Towels on sunloungers- scourge of the holiday

[Kiddiewinks2008]

I'm on holiday in france and theres a lovely pool with lots of sunloungers but always very busy.
Theres this one british family that go up there in the morning, take posession of 3 loungers and leave their towels there all day. We went up the other day & had to sit on the floor as there were none available but said family had gone off for lunch & came back 1 hour later leaving towels on loungers. I have been watching them and they do it every day. The day we had to sit on the floor, I moved one of their towels & took posession of one of their 3 loungers and when they came back the man complained as now they only had 2!
Aibu to think that this is just not reasonable behaviour?
(I am being slightly tongue in cheek with my post but I do think they are selfish twats!)

go on a holiday which doesn't involve sun beds

Since me and DH got old we've started going to places like La Gomera and Madeira. Never had any sunbed issues despite the hotels being full. People just take their towels and stuff with them when they go for meals or for afternoon sex naps. If everyone is on the same mind set, then beds become free randomly all day.

Turkey was hell on earth and I just gave in and paid for beds on the beach after 2 days.#

Egypt hotels were always so empty you could take your pick.

This, in a nutshell, is why I don't go on holiday to resorts. My dsis maintains it is worth it for the all inclusive this and that, I maintain that I would rather get a self catering gite/villa and not have to share a pool. It's the ultimate middle class first world problem.

Back in 1996 when I was a rebellious teenager we went on holiday to Gran Canaria. People used to put their towels on sun loungers to reserve them in the evening (!) ready for the next morning. So of course every evening me and a group of mates used to go round and throw the towels in the pool where they stayed all night. Wouldn't have the guts to do it now.....

I like holidays that involve sunbeds so why should I not have one? 🤔

In addition to sunbeds, have also witnessed the evening rush for the best seats at the all inclusive evening restaurant. Families letting children wander nonchalantly to the front of the queue then mum shouting "Run Phoebe, run!" as said daughter sprinted to the favoured area.
Laughable.

We've never been AI but we have stayed B&B in hotels that do AI. Usually we ate out in the evening but would occasionally have a drink in the bar at the hotel.

The first time I witnessed the last minute rush for the end of free drinks I was . People were fighting at the bar and carrying trays of drinks that would get a rugby team pissed because the AI service ended at 11.30 pm I think and they needed to stock up.

We went on a Thomsons cruise a few years ago and you weren't allowed to leave your towel/sun lounger unattended for more than 1 hour. The pool staff definitely policed it too.

We also stayed in a hotel in Italy where they had a section on the beach with loungers reserved for people staying in each hotel. We had to take a ticket down to the beach with us proving where we were staying if we were asked by the beach inspector ( we seemed to get checked more than most) and it was strictly 2 loungers per room. Fortunately DS had his own room so we had enough loungers and although it got busy at the weekend, I don't think all the loungers were ever actually full.

We were once in a hotel in Minorca. Every evening all the sunbeds were stacked and chained up so they couldn't be reserved first thing. Instead, everyone formed a queue to collect (grab) their sunbeds, from the pile) which were unlocked at 7.30am... One morning they couldn't unlock the padlocks as someone had superglued them...there was nearly a war, it was ridiculous!
The problem is if you didn't queue, you didn't get a sunbed - all day, on the hard concrete was awful! We went a bought a couple of lilos...

Each to their own.

But the thought of sitting amongst strangers on a sunbed around a pool all day is just..... I dunno. not for me anyway. I cannot think of anything worse TBH.

I like my privacy. So I don't do that kind of break.

Not knocking it for anyone else, it is just not for me.

This thread has made me glad I've realised that my holiday budget just doesn't run to the sort of hotel where lack of sunbeds wouldn't be a problem. So I've decided we just won't do hotels. This year we're in France on a gite complex with only 2 other gites - plenty of space for the kids to play, a games room where we can always get a game of pool or table tennis, a big shared pool, and enough sunbeds for everyone.

Plus peace and quiet and no-one making a noise getting up early to reserve a sunbed, which means we've all had the best sleep ever on a holiday. No setting the alarm, just wake up when you've had enough sleep. Lazy lie-ins and late breakfast and peace at night - gone at the days of feet running up and down the corridor till past midnight and doors slamming and pissed people talking too loud.

It has been the best most relaxing holiday ever. We are self-catering but the local restaurants are a pleasure, not full of burger and chips photos on the menus. And barbecuing is a breeze. If we want a drink we just go inside and get one, we don't have to trek up to our room on the 4th floor or whatever. No queuing at the bar as we have our own stash of beer or good local wine in the fridge. So so relaxing.

Having said that, this week a new family has annoyed us slightly by leaving towels on sunbeds that they've used in the morning, ready to use later in the day when it's not so hot.

There is enough sunbeds for every individual here, and parasols too - why feel they have to save particular ones? No-one did that last week, people just turned up at various times of day and put a towel down on a spare lounger. Hogging 4 for hours just because you want to face a certain way is a bit silly if yo ask me. These people seem perfectly reasonable in every other way so I don't quite know why they're doing it. Maybe just habit of they're used to holidaying in those nightmarish places in those videos.

But the thought of sitting amongst strangers on a sunbed around a pool all day is just..... I dunno. not for me anyway. I cannot think of anything worse TBH

I used to be like this until we visited a certain hotel chain, had an absolute ball and bought a membership for 14 days a year. Lots of members go back at the same time as us every year me it's like visiting family really. As I said earlier up thread we have designated loungers which is lovely. We don't sit there all day, we spend a lot of time in the spa, in the sea, and snorkelling we do enjoy the fizz numerous bottles

@ BodsAuntieFlo ...

Totally get what you mean. As I said, it's just not for me and I don't think it ever will be!

But I am glad you enjoy your own break every year. As I said it's an "each to their own" experience.

xexxsy - I get what you mean - I used feel like that too. My idea of hell. And I still couldn't bear the thought of a massive hotel and a scramble for a sunbed like in those videos... or in fact them being packed so close together, 5 or six deep.
But 2 yrs ago I went on my first AI holiday almost by accident - and I chose to go on another this year.
It really depends on where you go and the hotel and it isn't necessarily the star rating. And you can use it as a base as AI tends to be good value.
First hotel - true not enough sunbeds - but then there were a good 1.5 m or so between groups and 3 m between rows, no more than 2 deep. Second hotel - the same - with 2 out of the 3 pools just having one row of loungers around the pool. Also the other people were from all different nationalities, not somewhere as 'touristy' as Benidorm and there was no nightly piss ups/karaoke.
DP likes lounging all day in the sun on the beach or pool - I get bored and want to sit in the shade . But for the first 3-4 days it is fantastic to not worry about anything - DCs happy getting their own (soft) drinks from the bar - a pool for them to play in (DD2 was in there every day for hours), free Wi-Fi for teen DD1 - and I could escape to the air conditioned room or the balcony for a read or siesta.
No worries about eg finding somewhere to eat..or sticking to a budget ...or making any decisions - a real holiday.
Also both hotels were within walking distance of beaches - with hotel shuttle buses there too... so you can see somewhere else -have a walk around - and eat somewhere else - if you want to! No pressure...
(I went to Egypt 10 or so years ago - partly in Sharm and there we ended up eating in a Kentucky in desperation - after giving up trying to read menus outside all the restaurants and not being allowed to - practically being dragged in)
After my few days of laziness we then went on 'excursions' - not organised ones - ones using public transport/taxis - this year we hired a car for a day - so we got to visit/see less touristy places...something a bit more interesting.
It is the best of both worlds...

I'm sat at gatwick waiting for flight to Spain.

I feel it my patriotic duty to observe any sunbed behaviour and document and report back here!

Recent towel war shenanigans. Member of staff came down at 7:30am and removed all of the towels reserving sunbeds. The men are 'discussing' it with him.

Good to see a hotel policy being enforced

I am not keen on being in close proximity to lots of other people, so hotels are not my thing.

We always go self-catering, renting a little house somewhere as close as possible to the middle of nowhere, halfway up a mountain or at the end of a mile long dirt track!

I too quite like having the occasional lazy day on a sun lounger with a good book and a bottle of the local wine when on holiday. But, for me, it has to be quiet and peaceful and isolated or it wouldn't be relaxing.