To be really fed up about the club changing its child free times?

[Sixweekstowait]

I belong a leisure club (which is attached to a hotel) which I joined for two reasons - the easy to enter swimming pool and its rules on limited sessions when children are allowed. Swimming is the only exercise I can do because of my disability. The child sessions are 3-5 weekdays and 9-11, 3-5 Saturdays and Sundays. I went along this morning to find the pool full of squealing excited youngsters and parents shouting and yelling to each other, and with no concept of lane etiquette. I had picked up the flyer about revised opening times over the holiday period before Christmas and there was nothing about changes to child sessions. When I complained, it was finally decided that until the new year, children will be allowed at any time. I feel very marginalised and discounted - AIBU?

It is about balancing the needs and wants of all it's customers. I think it would be reasonable to apply weekend rules during mid week holiday periods but I think this should be clearly stated, communicated and reminded to all users. Then the OP could have managed her visit accordingly and the hotel guests would have had 2 available slots at reasonable times for swimming.

Because the manager made a business decision that s/he was more likely to please more customers by extending opening hours for children than lose customers who didn't like it.

I've had that experience too wankers. Took DS and his pal to our gym pool in the designated family area - note there were two lanes for lane swimmers. Elderly lady there with various paraphernalia related to her swimming going right down the middle of the area, tutting wildly at the two boys if they dared to get in her path. At first I tried to keep them out of her way and then thought sod it, she should be in the lanes.

However OP YANBU to be annoyed. I think it's fair enough that the hotel has changed it's pool policy for the Christmas break, but they should have notified members and it would have been thoughtful to retain some unpopular times i.e. pre 8am and post 8pm child free even during this period.

More -nope it doesn't and anyway there is something is there not in law about unfair terms and conditions - being able to change without any notice from two hours a day for children to 12 hours would fall into that category I'm sure

Is the issue here that children were in the pool, that there was additional noise, or that there was no lane etiquette? If it's the first two, I think YAB a bit U, as you could have still potentially had a swim (although it's not as relaxing with increased noise). If the issue is lane etiquette, YANBU - I don't see why allowing children should interfere with having some lanes open for people who want to swim rather than play and I'd have complained to the hotel about that.

If the small print says hours can be altered, it sounds as if that would encompass the hours or children.

I agree that they can't just discount your complaint based on a vague statement in the T&Cs. Altering the hours is one thing, altering them to the point you cannot access the service with no notice is another.

It sounds to me like they couldn't be bothered to police the access or deal with complaints from hotel guests who probably outnumbered the complaints received from club members. Is it part of a chain? would it be worth complaining to the headquarters?

The issue is that we were not told that they were having unrestricted child times. Children are noisy in a pool and of course mess about all over the pool ( this is quite a small one btw). When I swim I want to be able to do lengths without hindrance and in a calm and quiet environment - why do you think they normally don't allow children in? Its a club for adults with a concession for children.

a LA pool doesn't have disabled access? Really? Where is that?

So are there lanes at the pool?
If there are and you are still able to swim your lengths, but your complaint is that you don't like the noise the children make for a short period over the holidays then YABU.

hod I'm presuming that the OP isn't in a position of requiring a hoist or similar that a LA pool may have available. She may have mobility issues that mean she does walk and that the access to some pools is easier than others in terms of steps/slopes/ladders etc.

I think in that position I would feel a hoist or similar is a bit OTT but a set of steps with a decent rail to hold on to is better than a backwards ladder with a very low railing for example.

Well I have a disability causing severe pain, very little mobility and I can't do many leisure activities but I think you are being unreasonable. You pay your membership to swim, not to swim alone. That they provide child free sessions is a bonus and not specifically what you are paying for. Every leisure facility I've ever used has extended the time children can be in the pool during school holidays so I think it is common sense to expect it.
It is two weeks, if you really can't cope with the noise of children then alas you will have to not swim until the new year. As a disabled parent I'd be pleased that I could take my daughter for more than the few short sessions they normally did.
You sound whiny and entitled and having walked in very similar shoes to yours I can say that with conviction. You aren't being denied access, you are being denied the experience you feel you deserve and sadly you are not the only person who wants to experience the pool. You also have no bloody clue what shoes those families are walking in so try being considerate rather than expecting one thing and giving another.

Yes you've got a complaint there. Not sure why you asked AIBU when you are (rightly) sure that you're not.

I wouldn't risk my BP to ask TBH.

hoddtastic I used to use a pool built decades ago - I think before the First World War - and state of the art then, I expect - but you had to go down a flight of steep steps to get to the water. It was probably inaccessible to many disabled people and I doubt if any ingenuity could change that. Obviously when and if that pool was or is ever replaced all that must change but the cost of doing that has to compete with everything else the LA could do and it is not liable in law for keeping it going.

You probably need to dog out the detailed contract you signed when you took out membership.

If it includes a term limiting the use of the pool by children to certain times, you may have a sensible argument to put to the hotel. Otherwise it will be in the managers discretion and you have to suck it up and change pools of you really can't bear the noise of children enjoying themselves.

Sounds a bit crap op. And of course yanbu. Definitely complain.

I can see both sides (sorry Bourdic!). I can see your frustration, and I do feel there should have been prior warning and lane preservation, but I don't think the change of times is in itself unreasonable. I also don't think that a mobility disability is grounds for expecting calm quiet atmospheres - that's just preference. Whereas I would understand more someone with an auditory disability or a disability with a sensory component (such as ASD) making the same complaint, in this situation I would still say that the onus would be on that person to avoid the pool at busy times (and I do have experience of those disabilities) - you can't stop children using a pool because it offends a subset of adults.

I think you need to get on to the local authority regarding their limited access. I'm really shocked at that.

I can understand the frustration you had, planning on going for a nice swim, a bit of exercise that doesn't cause too much (if any) pain and finding that the information you found about changes to times didn't include any information on children's times. It would annoy me too. But that said I think if there are actual issues (like the flip flops and them swimming in an area for lane swimming only) then you need to speak to someone, surely they have a lifeguard around?
I think you did right to complain, especially since you thought ahead to check time changes and there was no mention of being open to all for the week. You are right that it's a big enough change of terms for an advance heads up and they should at the very least refund your membership fee for the week that has been effected.

All that said I think you are BU for posting in AIBU and arguing you are right, they are wrong. Is AIBU not a question? You are asking for others opinions on this matter... then shooting them down. And I get the disabled thing, me too. But that doesn't mean I cannot be around children. I don't think your disability has anything to do with it. Not sure why that is relevant (flip flops on the stairs are a danger to all, including the kids!). Any adult who pays membership and goes swimming to a child free pool is being put out, not just you.

Yanbu.....but......if there was no notice given about the kids times changing, how did all the parents with kids know they could take them in during those times?

Just re-read the OP.

To me it all hinges on the availability of lanes or not. The OP suggests that there were lanes in existence, it's just that not everyone was adhering to their proper use: I went along this morning to find the pool full of squealing excited youngsters and parents shouting and yelling to each other, and with no concept of lane etiquette.

Therefore based on that I now feel OP is being unreasonable. Annoying though it is, she could have complained to the life guard if people were getting in the swimming lanes, but I sense that her chagrin is more about the noise rather than anything else.

As an aside, the worst breach of lane etiquette in our pool was from an elderly man who insisted on swimming underwater widths when the pool was laned off into lengths. It was very disconcerting to have him swim beneath you and then he'd just pop up randomly in any lane. I think they must have got complaints as he seemed to stop after a few months.

zeeboo, I agree with your take completely.

Yanbu.....but......if there was no notice given about the kids times changing, how did all the parents with kids know they could take them in during those times?

I read it that the children were staying in the hotel, so I expect their parents asked the hotel staff, rather than this being something that was advertised generally to the public.

YABU I belong to a similar club, can only really swim, AND have disability. I also have kids that are members. They relax the kids sessions during school holidays. The kids are paid members too! Half the reason I pay for their membership is because I want to be able to take them there in the holidays, otherwise I'd be paying membership there, and having to pay extra for local pool during holidays. They have so many members, there are many things that will inconvenience someone at some stage, they can't please everyone - I don't see it as discrimination! Email the manager and ask if there are any days that are more likely to be quieter than others, that's the best you can do I'm afraid. It's not permanent, but will be like this during school breaks for the foreseeable I'm afraid

YANBU.

I would have expected a notice saying that weekend rules apply. I certainly wouldn't have expected a children all day policy.

We went to a hotel with a pool with members at half term and it was still children 10-11am and 4-6pm and adults the rest of the time

YANBU i can never understand why people take children to swimming pools in gyms and health clubs. Our town has a well equipped public pool with lots of child-friendly facilities and is v cheap. Surely the children would have a better time there than in a boring adult pool where people are trying to exercise.

Children aren't allowed to come into other parts of gyms, so why are the pools treated differently?