Sunbed wars!!

[ForMintShaker]

On holiday at an all-inclusive style resort , been to different ones over the years but god I am so so over the sunbed wars. I researched for hours when booking and thought I'd booked a decent one without the sunbed problem. Me and partner here with DD (4) and basically have concluded that people are probably leaving towels here at night time for the morning after , it's bloody bonkers.
Current situation is that we came down for breakfast at 9 and managed to grab one bed , which is all we need as someone always in the pool with DD, but a row of chairs in front with adults (over 60s, no kids ) have left towels and positioned a chair blocking anyone on the other rows getting to the pool without walking all of the way around. I moved the chair to get through and then a woman put it back and has now disappeared!!!! Hasn't been back for over an hour
Anyway , petty example I know, but god it doesn't half put a dampner on the holiday itself. We wanted a holiday with mini disco etc and although I know it's possible to pay more and have private pools etc I just wish the hotels could do more. We have told reception but 'nothing we can do' is the response.
Think I might stay at home next year 🤣🤣

I hear you OP. The hotel we are on does not have enough sunbeds for guest numbers. Went out for breakfast this morning, UK time of 6:30am which is more than early enough when you're on holiday, and all sun loungers had towels on. There were four people laid out and the rest were all having breakfast.

I can't do the beach, I'm too pale and end up burnt to a crisp. We're currently sat on our balcony and I'm huddled in a corner that is the only shaded bit for now.

We normally book private apartments or villas for this reason but it was a very last minute booking this year and we got what we could. Unfortunately, despite being marketed as a four star, it's leaving a lot to be desired.

I just couldn’t be dealing with this at all. I think my main requirements from any holiday are minimising the level of interaction required with other people! I’d rather be camping in rhe rain personally!

The chain we like clear anything left on beds before 9am, if it’s busy they also clear anything left for over an hour (with a bit of lunchtime leeway) belongings can then be collected from towel attendant.

never any bed availability issues there - however, it is £££ for the privilege.

anywhere else I ask staff to help us find a bed or move stuff myself after a while- it’s so selfish. Hope you get some help from staff/management OP

I would hate this.

I specifically pay extra so I don't have to fight over sunbeds. With young kids I need to be able to keep an eye on them.

Some people are just selfish.

If we have issues may just need to get a villa instead- but would have to be catered cos I'm not cooking on holiday.

The hotel we're going to this week we've got reserved sunbeds, 100% the way forward!

I think a lot of hotels are pushing back on this, with staff specifically monitoring this nonsense.

There's an online video of two staff members gathering up all the laid out towels at stupid o'clock in the morning, and dumping them in a pile.

Our hotel had plenty of sunbeds, but had a a lot of warning signs that sunbeds could not be reserved and unattended ones would have belongings removed and securely stored.

These 07:00 a.m. sunbed claimers are the same selfish idiots that bought all the toilet rolls in that mad time, I can guarantee you that.

Why would they do that ?

Surely someone will just have to go in and fish them out because otherwise the pool would be unusable with a load of towels floating in it.

Move chair. When she comes back say excuse me it’s blocking my access to the pool.

First of all they should bolt all the beds down. Or at least attach them to the floor with a special tool if they want to move them for pool parties etc.

Then have them so when they fold in half you can put a padlock on them to prevent them unfolding.

Then just allocate them, and give who is allocated to them the keys (key deposit of course because people always lose the keys).

It would cost very little, stop people moving them around to block walkways and ensure that everyone had their own bed and so prevent rows.

Who are these people that put towels on sunbeds at ungodly hours! I'd be humilated at the idea of sneaking down in the early hours to put a towel on a sunbed only to not turn up and use it until the late afternoon! Hotels are also to blame - they should have enough to go round for their max capacity. Doesn't sound like a holiday to me.

Ah just move it and tell her she’s a twat if she confronts you about it. In reality she probably won’t care about having to move it back a few ft when she returns.

We were in Jamaica this time last year and on our first day we went to breakfast at 7:30 (joys of holidaying with a small baby) and passed the pool. All the sunbeds had towels on. After breakfast there was still no one really at the pool but towels everywhere. We just moved some towels and got on the beds expecting someone to come and whinge at us eventually.

What we observed were people arriving at the pool, tipping the pool guy and being shown to sunbeds. Essentially the pool guy was reserving them all and handing them out for tips 🤷🏻‍♀️

We didn’t alert the hotel to it because tbh the staff weren’t paid very well and I figured that most people would just plonk themselves down anyway.

I'd love the name of any hotels that do reserved sunbeds at their pools or beach? It would be worth the extra money to me.

Oh please.

They had these little pools, I guess for just dipping your feet in, just below knee height, all over the resort around and alongside the main pools, jacuzzis etc. Towels went in those.

They were just super strict about not reserving sun beds. Lots of signs and polite reminders from staff. To be fair there was plenty of room when we went, but there was an area close to a bar overlooking the sea that people would try and claim.

Only once though, haha.

@ForMintShaker haven't RTFT but if in budget have you considered somewhere with a swim up room? We did a few years in Holiday Village Rhodes with this and swim up is into the main pool. Absolutely ideal while the kids were younger

In the 80s we used to go to Minorca to a nice hotel, and my dad used to come out in the morning post breakfast, choose four sun loungers, throw four towels in the pool exclaiming, ooh its a bit breezy! and sit us all down and get his paper out. Never any fisticuffs. I think you just need to employ bit of flair OP!

We went to a place in Spain last month- Melia Zahara - where there was literally no pool or sunbed activity before 10am. I think the pool didn’t open until 10 which helped.

definitely selfish buggers who dumped their stuff then didn’t return but if you put your stuff down before 10am it would be taken away. The staff also took stuff away if left unattended for more than 45 minutes. They were seen doing this.

you could additionally pay for some special sunbeds for all day use (whether you were sat on them or not). A lot did this.

all very civilised. Hardly any Brits though. Most people were Spanish.

You can tell who the selfish twats are in here who think this is ok.

Camping up mountains away from people is good.

@Aliflowers yes have considered own pool and it is within budget, I think next year we will do that , or perhaps a eurocamp which we've done before and I find much better with this sort of thing.
DD has ASD and so for her , routine and the animation team at the pool is her absolute go to if I'm honest. To me it's crazy that the same people have managed to reserve the exact same beds every single day we've been here , god knows what time they're getting up for it .
We went to a different resort in the same country a few years ago and didn't have issues , it's very much pot luck !

A few years ago we went to Cuba on an AI holiday, it was ok but i prefer a villa with pool as our own space. (And we don't cook, we buy cold meat, fruit and salads at a local supermarket).
But in Cuba, the sun lounger problem didn't exist and i think it was because very few Brits were at the (Spanish run) hotel , the guests were mostly Canadian, Spanish or French. And the vibe was very relaxed.
It was the same in a rather small but smart hotel in northern Italy, guests were mostly Swiss, Luxemburgers, Austrians (could see by the car registrations in the garage) and one or two Brits who had driven there, including us. When we were being shown around the hotel manager proudly said they had twice as many sun loungers around the pool area as they had guests. Always.

The good thing about a swim up is you have all the benifits of a hotel but you’re own terrace and space with sunbeds and direct access to the pool. HV Rhodes has a small waterpark and loads of animation and activities (can be a bit full on lol). HV majorca and Ibiza also offer swim ups but these are private pools rather than a main pool which ee prefer

Most people are in and out of the pool rather than all in it for hours at a time and I don’t know how it’s policed but my guess is that the pool attendant approaches a group of loungers that have been unoccupied for a while and asks people on neighbouring loungers if anyone is using them. If nobody has seen anyone use them for ages they’ll clear the towels.

I do not know where you are OP but that cloudy sky would be depressing me in summer!

We always go to Cyprus, guaranteed bright blue skies July and August

Hotels with allocated beds are

Sunrise Beach
Sunrise Pearl
Sunrise Jade
Olympic Lagoon
Alexander The Great

Good grief. It's the main substance of your post, not nitpicking to pick up on it.

Relax "love", you're on holiday.