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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

sun lounger bagging etiquette

115 replies

hwjm1945 · 04/09/2013 08:34

Ok,I know this is trivial but......on hols,about 120 sunloungers,maybe 70 of which offer umbrella shade,.every morning as soon as pool opens parade of people with towels,books, bagging the prime loungers and then going off for breakfast etc,and not reappearing for in some cases 2 or 3 hours.
In one memorable case,a family group did not have Enough towels to bag the number of loungers required so used a pile of cut leaves!I do not think this is decent behaviour,I think if you are using area for lounging,pool etc save for popping t o loo Tec or to get drink then bag a spot.if not using it for hour or so you should remove your stuff to free up for others.what do people think?

OP posts:
mirry2 · 05/09/2013 16:26

I don't even enjoy lying by the pool for hours at a stretch so rarely do. This thread reminds me why I don't like holidays in the sun

mirry2 · 05/09/2013 16:27

package holidays in the sun, I mean

MummyPig24 · 05/09/2013 16:30

On our recent holiday people literally queued at the pool gates for sun loungers, dumped their stuff then went for breakfast. Unnecessary I believe! It's just selfish and bad manners. I would move their stuff, there is no such thing as saving sun beds.

LtEveDallas · 05/09/2013 16:42

The worst place we ever went to for this sort of thing was a hotel in Morocco. People were bringing their quilts down from their rooms at 4am and going back to sleep on the sun beds Shock

I would arrive at about 0530 and all the sunbeds close to the main pool were taken, either with towels or bodies wrapped up like maggots trying to sleep. Luckily I wanted to be at the back where I knew there was shade at lunchtime.

There were very few sun umbrellas and we discovered that people were taking them back to the rooms at night Shock

This hotel had mainly French and Dutch clientel. All the men in their duvets were French.

Sparklingbrook · 05/09/2013 17:01

OMG LtEve that is bonkers. Sunbed French maggots. Confused

BrokenSunglasses · 05/09/2013 17:35

The problem is that in any places, you are forced into taking part in the madness that is sunbed booking or you won't have anywhere to sunbathe when you want it.

We used to use the Firts choice holiday Villiages for our holidays, and it was always chaos there. People would get up hours before the beds had even been unchained to lay their towel on the ground where they wanted their beds to go. Then they'd come back at 7.30 when the beds were unchained, put them in their spot, and go back to bed then have breakfast before coming back about 11.00.

I spent the first couple of days seething about it, then realised my anger wasn't going to change anything. It was quite nice getting up earlier than everyone else and reading by the pool until the rest of my family came down to get me for breakfast.

ZingWantsCake · 05/09/2013 17:46

YABU - but only because of your thread title as sun lounger bagging etiquette is an oxymoron.

I do like the pile of leaves though, you have to admit, it is creative!Grin

Sparklingbrook · 05/09/2013 17:57

I think a self catering villa is the way to go. Get up late. Eat breakfast in your nightie and sit on your own sunlounger as near/far away from your own pool as you like.

Or even go out and look at things. Shock

ExcuseTypos · 05/09/2013 18:07

'All the men in their duvets were French'

That has made me really chuckle. He he.

Jollyb · 05/09/2013 18:23

This thread has made me smile and remember the beach
towels my mum once bought. They were in the colours if the German flag with 'RESERVED' in large letters. The shame! My dad used to be our sunbed bagger (he was in the fruit and veg industry and was accustomed to early starts).

The bagging did get ridiculous at this particular hotel and so in the end the entertainments manager threw everyone's towels in the pool.

gettingeasiernow · 05/09/2013 19:27

Married to a German, and I've had to learn to turn a blind eye to it. Nothing stops the drive to fulfill one's genetic destiny. Can I sincerely apologise to the OP in case she was recently at the same resort we were? I personally would have taken it in very good spirit if she had removed our stuff. DH less so though.

cantspel · 05/09/2013 19:31

Back in my long lost youth we would go out and party all night. Get back about 6 in the morning change into our beach wear and go kip on the sunbeds and we wouldn't stir until lunchtime.

LtEveDallas · 05/09/2013 19:44

Ohh my type of holiday cantspel Grin

CamelBalls · 05/09/2013 19:52

I have just got back from holiday - and resort I stayed at - if you out your towels down before 10.30 they old get removed.

Lifeguard was really helpful, he helped me put sun umbrella up as I couldn't do it (too small and then arm was in a cast)

He did also keep our ones free, just to be polite although I was down by 10 at the latest :)

angelinajelly · 05/09/2013 20:18

Are the people who don't approve of lounger-bagging the same ones who don't believe in paying to reserve seats on the plane and then expect others who have to move for them?

Original poster
hwjm1945 · 05/09/2013 20:26

Probably they are,we pay to reserve on transport cos we want,need to sit with kids,have seen others who have not paid for same asking staff to move people to accommodate their family groupings,why do they feel entitled to do this?

OP posts:
mirry2 · 05/09/2013 20:35

Angelina that's not the same. Nobody has paid for the loungers. If they had it would be a different matter.

Sparklingbrook · 05/09/2013 20:51

I haven't been on a package holiday for about 20 years. I had no idea this plane seat/sun lounger bagging went on. Sounds exhausting.

everlong · 05/09/2013 21:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

toisa · 05/09/2013 21:18

Very much of the opinion - you can't beat them so gotta join them... We usually set the alarm to go and do 'bagsy' loungers early am....

Sparklingbrook · 05/09/2013 21:20

It shouldn't be though should it everlong they aren't cheap. Sad

skyeskyeskye · 05/09/2013 21:28

Last time I went abroad was on honeymoon with XH and we went to Cyprus. The hotel we stayed in, allocated sunbeds for the whole of your holiday. You could ask to move spot, or change if somebody else's holiday ended and you wanted their place.

This was a fab idea, and it meant that we could go and eat, or go swimming in the sea and know that our sun lounger and all our stuff was still there when we got back.

I like to do a bit of everything on holiday, some sightseeing, some relaxing. If I wanted a sun lounger and there was a towel on it and nobody in sight for some time, I would remove it. I would obviously check hotel policy, so that they could back me up for doing so.

Nobody has the right to reserve something if they are not actually going to be using it for hours. That is just selfish. If you want to lie in the sun, be on the lounger, if you want to stay in bed, keep your towel in your bedroom and take pot luck when you get up.

ohtowinthelottery · 05/09/2013 21:50

We went on a cruise earlier this year. You were not allowed to leave the sun loungers unattended for more than 45 minutes. It was actually 'policed' on busy days. The drinks waiters had very sticky stickers, which they would attach to the towels on empty sun loungers after 1st writing the time on the sticker. 45 minutes was enough time to go and get breakfast/lunch from the buffet (although we never bagged loungers until after breakfast).
One day, we went off for lunch making sure that we weren't away too long, and when we arrived back there was another passenger standing on the deck near our loungers looking at her watch and checking how long we had been away. When we arrived back within the allotted time, the look a disappointment on her face was a picture. At least she had the decency not to chuck our towels off anyway (although we had been chatting with the people on the next loungers and they would have put a stop to any foul play.)
The good thing about a cruise is that nearly all the towels on the loungers belong to the ship, so the staff have no issue with taking them away.

elvisola · 05/09/2013 22:04

Which is this amazing Cyprus hotel that allocates sunbeds????

Sunbed bagging ruins my holidays, I want an allocation!

skyeskyeskye · 05/09/2013 22:28

Capo Bay Hotel in Protaras. It's been done up since we were there in 2005 and costs a fortune now :(

There was another one too, the Sunrise or something like that. They did the same.