. I was an expert by the end of holiday.

ninedragons · 22/08/2011 10:03

This is an issue that definitely reveals your nationality.

I am Australian and the idea of deliberately lying out in the sun, begging for skin cancer, makes me wince. British and Germans are both BU on the issue.