Sun lounger towel battles in all inclusive holidays

[Gagamama2]

We are booking our first all inclusive for Oct half term. Looking at reviews many people mention having to get up at 6:30am to put towels on sunloungers in order to secure your lounger for the day. A couple of reviews said they got up at 4:30am to do it?!?

This seems completely ridiculous to me.

We have three young kids and I want some sleep / relaxing time, not to be stressing about sun loungers or having to use ones that are miles away from the pool / ones without shade, because my kids will need supervising in the pool and shade.

Are there unwritten sunlounger rules when going to these resorts or am I within my rights to remove someone’s towels and bag a lounger if they don’t seem to actually be at the sunlounger?? Like if we get down there in the morning and they aren’t to be seen for 15 mins or so, not if they just pop off to use the loo or something?

Have a look at wyndham garden lara in Turkey. You can also use the sister hotel next door so more pools to choose from. The restaurants/snack bars are lovely and I've been twice and not had any issues getting sunbeds (at both Hotels and also at the beach) lots there for kids too

I stayed at a hotel in Crete called Mitsis Laguna and they had family rooms around the family pool that had sort of mini gardens with a couple of loungers and chairs for sole use of that room.

OP we went to Turkey in October half term last year. The resort was amazing however the pools were not heated so the kids didn't use them. It's the end of season at that time and I prefer it quieter, the weather is gorgeous but the cold pool is massively off putting. We are actually in Turkey now and experiencing the sun bed hogging ! My husband goes down to get two while we go off to breakfast but they are in random spots. Our children are older so don't need us close to the pool. Turkey is one of my fave destinations but definitely do your research if going AI.

I wouldn't chance that though after a holiday in Turkey where I was literally putting my towel down to lie on the hard tiled floor while the pool was surrounded by unused loungers with towels on. It might work ok if the pool is set in larger grounds where there are plenty of loungers away from the pool.

Noooo Lara Beach is awful, don't stay there. If you're looking at Turkey, Fethiye is nice and at Easter we stayed at TUI Blue Akra Sorgun. We also like Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus. Swim up rooms at Aphrodite are great - we've done it every time we've been.

Buy some cheap airbeds when you are there , then you can use them in the sea, pool or as a sunbed if there aren't any

Went to Crete last year to a nice hotel and people were putting their towels onto sun loungers before breakfast then going off to breakfast. There was literally no-one outside at 8am but every chair was covered with a towel. I wish I had the guts to throw the towels off. We ended up spending most of our time out and about and just going swimming late afternoon when it had calmed down. We've not been to an all inclusive hotel since.

Would you really do that? Lots of people claim to do so but typing is much easier than actually doing it. Genuinely curious.

The kanika and sunrise hotels in Cyprus do sunbed reservations, they are all 👌🏻

Disagree. More people stay onsite if have food and drinks on tap.

It’s for exactly these reasons that we once chose a hotel where you selected your sun beds at checkin, and used only these, and this year we our hotel has a beach on either side, with sun beds a minutes walk away

Personally I would go to the pool with my family ready for fun. If there are a couple of loungers obviously not being used but with towels, just quietly move the towels to another location. It is not their private property and I doubt you will be there all day with young children. If they come back and try to insist call the pool attendant over and leave it to them to sort out. Not your problem, just never leave your towels to reserve a place.

It doesn’t work like that at resort style hotels. People do reserve a lounger for a day or half a day or whatever. They do go the loo, have lunch, do Aqua aerobics but you can’t move their stuff, it’s their base for the day.

Every single holiday we’ve been on , there’s been complaints about the “sun bed wars”. We didn’t actually have any issues, either at the pools or the beach. Maybe we’re not particularly fussy. First row (by the pool) AND in the sun always go first , but with several different pools to choose from and preferring shade , it was never an issue. Were there idiots making the run at 7 am? Sure. Was there any need for it? No.

I couldn’t stand lying by the pool with all the other pink English hams around me. I did like all inclusive when we went but for the convenience of the meals.

I’m not sure if this has already been mentioned but the Olympic Lagoon hotels in Cyprus (Paphos and Aiya Napa) have a policy of allocated sunbeds (you can choose where to go and move if better/different ones become available over course of your stay) and this worked really well last year. We went in August and hotel was full but no issues with sunbeds whatsoever. Took all of the stress out of it; would highly recommend hotel too (we were in Paphos).

I stayed at a Zafiro hotel in Mallorca which had swim up pools and AI option. The food was very good. Worth looking at that chain perhaps?

@JamPotJennyyes I have removed towels. No drama. Nooone has ever come over to say anything.

We went to the Utopia Blu in Kos last year. We had a swim up room but there’s so many pools, and swim up rooms that the main “activity” pool if you like, always had beds free whenever we went past.

Some resorts/areas cater predominantly to different countries. Would German hams be any better?

Never had this issue but we go in term time - by the time I’ve actually dragged my body out of bed and eaten breakfast I think some of the families with little ones have left the pool, always find loungers though we choose not by the main activity pool as too noisy

I got a swim up room at an AI hotel. Best money ever as nobody could use our sun loungers… I hate the sunbed nonsense. Hotels should allocate them on arrival and if you could pay an extra €50 for the week for that service, they’d make a killing!

or someone should put a card on the towel saying we noticed you were away at 10am and then if still not back in half an hour or an hour, they should remove their things

I wouldn’t go somewhere like that. It sounds fucking hideous!

The canaries are a good bed in October for decent weather. Choose a hotel which is pan European in clientele to eliminate the bulk of the issue. Look at trip advisor or Google and see how many languages are being used to write the reviews - only the British and German guests seem to be loungers at dawn obsessed

Just move the towels.