Holiday pool lounger etiquette - who’s right?

[BlueyTuesdays]

Intrigued what people think on this one.

On holiday abroad somewhere hot and sunny last week. Hotel pool had (not enough) loungers, pool towels were available at the pool and given out as you arrive.

YANBU : if you are vacating your lounger for whatever reason - going for a swim, a walk, the loo, a very long lunch (another issue maybe) then you need to leave something on your lounger as well as the hotel pool towel that says it’s still in use. Your book, your own towel, a pair of sunglasses, your bag, your shoes next to the lounger. Anything.

YABU - leaving the hotel issue towel and nothing else is sufficient to keep your lounger held for your use whilst you’re away from it.

TL:DR I took a lounger (no others obviously available) that had only a hotel towel on it and 2 hours later a cross man turned up and demanded his lounger back - was IBU?

You shouldn't keep a lounger when not on it unless in pool or grabbing a coffee / toilet for 5-10mins max.

I’m of the opinion that being away from a lounger for more than, say, 30 minutes, means it should be free for others to use. But I don’t have a lot of experience of pool lounger etiquette.
I also think that if it’s just the pool towel, which would naturally get left behind in the pool area, that would suggest it’s possibly an abandoned lounger.

While it’s a pain that people reserve loungers for two hours (and I wish hotels wouldn’t allow this) I would assume that if there’s a hotel towel on a lounger, then it’s reserved. Unless it’s really late in the day, then I might think someone had just left it there instead of putting it in the towel bin.

I think some people would assume a hotel towel means it’s taken but irrelevant of what’s been left if you’re going off for two hours you shouldn’t expect to keep a lounger, you weren’t wrong to take it.

This is why we now do villa's with private terraces

However in a hotel, you should be able to leave and have lunch, up to an hour? 90 mins max. It boils my piss that people reserve first thing pop down for 30 mins then go somewhere else!
Best hotel we went to was in Lanzarote, you left your sunbed unattended in a morning and the lifeguard took all your stuff off!

In this situation I would leave a personal item if I was leaving the lounger/pool area e.g if I needed something from my room because people tend not to put the hotel pool towels away when they leave a lounger permanently so you can’t always tell 😬 YWNBU in this situation in my opinion, especially if no other free loungers

I don’t think that reserving loungers is ok for more than 10 minutes. There probably would be enough if everyone stopped being so greedy.

YABU, a towel means a sunlounger is taken, I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just the way it is.

A towel indicates the lounger has been claimed but there definitely should be a cut off point for how someone can claim a lounger and not use it.

I would probably ask the hotel what their policy is.

Pity hotel can't provide enough loungers then problem solved

As there were not enough loungers, he was unreasonable to return after 2 hours and expect it still to be his

After two hours the lounger is now mine!

How is anyone to know that the guest hadn't left for the day and just dumped their towel?

Personal items should definitely be left if coming back but over an hour is taking the piss and shouldn't be allowed.

YABU

Hotel towel is enough. And you know it.

I would assume that a hotel towel on its own reserves a sun lounger, but that is irrelevant because no one should reserve a sun lounger with anything when they are going to be away from the pool area for two hours.

A hotel towel is enough but if someone doesn’t come back within 30 minutes it doesn’t matter what you leave the lounger is up for grabs.

YABU to take a lounger with a hotel towel on it, someone is clearly using it. Would you of moved if he came back 10 mins later?

However he is being unreasonable for leaving it for 2 hours, if your away that long then you move your towel and find one when you come back

Actually if you leave a towel without handing it back you will not get your poop card and will be charged for the towel when you leave.

I had the same situation at a spa. Poolside loungers were in short supply - quite a few, but not enough for the number of guests. All were taken, except for five in a row which just had the spa towels dumped on them. I put my stuff on a table then went for a swim, sauna etc - really took my time. No one came back in all that time and I couldn't see five people together in the hot tub etc, so I thought they must have gone and left their towels. I carefully moved one of the towels to a peg and sat down on the lounger at the end of the row of five to read my book.

Then the five lounger-hoggers came back from their two-hour lunch. They clearly thought I was being very unreasonable - they were not happy! Even accused me of stealing the towel until I pointed to the peg. But I'd never have touched the loungers if they had personal possessions on them like a book or something.

If you leave the pool area, you no longer have a lounger.

Towel on lounger reserves it.

If someone is away for a long period of time then they risk getting it moved!

Well managed resorts will remove towels etc used to reserve loungers if you've been away more than an hour or so.

In my experience if you just leave a lounger with just hotel towel they clear it away.

I'd have said to the man that the lounger was free with nothing on it (white lie)

just back from holidays loungers were closely monitored by staff. if left lounger longer than half an hour then your stuff was moved. I saw it happene many a time. was delighted to be honest. if you going more than half an hour then you loose your place if ther not enough

Just go on holiday to Cyprus. There’s a group of hotels that allocate you a sunbed for the duration of your stay. Don’t know why more hotels don’t do this.

No one owns a lounger. I find this hilarious. Once you get up it is open for anyone else. Sorry this is just the most 1st world issue ever!
Please look at people being killed daily in the middle east to wake up.

Can’t reserve a lounger for more than 2 hours! I would move their stuff and give it to reception staff.