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Original poster

Why is it a nightmare to get a sunbed?

99 replies

mommas2022 · 09/08/2022 16:04

I'm a new mum, due to travel to Costa Del Sol with my DP and 5MO.

The hotel I booked had brilliant reviews, but the last month it has been really down hill due to complaints about sun beds and queuing for them.

Wtf is going on? I don't recall it ever being this bad?

Is anyone else been on holiday recently and had difficulty getting a sunbed?

We don't plan on staying at the pool all day long, but it would be nice to be able to get a bed!

Wish every hotel had a booking system for this 🤦‍♀️

OP posts:
SouthWestChief · 09/08/2022 17:58

I would also say in the 70z and 80s only adults had beds. Children just sat in the end

now everyone wants beds for entire family

Allthegoodusernamesareused · 09/08/2022 17:59

Where I am currently on holiday in Northern Italy, sunbeds have to be booked, which is great in theory except it's an additional expense on an already expensive holiday, and people who can afford to do so have just booked them for the entirety of their holiday, whether they intend to use them or not.

Allthegoodusernamesareused · 09/08/2022 18:01

SouthWestChief · 09/08/2022 17:58

I would also say in the 70z and 80s only adults had beds. Children just sat in the end

now everyone wants beds for entire family

We don't hire sunbeds for all 4 of us.. it tends to be me & DD17 on the sunbeds, DD11 perched on the end and DH on a towel next to or behind us (wherever there is most shade).

Strulch · 09/08/2022 18:03

SouthWestChief · 09/08/2022 17:58

I would also say in the 70z and 80s only adults had beds. Children just sat in the end

now everyone wants beds for entire family

When you have grown up teenage children you would expect them to have a sun lounger each - that's what we have paid for!

Tisforptarmigan · 09/08/2022 18:05

Just back from the ikos aria in Greece. No problem at all getting Sun beds and no people reserving them either.

Went to the pool at 11.00 ish and always availability.

Holidayy · 09/08/2022 18:06

People definitely reserve a bed each for their 3/4/5 year olds who might spend 20 mins out of the whole day on them

NoodleSnow · 09/08/2022 18:07

I reckon a simple technological solution could be found for this. You could have timers that would show the bed as ‘unavailable’ for eg an hour for when people are leaving their bed unattended to swim etc, but after the time limit would switch back to ‘available’. Maybe this exists already, I don’t know.

sweeetpotato · 09/08/2022 18:08

This is why I stopped doing hotel holidays and book a villa. It spoils the holiday always feeling rushed and stressed, or not being able to go and sunbathe when we felt like it.

It was a revelation waking up and going for a swim at at our leisure and having more than enough loungers for us all.

We always book somewhere near a hotel with entertainment, walking distance to the beach and plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants around.

InTheCup · 09/08/2022 18:11

They should put numbers on them and have a system where you can hire them for a 3 hour slot.

SweatyChamoisPad · 09/08/2022 18:12

We only had two beds for four people when we were teenagers. To be honest we spent most of the day at the beach (and paid for two beds and a parasol) and called back at the pool around 4pm when it was quieter. We always had something to sit on because we didn’t pack every item of clothing and pair of shoes we had leaving us plenty of room to take a couple of lilos and a foot pump.

Essexexile · 09/08/2022 18:14

Too many hotels claim to have a ‘towels on sunbed’ policy but in reality, they don enforce or even try to enforce it, they don’t want to upset the guests.
On holiday last year in an expensive Caribbean resort, a pool attendant offered to move the coolers by 2 sunbeds, which were in the process of being reserved (no towels down at that point) by butlers at 6.30am. I accepted his offer and all hell let loose and I was given evils all day.
The butlers in this resort are up at 5.30am to reserve beds for their guests, who, in a lot of cases, barely sit on them all day as their butler has reserved more beds on the beach.
I have neither the inclination or budget to pay for a butler so I doubt we will return to any of their resorts.

AuntMargo · 09/08/2022 18:15

its also because we are a nation of wimps. If you can clearly see there is no one using the beds, ie, they are not in the pool, then move onto them. Simple really have some back bone guys !

EssexCat · 09/08/2022 18:18

Bodice · 09/08/2022 17:55

By the way I am in France on a campsite and people are just rocking up to the pool using the beds and then taking their towels when they are done. Haven’t seen any of this nonsense.

Same here. This is the biggest we’ve ever been on and when I walked past earlier there were loads of beds spare and now it’s early evening there are absolutely tons.

I had the same experience with reviews actually as when I booked it the reviews were all positive but when we left to come here there were a few negative ones.

I’ve since realised those reviews were all written by the same disgruntled group so one groups opinion could have coloured ky while decision annoyingly.

pinklavenders · 09/08/2022 18:22

I don’t understand why people don’t just remove towels which are left on sun beds for ages?

Because people also leave personal belongings. And staff don't want to get into arguments.

Original poster
mommas2022 · 09/08/2022 21:03

I've sent them an email asking what their plans are to rectify this issue, as we're not happy. Bloody ridiculous eh? Wish all hotels had a reserve bed policy! Would be much easier and less chaotic!

OP posts:
lot123 · 09/08/2022 21:11

If I see any hotel review on Tripadvisor referring to bagging sunbeds, I rule it out and move on to the next option.

I've been at those hotels before and I don't want to get up a 6am or have nowhere to lie by the pool. It's bloody annoying,

Original poster
mommas2022 · 09/08/2022 21:27

lot123 · 09/08/2022 21:11

If I see any hotel review on Tripadvisor referring to bagging sunbeds, I rule it out and move on to the next option.

I've been at those hotels before and I don't want to get up a 6am or have nowhere to lie by the pool. It's bloody annoying,

I didn't even think it would have been an issue! I checked the reviews in May and they where all great. Won't let it it put me off my holiday. Will wake up when I wake up, and if there's no space we can go to the beach and get a bed! No mad rush!

OP posts:
Prometheus · 09/08/2022 21:35

Back in the mid-90s when I was a naughty teenager, I went on holiday to Gran Canaria with my family. In the evenings I’d hang out at the resort with the other teenagers and we’d gather all the towels off the loungers (that people had put out round 9pm to beat the morning rush) and chuck them all in the swimming pool.

Flowersinamilkbottle · 09/08/2022 21:39

I'm at a campsite in France too. Once or twice a day a siren goes off (different times) and everyone has to go and stand by their sunbed. If a sunbed doesn't have someone standing by it their towels etc get removed. I think it's a great idea, but there still aren't that many spare sunbeds as most of the people here are families who are in and out of the pool for hours.

Hellocatshome · 09/08/2022 21:40

Never had an issue because I've never wanted/needed sunbeds round the pool or in the prime sunny spots. I imagine as you are going with a baby you will be fine as you will want a sun bed in a shade spot and they are not normally the ones that get reserved/fought over.

XelaM · 09/08/2022 21:40

We are currently in Italy (self-catering in a holiday complex with a pool) and don't have this problem at all. Sunbeds by the pool are available all day and the place has private beach-access with reserved sunbeds.

Mykittensmittens · 09/08/2022 21:54

We went to a hotel in 2019 (I have no concerns naming and shaming it either) tui magic life fuerteventura in the resort of Jandia. The holiday cost us a fortune - almost £5k.

There were no sunbeds available, ever. The beds were rammed up against each other so you couldn’t even stand between most of them, you had to crawl in from the ends. And there were no parasols just a few pergola type things so those ones got ‘nabbed’ immediately. If you had kids who wanted to use the pool, you had a couple of choices. A) scorch on one of a handful of single sunbeds with no cover at all. B) stand about at the edge of the pool or sitting on the tiles (aso scorching) C) get up at 6am and reduce yourself to the same level as the dickheads who did this to get a bed or d) walk to the beach and pay €10 for a bed.

We asked repeatedly about this, and one honest member of staff said that the abuse they got if they fulfilled the ‘policy’ of not reserving beds wasn’t worth it - he referenced being screamed at, threatened and so on.

the tripadvisor reviews still talk about it now so it hasn’t changed!

Have subsequently been to a resort where
we were allocated two beds for a family of 4
with kids under 12. There were others to use if the kids needed them, and chairs we could move, but primarily those beds were ours. It was so much more relaxing.

Zeus44 · 09/08/2022 22:00

You’re going to the wrong hotels.

Decent hotels don’t let you put your own towels down and only allow you to put their towels down when you’re there.

Greedy crappy hotels should be avoided.

pinklavenders · 09/08/2022 22:22

I imagine as you are going with a baby you will be fine as you will want a sun bed in a shade spot and they are not normally the ones that get reserved/fought over

No, ALL sunbeds are reserved by 7:30..!!

SkankingWombat · 09/08/2022 23:08

Walkingtheplank · 09/08/2022 16:56

I hate this and wish hotels would manage it. On our last holiday you had to get to the pool ( that could not be used until 10am) by 7am to get a sunbed. By then, anything under a parasol was taken.

I want to have a lie in on holiday - getting up the same time as a working day is not a holiday.
And then, as someone who actually wants to be in the shade, I have to fry away whilst sunbeds under parasol are not used or the beds are moved into the sun.

Went to one hotel where empty sunbeds with towels on would have a timed sticker on them. An hour later, if the sticker was still there, they took the towel that had a €10 deposit on it. It was lovely, whenever you went to the pool there were loads if beds to choose from.

I love the sticker idea! The lost deposit makes for a great deterrent too, but even having to hang your head and shuffle apologetically all the way to reception to collect your own confiscated and bagged towels from lost property would be pretty effective. Nice bright yellow Bin Bags Of Shame would do it!

The place we're booked for this year has removed towels when we've been in previous years if left too long. They don't have a system of marking them though, so I assume it is just the pool staff generally keeping an eye out an noticing which have laid unattended for hours. Spare loungers are still thin on the ground if peak season, but you can always find at least one to share between the family/use as a base for suncream application and a quick warm up between dips.

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