I’m an introvert, and that doesn’t just mean that I’m shy. I find being around a lot of people draining. So business and first class is nice not just for a bigger seat, but to avoid being in a crowded sea of people. Similarly at a resort, I tend to like smaller properties or at least hotels with a lot of space per guest or where people tend to enjoy luxurious rooms rather than congregating in communal space.
“Resort factories” where you have to get up before 8 a.m. to place a book or beach towel on the chair if you don’t want to wind up four rows back from the ocean aren’t my idea of a relaxing vacation. But that excludes a lot of otherwise-great places, and often means staying someplace more expensive (either in dollars or points).
One guest, though, took a rogue approach to the reserved beach chair problem. They didn’t want to get up and play the reservation game, which is also unfair to other guests – it selfishly takes up a space that goes unused for hours at a time. So they literally removed all the towels from loungers.
I was on holidays in an all inclusive resort. First day, we couldn’t find any lounge chairs by the beach or by the sea, fair enough – we arrived in the afternoon. Next day, we go to find a spot.. but most of the spots were ‘taken’ by towels. We find an empty seat and to our surprise – many of the chairs stay reserved almost the whole day or never get used..
Third day, we decide to take some towels off two loungers, and enjoy our day. Four (!!) hours in, an older couple shows up that they had towels there, and kick us off with help from an attendant.
That pissed me off, so every following day I went to take the towels off of every unattended lounger after breakfast, and then went to watch the chaos from my balcony. Many many people complained and by the end of the week there was a sign that unattended towels would be removed. Success!
I took away all the ‘towel seat reservations’ at the resort
by u/konijn12 in pettyrevenge
Travelers flock to resorts where they get up at 6 a.m. just to reserve a pool or beach chairs and call that ‘relaxing’. I’ve seen this even at expensive resorts, like the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman. So I have to applaud those who are fighting back. Why do great hotels even allow scenes like this dad sprinting from lounge chair to lounge chair, putting down towels to mark territory? He’s ‘doing what he has to do’ for his family, but it’s a shame he has to do it!
Or at this resort in Tenerife, Spain where people lined up at 6:30 a.m., 90 minutes before the pool even opened, in order to be first in line to reserve chairs. Then they storm this relaxation area like it’s Black Friday at Walmart.
@chloeturner_1 Another day another sunbed war 😂 #holiday #tenerife #playadelasamericas #sunbeds ♬ original sound – Chloe Turner
In Tenerife, Spain I suppose this would be called “the running of the guests.” Your resort fees probably include the pool chairs, too.
Rude, ignorant, disgusting and selfish behavior on the part of these people. No butt on the chair, just a towel;l the chair becomes mine . sorry (not really)
outstanding. i will have to try this on my next trip to Mexico and then film reaction videos.
the chair hogs drive me nuts and i’m not a morning person so i don’t do 6am towel drop (though many do).
and this doesn’t correlate with $$. I have been to 4S resorts where every chair was literally taken at the pool and the staff struggled to find space for my family. as one comment noted, it’s a function of chair shortage.
I guess this is how poor people live.
I live in a beach town in Ca that has firepits. Same thing here .
I would have loved to have seen thee confusion. Great job !
Have staff give guests a towel along with a placard that has the current hour on it. So if it’s 9:08, they get a 9:00 placard. At 10am, every unoccupied chair with a 9 am placard gets their stuff removed. Starting at 45 minutes past the hour, they can start giving out the next hour placards.
They can have all the chairs they want. I have ZERO interest in swimming in their pee/poo/bacteria/chlorine infested waters. Yuck!
Leave your underwear wrapped around chairs. No one will touch them!
The continued dumbing down of society!
I watch chairs and after an hour I move in. Period. O didn’t pay for someone else to eat breakfast, go on a tour, take a nap and the come out for a chair they “saved “at 5 am. Nope nope nope.
Typical American “me, me, me, me, me..” only culture! Don’t care about anybody else!
I don’t think this is as much an example of the dumbing down of society as it is an example of putting the wrong people in charge. A good leader/manager/policy maker would observe this mess then gather her staff to brainstorm solutions. Pick one, publicize the new policy, then enforce it.
The establishment needs to provide enough chairs for the amount of people they’re hosting. The chairs are first come, first served. People should be allowed to dip in the pool for 30-60 minutes and hold a chair with their belongings. Where else would they leave their bags, shoes and towels? Has no one any common sense anymore?
Any hotel or resort that allows such boorish behavior will never get my business
A resort I go to in Clearwater Beach Florida has the pool Nazis’ ,as my wife calls them. If your chair stays unattended more than 30 minutes,they put sticky notes on chairs prior, your property goes to the towel checkout area. It always seemed excessive,but seeing this I have changed my mind. Absolutely ridiculous.
Is this your first water front vacation this has been going on for years, you’re just lucky that it wasn’t my towel because it had $3000 in cash for my to go shopping and you will pay me back, just for your ignorance and stupidity
We just came back from the Dominican last week and every morning that we went down to the pool every single chair had towels on them. They even went so far as to clip the towels with a hair clip to the top of the chair. There were no chairs left or umbrellas. I need a chair with an umbrella because I’ve had cancer several times and can’t sit directly in the sun without some kind of protection. We got tired of this every morning so around the fourth day we complained to the management and they said that they would send security down there. So we followed security and all she did was walk around the pool. Look at the chairs look at how many people are in the pool which would be 12 and walk back out again. We were so pissed. So I told my husband the next morning you go down around 7 AM and put our towels on two of the chairs. If you can’t beat them, join them. That’s the only day that we did that. We went directly to the pool after breakfast and used the chairs and umbrella. When we left there a couple hours later, we took our towels off the chairs and let somebody else use them then. We were not surprised to see that a lot of those chairs went unused the whole time we were there.
At our timeshare in Nuevo Nayarit Mexico this happens in spite of signs saying it is NOT ALLOWED. And the mgmt. NEVER enforces the rule.
I congratulate the guest who created the chaos. Why do Americans (yes my countrymen) think they don’t have to abide by the rules. It’s disgusting.
Great article!
I experienced the same mind blowing inconsiderate behavior at a very well known beach front hotel in Waikiki. No one took the towels though… just might happen during my next visit. I’ll be sure to have a balcony view.
Its the same fat women that walk swinging there arms for exercise, while having a jacket tied around there waist so i cant see that whale ass!
Ultimately the blame for this falls on the resorts. I don’t blame the people who reserve their seats in the morning. If everyone else is doing it, it’s the only way they get a seat.
What the resorts should do is put lockers there and Institute an arse on seat policy. If your arse is on the seat, it’s yours, if your arse leaves the seat, it’s fair game.
Some years ago we stayed at a family owned hotel In Rhodes. There were loads of Germans staying there, and every morning from 6 o’clock they rushed out to put their towels on the sunbeds even though, in most cases, they had no intention of using them.
This not only annoyed we Brits but also the hotel owner. The sunbathing area was a beautiful lawn so he turned on the sprinkler system. Job done!
Rude people
Too funny you won’t find my butt playing dead on a lawn chair in a beautiful location in gonna be out doing something exciting and fun
Isn’t there a sign put up that says ‘do not save chairs? In this situation I think A FEE SHOULD BE CHARGED if you want to save a chair all for yourself.
Can’t regulate decency. Either you have it or you don’t.
Put all sunloungers in a lock up at night.
Open it at 8am next morning on a first come first served basis.
Fee for each sunlounger is on a daily basis.
Problem solved.
If I had to go out at 6am to save a chair for myself and family then I better be out there using those chairs otherwise it’s not fair and if I went at 9am and found every chair covered and I waited and watched and no one came used those chairs you better believe I would gather up there belongs and hand them in and enjoy the chairs myself. If anyone came and tried getting me to move to bad you weren’t here and there’s no saving chairs
This is happening pretty much in all resorts.
When I see towels on chair I remove them period!
Sometimes someone should up and other not one show up the 4 hrs I seat there to read.
After seeing the videos this is clear are very selfish disrespectful people that doesn’t care for no one else but itself only.
I have seen this happen in Spain and 80% of the people were European. I have seen it done in Huatulco Mexico and the 80% were Canadian. So Every One does this BS!
The blame may be the resort, but they also 1) don’t want to hire staff just to remove towels and 2) things could get confrontational pretty quick with these jackholes.
That said, they really need to post rules and enforce them.
At one of the resorts in Playa Del Carmen, if a deck chair is left UNATTENED for more than 2 hours, possessions are removed and it’s up for grabs. Every resort should adapt this policy. I know a number of ppl save seats at the pool for the afternoon and spend the morning on the beach when it’s somewhat cooler.
Effing hero.
In the good old days when I visited a resort chairs were first come, first serve! I play it cool and take the towel from my room or make sure I visit a giftshop in town and buy a cool beach towel. Sure, my first thought was wanting to kill the chair hogs and feed them to the locals LOL, but then I cam sit anywhere on the beach, I want! Maybe the Hotels/Resorts should have an RSVP section, then a come and go section or even better a hut where people can ask dor a folding beach chair at extra cost!
Happens on cruise ships too! Luckily I always get a balcony stateroom! Problem solved!
We went to the Dominican, which was full of Europeans, everyone was rude about everything. Fighting over beach chairs & butting in line for food & the bar. We went to a Mexican resort that was full of Canadians & some Americans = No problems all week !
I have traveled numerous times to Dominican, Mexico and Jamaica over the last 30yrs……read the rules of every resort. You’re not allowed to reserve chairs at the pool or beach. Is this rule ever enforced………NO should it be enforced YES! SELFISH people reserve their spot at 6am and sometimes only actually use the chairs for one hour out of a 10 hour day……there’s NEVER enough chairs for everyone. If you’re not an early riser you’ll never get a spot unless you just happen to get there when someone with manners actually take their towels with them when they leave to go somewhere else. The rule should be enforced by the resorts at all times if they do not plan on having enough chairs for ALL their guests period!
you have 500 guest,have 500 chairs,easy
It reminds me of university days when people “reserved” seats in study halls by planking books on the tables and then not coming back for hours. Eventually – I’d say after a million complaints – staff brought in guidelines, and enforced them! Nevertheless, selfish people always find a way…….
Same thing happens at gym class. One person goes in and sets up 2 or 3 spots for all their friends who sometimes show up late or not at all. It seems so petty for me to get upset but I’m sorry, get here on time and set up your own darn station.
I despise people. Crap like this is why I never go near places like that when I’m trying to relax on vacation.
I’d rather take a road trip on a motorcycle precisely because it enables me to avoid other people.
Everyone else hates Americans but we’re the only ones who have respect for the rights of others.
“June 4, 2023 at 9:02 pm
Is this your first water front vacation this has been going on for years, you’re just lucky that it wasn’t my towel because it had $3000 in cash for my to go shopping and you will pay me back, just for your ignorance and stupidity”
You sound like you have the intelligence and debating skills of a 2 year old. Maybe you should pay attention that everyone else here (and on reddit) agrees it’s your behaviour thats stupid and ignorant
I too am surprised that it has to be like that even in a 4star plus hotel!. This will NEVER be me, scenes like these are a real turnoff, and im sure im not the only one. Its so embarrassingand degrading!. Why can’t hotels implement an online reservation system with 2 hour or 3 hour timeslots? And limit which room can book slots on consecutive days? Limit the slots to 2 hours! I can’t believe we even have to talk about this in 2023! Wtf!
The British created a classic meme where a group of travellers threw all the German (reserved) towels into the hotel pool to the music of the Dam Busters Film.
(*substitute Top Gun theme for your American readers)
I’ve seen someone throw all the towels on beds into the pool!
I had a bunch of money in that towel you just moved, where is it?
Seats going to be expensive for you now.
Amber Heard the chair squat and s#+t on it, that’s how the rich live!!!
It’s a beach. Put your towel on the sand right in front of the chairs. Problem solved
Visiting Mexico, we brought our granddaughter, the pool,was in a circle, in middle of circle was lots of green plants and trees. We paid our granddaughter $20.00 to go,to pool atm8:30 a.m. all lounges were covered with towels. Told her remove all towels and take them and leave all in the middle where the vegetation was. She came back, said a little friend she met helped her, deed was done, and go pick,your lounge grandma.. when we arrived at pool, all hotel attendants were laughing. . They said they could not remove towels, they watched my granddaughter do her deed and applauded her. She made lots of money during ou vacation
Some of the biggest offenders are the ones that want an umbrella..put towels on the chairs early in the morning, but don’t come down til 3-4 pm because it’s so hot..all the umbrella are taken by nobody… sometimes I just put my mat and towels in between the two chairs under the umbrella and remain there even when the people finally come down… they don’t own the sand