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

[timeforamoan]

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.

When I was younger & on holiday with friends we came home one am to see all the poolside sunbeds covered in towels. In the pool they went.

A few years later I took my mum on holiday & moved towels that had lain on unused beds. When the family turned up after lunch (towels on in am of course) I simply said I thought they'd been forgotten due to the length of time. Oh how popular was I.

As I go on holiday with just me & dts (age 9) I am careful not to provoke the type of twats who do this as I'd be easy to pick on. However quite a few places I've been to have towel police now which is a sign of how pathetic some folk truly are.

And sorry but yes English are worse but we Scots are not to far behind you know.

Ninedragons I always bag a sun brolly (always the broken one as well!)

Ninedragons I always bag a sun brolly (always the broken one as well!)

Sorry didn't mean to sound a Miss Snot Boots, I just mean that for the same price as a package, I go to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam and have a wonderful holiday away from the Euros.

can't quite believe that people think it is OK to say 'it's always the Germans' when
a) it isn't, and
b) how can you tell by looking at towels

I'm a stupidly early riser, so never have a problem getting a sunbed - BUT - I stay with the bed, which I think is a big difference.

I'm there at 0530 most mornings. Quite happy with my Kindle and my coffee, enjoying the peace until DD gets up and I get the rest of the day "Mum, mum, MUUUUUUUM".

Quite often there are already towels on the beds when I get there. I give them an hour and move them - I think its very unfair to reserve your bed at silly o'clock and then go back to bed. I think I was found out this holiday though as for the first week I was the only person by the pool until about 0700, the second week there were a few people lying on their sunbeds (curled up trying to sleep) by 0600! I even gave away beds from two couples who used to sit by us when I knew they were on trips that didnt get back until after 1400 - both asked me about it when the finally arrived and I was completely honest with them (they were pretty frosty with me afterwards tho!)

Not read the whole thread but I gather that it all got a bit "bloody germans"?

Which is clearly idiotic

Anyway, the last time I was away, the BRITISH people in the complex were putting their towels out on the sunbeds the night before. Until one morning I woke up and looked out at the pool only to see a dirty lovely little cat having a lovely little sleep and wiping it's arse on one of the towelled sunbed.

Oh yes, I forgot, the 'bloody Germans' thing is soooo bloody wrong.

There were no Germans whatsoever at the place we went this year, place was 95% British - but lots of bed wars.

Last year went to Morocco to a place that was probably 50:50 British and French, again serious bed wars. The Brits were taking beds and parasols to their bloody rooms the night before! The French were really bad at queuing mind.

Year before lots of Italians, but hardly any of them sunbathing - they mainly seemed to sit in chairs by the poolside. I was ??? about this - should really have asked why. Again sunbed wars amongst the Brits.

(Although I have to admit I used to love that Carlsberg Ad when the Brit throws his towel off the balcony and it lands perfectly on his sunbed!)

Last year we made the unfortunate mistake of going to a complex that was 90% British - sunlounger wars was ridiculous. In order to get a sunbed you needed to rise at 0545 (yes this is not a typo) any later and they were all taken - with a family member remaining with the towels (as hotel management quite wisely removed unattended towels).

This year, complex was a mix of Brits, French,Belgians, Germans, Dutch etc. Management removed unattended towels once (early on in stay) which was great, as most people only put towels on beds when they actually needed them - often beds still free at 1100.

Many resorts in canary islands chain up beds at night and only release them at @0830 - very sensible solution

I've just come back from Spain and never went round the pool once as I had no intention of getting up at stupid times to get a lounger, and they were all gone by 9am yet not a soul was to be seen around the pool despite signs not allowing it. I wish I had the balls to remove towles but I'm such a wuss. The few times that we walked past in the afternoon I knew it would have driven me mad anyway as most of the fellas wore "budgie smugglers" eugh.The beach was a short walk away so we just went there.

tbh a lot of the English on my holiday left their manners at the airport, a lot of pushing in at the buffet etc. We were half board and I ate one meal in the hotel. It was like feeding time at the zoo and I got knocked right off my food when a child in front of me (he'd pushed in, as told by his parents so he didn't miss out on the chips) put his hand down his pants to scratch his bum then stuck the same hand into the chips instead of using the utensil. Adults were coughing and sneezing all over the food too. We ended up spending a fortune on eating out.

I never have problems as I always want a lounger in the shade. When my best friend and I went to Egypt we had a laugh in our well-shaded cabana-thingy watching all the British, German and Dutch tourists scrapping over the loungers that were in full sun. They lay there blistering and neutering the pain with alcohol ALL DAY. How people can do that I'll never understand.

I don't do pool holidays, being pale of skin and cowardly of hot places but if I did, I would move the towels without hesitation, but then I'd move bags and coats off deserted seats and feet off train seats as well.

If yuor arse is not on the chair then it's available.

WTF is a budgie smuggler? No, don't tell me...

As I said way way upthread, living in southern Spain I can absolutely say that 90% of the evil bed baggers are ENGLISH. They are not German, Scottish, Welsh, Irish or anything else but English. Plain and simple. (the fact and the people).

I love that the gardeners here either remove them or brilliantly leave the ones near the sprinklers so they get drenched. I also have, on occasion, willingly allowed my 2 year old DD to throw them in the pool. A game which she loves. It's all about the children isn't it - and making sure they enjoy their days

GWEN I never knew what budgie smugglers were and I wish I still didn't, you can guarentee that the men who like to wear these also sunbathe with thier legs wide open. yuck yuck yuck.
I've been abroad a few times and this year lots of men were wearing them. They should be banned..

Here in this resort, if you leave your beds unattended for 60 mins, they come and clip a plastic notice to the towel which says if you are not back within the hour (they write the time on the notice) then towels and belongings will be removed - and they adhere to this.

My gripe today was, I had come down at 7.30am to get the beds under a parasol all going fine and dandy... Then at lunchtime, this couple stroll down and put a sun bed across the back of mine so they could go under the parasol too - but it meant I could not put the back of my bed down when I wanted to read laying on my stomach . As soon as they went into the pool, I moved their bed out and put the back of mine down. They were not too happy....

in lanzarote the staff used to chuck the towels on the roof of the pool bar! brilliant :)

Daniel Craig "budgie smuggling" for GwendolineMaryLacy

i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/07/article-1177819-04D56CD6000005DC-741_306x423.jpg

No hotel should allow this - and if they do, you all need to complain.
(and throw towels into pool & youtube it).

Signed,

An american who finds this hilarious

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to that photo :o Is it phwoar or eek?!

once stayed at a small, veh posh hotel in France. loathing sunbed wars I headed off to the pool with book & towel after early-ish breakfast, intending to spend a happy morning by pool. Arrive to find that all lounges at the best end of the pool, plus parasols, have been "reserved" with towels. As hotel had only about 6 rooms didn't want to start a fight. However was not going to sit in shade looking at a row of empty sunbeds.

Inspiration struck - by moving all the loungers along a bit, I managed to fit 2 extra in at one end for me and DH. The fact that this was the prime of prime locations had no bearing on the matter, oh no, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't splitting any groups up.

Last people to arrive, at about 11.30am! were the (French) couple who thought they should rightfully have the end spot - yet, there their towels were, intact on their chosen loungers next to ours. They couldn't possibly complain. Just threw us evil glares for the rest of the day, & had heated but muttered conversations whilst we smiled and nodded at them innocently & cheerily. Result!

i agree with the Aussie poster above. The idea of thinking reserving a bed to lie in hot sunlight all day in a mediterranean / tropical country and thinking this is healthy, after being couped up in an office in head to toe clothes for 50 weeks a year is totally horrific. it's so unhealthy.

Funnily enough LucyGoose, in my experience, Americans are amongst the worst for this! Brits can be very passive aggressive, but Americans get truly outraged! Now, that is funny!

God, just reading this thread is stressing me out and making me grateful that we are going camping this weekend.