Reserving sunbeds

[OhamIreally]

I have just got up and reserved two sunbeds at the resort I'm in.

I hate doing it but 25 minutes ago all the sunbeds were clear then when I looked again 10 minutes ago about 30% were reserved with towels.

Now, I am not an early riser and I fully accept that the early bird gets the worm BUT this is not early risers going for breakfast and reserving a sunbed on the way as breakfast hasn't even opened yet.

This is the last day of my holiday. Most days we haven't had sunbeds as I have refused to do the reserving thing and we have gone to the beach instead.

I'm really upset that this is a thing and that I've had to do it.

Thanks for letting me vent. Don't know what the answer is.

Realistically though… no one actually moves the stuff.

Someone who’s just come down doesn’t know where that person is on the sun bed when there’s 50 people in the pool.

They just move on.

That is hysterical! 😂 Thank you for the laugh this afternoon!

@Kucinghitam Ha ha - me too!

I think the nearest I got to that was the death stare from assorted French grannies as I moved a load of badly stacked suitcases and pushchairs from a crowded train stairwell so I could stand in the space.

It was clearly NOT DONE.

Please can you let me know the name of the hotel. Thanks

@Ginmonkeyagain Perhaps if you'd put your rolled-up sunbed towel on top of the suitcases first?

I’m yet to go to a hotel where this is a thing. But then I’ve never done a 4 or 5* AI. So maybe that’s the key.

And don't forget those that don't just want a dubbed, but want ‘THEIR’ sunbed. Honestly, the same pair of beds for a whole week.

I went to a lovely hotel in Majorca where the majority of the guests were Scandinavian. The reserving sun beds scenario wasn’t a thing and it was so lovely and relaxed. If I read a Tripadvisor review and it mentions battles for sunbeds I automatically disregard that hotel, it’s not worth the stress!

The last time I laid on a sunbed around a hotel swimming pool was 1990. I can't say I miss it!

I went to a hotel who had a policy of removing towels from sun beds after a certain amount of time, but they didn’t enforce it. I’m not really a sunbed user, but there was one point in the afternoon when I wanted a sunbed for an hour or so. 95% of the sunbeds were occupied by only a towel.

Genuine question - can't these hotels allocate sunbeds by room? So you can match a sunbed number to your room?

Most places don’t have 2-4 sun beds per room available to be able to do that.

Fortunately I've never been somewhere that this happens. I've been places where people leave them whilst away for 2-4 hours over lunch and that's annoying enough. Or when a family reserve several beds but at least one is never used.

I know at least one travel company lets you pay to reserve a sunbed when you book. I think you tell them your preference and it's reserved daily for you.

The best hotels to combat this are the ones with staff monitoring the sunbeds. Towels left for more than an hour - removed and put into the wet towel box and sunbed is freed up.

I find it very cringey.

And as for people saying “we have to do it as everyone else is” ! This is the problem and makes it worse!

Currently on holiday in Ibiza (not AI) and the pool area isn’t that big. No one is reserving sunbeds and it has a very chilled vibe. There is also some lovely seating nearby.
Hotel towels are rolled on each bed all the time so you can see which ones are available. (No Union Jack towels here!).

I went to the Maldives many years ago,you are allocated your own sunbeds. Bliss

I have seen the videos. It's bizzare. It's not a thing in my country. Don't people have anything else to do on holiday but fight for a sunbed to sit on all day?

I'd find the stress of getting up early enough to fight hunger games style for somewhere to put my butt, and staring down the enemy to protect my borders would ruin the holiday.

How would that work with lunch?

If lunch lasts over an hour, you love the sun lounger and start again. People shouldn't expect to be able to reserve their loungers from early morning til evening unless they are occupying them most of the time.

It's not always the number of beds people doing this want though. They went their sun beds to be in their exact preferred position. If they aren't in the front row they aren't happy.

Personally I just want decent shade, a relatively calm area and a little table for drinks and books. Oh and a working, vaguely comfortable bed. Though tbh we don't really do full days by a pool anyway.

I'm trying to picture rows of sunbeds, is it like seating in a theatre? And concluding that (to accommodate this) the pool would have to be tiny compared to the hard landscaping?

I’m currently at Zafiro Mallorca and it’s all quite civilised! If your sun lounger is unattended, a note gets placed on saying if the note is still there 40mins later, the towels will be taken away 👍

I’m more of a beach person and ideally one that charges for loungers, it’s interesting to see that families suddenly decide two loungers is plenty compared to four or five they have at the pool.

I had this at an otherwise lovely hotel in May half term.

Eventually I moved the fowl off one of a row of 4 sunbeds that had been unoccupied for ages ( there are actually signs saying you can’t reserve with a towel but it isn’t enforced) which I used for me and 3 DC, leaving the other 3 free.

The family came back and the man went completely loopy shouting at me. It was all really unpleasant tbh ( I’m a single parent) despite my best efforts to tell myself I shouldn’t care and my youngest got so upset by it ( and the man and his wife then staring at us the whole time) that we ended up having to leave.

*towel not fowl - no birds were involved

Does anybody know how this would work in my situation, where one of us likes to sit in the sun and one in the shade? Would they allocate us beds separately or does each room's beds have to be together?

But what if you want to sit with friends you meet the night before etc. We are pool people spending most of the day there, we get up for games or to go snorkelling etc I don't want to cart all the inflatables etc around I want a spot and to stay there. We usually go to the Caribbean and find the staff are often willing to put towels out for a good tip. I can remember on a cruise (pre-DS) once getting up still tipsy from night before and falling back asleep on the towels!

In my experience the solution is to book a hotel with little or zero Brits staying in it. Last year we stayed in a predominantly German resort in Majorca, in August. However at our hotel no sunbeds had towels put down in the mornings. Most days there was no one even at the pool yet at 10:30am. Mix of German, French and Eastern European guests. Bliss. Currently in mainland Spain, resort and hotel is heavily Dutch. Large hotel, 300 odd rooms, but plenty of sunbeds available if you want one any time of the day.