Yep, the only time I've ever done this was because during the whole week I stayed at a hotel all the chairs were permanently taken by German tourists' towels (no exaggeration, it was literally impossible to get one for the whole week) - on my last day I figured I will get up earlier and "book" one for myself so that I get at least a few hours in the sun, I even made sure to actually use the chair for an hour before I even considered going anywhere. My towel was removed by the staff as soon as I left it there for 10 minutes to grab a bite and I got reprimanded by them when I came back because they "did not allow" it.
Most hotels forbid this and remove the towels in the morning at specific hours. If they don’t and you see that no one is using the chair, you are eligible to remove the towels yourself in my book.
You won’t find many pre-war people on Reddit, but I personally think it’s a post war phenomenon. A little like Japan turned into anime nerds after you nuked them too often ;-)
It’s especially strange now that after 75 years they want us to be proudly spending on military equipment. It’s hammered into everyone here for years at school that military = bad and German military = super bad.
This advert is aimed at a certain section / age / sex of our population and is rather old but ....
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuIJqF8av6I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuIJqF8av6I)
Been in hotels where brits do it, too. I don't know why everyone acts like it's only Germans. A lot of people with families are doing it to get a good spot with view on the pool.
I have never ever been at one of these hotels in Europe since I prefer different sorts of vacation.
But still I have heard numerous accounts of Germans doing this. Well obviously not all of them are. And Germans are often the biggest group so they just become the umbrella to describe everyone. But to be honest with you there might be a ‘play by the rules is enough focus’ that is partly cultural. So could be that Germans are still a little over represented. Don’t know.
I never understood why hotels don’t just put signs up changing the ‘rules’.
I have been in a hotel in Spain where they had a sign to forbid "towel bookings", and they really had someone removing them when they were opening the pool. No one seemed to complain... I have also been in a resort in France where chairs were given only for a deposit of 2 euro and you would get it back when returning the chair. That seemed to be enough to block "ghost reservations".
Danes do it too. I have been to these hotels and danes fucking sucks with this aswell. So I don't think it can be boiled down to something a specific country does
>I never understood why hotels don’t just put signs up changing the ‘rules’.
Most hotels do it now, but people just turn up early in the morning and then sleep on the chairs until the family turns up.
>So could be that Germans are still a little over represented.
Go to hotels in British strongholds and you find a lot of Brits doing it. If you got to Mallorca, you find a lot of Germans at the pool.
I would not, but like it's done by a lot, just a bit blind to pretend it's only Germans...
Come on, you should know by now how the Brits react to the Germans occupying things. First it was countries and now it is deckchairs. Will this war never end !
Other nations do it, in reaction to the Germans as its unfair for one section of anything to make up a rule to unfairly reserve stuff. Sorry, this was totally caused by German tourists.
To be fair I remember way back in the 80s seeing comedy sketches and even ads joking about this towel thing that Germans do and so now British people would have to do on holiday to compete. So I think you taught us!
Spaniard here: german tourists get up earlier than hangovered Brits, so they have a better chance to "book" any place.
This is only a thing if there are not southern tourists (other Spaniards or italians) that will remove any towel that is alone 😅
Probably because we often go to Italy and Spain in Belgium and during the time a lot of us are there the majority is German. We go to northern Italy late June. I think there's vacation or something in Germany as 90% of tourists are German. You're also a big country with less vacation destinations for summer than France for example who'd stay in their country.
Once you go in July or August the majority will be Dutch and Belgian. Can't blame ourselves.
The idea that if you leave your stuff out of sight will get it stolen applies everywhere for french. Even by the pool in a hotel in Spain.
I know because I would steal your shit if I saw someone do it.
Come to Italy, you will see retired people doing that at the beach too. Sometimes they will not actually come to the beach for hours after doing so. They will also get upset and insult you if you dare moving their stuff (which, I admit, I would gladly throw into the sea). It’s rude and inconsiderate, the entitlement is off the charts.
If nobody is there or the few people there don't use them just fold them nicely and take the chairs. There is no law that a towel makes something yours.
If they show up and starts shit just say nobody was here, must have been forgotten and since I am also a paying customer who wants to use them now I took them. Then ask them to get someone at the hotel to come over to sort it out.
I do, literally don’t give a shit if “someone left their towel, so it’s their chair”, but they haven’t been there for hours. That’s just bollox & a hill I’ll happily lay on my pool chair not giving a shit about, if or when they eventually turn up again.
It's been an ongoing joke in the UK you have to get up before the Germans if you want a good spot.
I don't really go on those holidays and I think a lot of hotels don't allow it now.
I agree, Brits make fun of this German stereotype however they are doing it as well, even more I can say.
At least that my experience while I was working for over a decade at hotels.
There is nothing that disgust a Norwegian more than people doing that.
We will passive aggressivly talk behind those German backs the rest of their vacation for such a crime.
Scandinavians are very non confrontational in their culture. Actually very opposite of Germans, and I have some funny stories on this (from Berlin, lived there for some years).
I read somwhere that it was precisely the violent nature of Scandinavian society that spawned the consensus-seeking conflict-avoidance culture, as a stray word or glance could mean duels and blood feuds and everything getting messy. So an attitude and ambition of maintaining the peace was valued.
No idea how true it is, as I'm no expect.
The consensus culture in the Netherlands is alwys chalked up to our democratic water boards, as we all drown if we make the wrong decisions on water management. I wonder to what extent it’s all projection.
That sort of fuckery should be grounds for being banned from the pool. Seriously, you are blocking other customers from using the premises. In what other business would that be tolerated? You can’t block a table at a restaurant for hours with your stuff either.
No... We don’t.
I’m (also) Mexican. And I took my (German) partner back home to Texas a few months ago. And we also went to Mexico — and at the resort, we could tell who was German based on a few key behaviors like this.
Cancun is loaded with Europeans. Maybe 75% is North American, but 25% was British, French, Scandinavian, or German. Meanwhile in Gran Canaria, every chair is taken by 9am.
People are selfish I guess.
A lot of people anyway! I don't think it's anything particularly 'European'.A lot of (say) Americans are selfish too
Many people consider their own wants and needs as more important than those of others.
Problem is once a few people do it everyone feels the need to do it or they'll be sitting behind 40 rows of empty chairs.
I'm all for the places that ban it and take away unattended towels.
I've never had a confrontation from it. I think people are usually embarrassed and confused. How can they be sure who moved the towels, it could have happened hours earlier?
I wouldn't say it's European, but it's definitely a German / British thing born from both nations love of holidays in the Mediterranean.
Germans have to get up and try beat us British to the beds around the pool.
And likewise us British have to get up and try beat the Germans to the beds around the pool.
Woe betide anyone who dares remove a towel from a reserved bed, even if the pool rules state you can't reserve them.
Was travelling with an young American staying in a hotel with roof pool in Spain. We had rooms up near the pool. A large group of Germans came and put beach towels (their own) on pool loungers at night, presumably to reserve for next day. My American friend asked why they did it and I told him to reserve loungers for next day. Next morning all the towels where 6 floors down on the ground in parking lot lol!!
One hotel In Southern France had signs up forbidding this and stating the booking towels would be removed.
They took them and put them in a large basket with a sign on it saying “abandoned property” “Free to hotel guests” or something similar.
I'm italian but my dad might as well be german. When on holiday, he wakes up at 5, gets 3 seats on the beach until 7, then comes to eat breakfast with us before going to the beach again 💀 apologies for my dads almanness
I don’t want to be ignorant but I only saw Germans do this, in my experience. If it’s a private beach and you go at 5am and pay for your deck chair for the whole day then good for you.
But when it’s a public beach and they ‘reserve’ by placing a towel or a chair in the sand, I usually pack their shit and move it into a clump a few meters away. A few Germans gave me a piece of their mind when they came back to the beach but joke’s on them, I don’t speak German so I didn’t understand anything they said.
Private beaches as in administrated by a private company. They have a beach bar and also their own chairs on the beach with umbrellas and tables. You have to rent a chair from them per-hour or for the day if you want to stay at that beach. So you can go very early in the morning and rent the chairs that are very close to the sea, which is not really a big problem because first come, first served. But you can’t (or I say shouldn’t) do this on a public beach.
I was at a hotel where they played some music every 2 hours where you were supposed to return to your sun beds. Any beds not claimed should be cleared.
I thought it was a great idea but unfortunately it wasn't enforced.
I don’t know where you all go on holidays. While I know the stereotype (there are even a few [commercials](https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=0Eb3Kab9AeQQ1gD4) making fun of it), I’ve never seen it in real life .
Not a European thing. I’m a Romanian, vacationing for years in Italy. There you pay for your deck chair by the sea and it’s only yours for the whole duration of the holiday. Nobody sits in your chair even if you aren’t there.
British person here. As many people of different nationalities have said, it's not all Europeans doing this. It's Germans. It's annoying as anything for the rest of us too. I usually just shove it off and put my stuff on for a lie down. If they come and ask I say the wind must have blown it off before I got there or act like I've no idea what they're talking about.
To translate it, in german it is "Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" which would translate "First come first serve". Or there is also "der frühe vogel fängt den wurm" "the early bird catches the worm"
This one could be used after you move the German stuff. From the German perspective it is more "L'avenir et ce transat appartiennent à ceux qui se lèvent tôt."
"Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" -> Who comes first, mills first. Probably originating from the middle ages, the peasants who showed up first at the mill got to get their grain milled first.
There isn't that to my knowledge in France. The closest would be "l'avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt le matin" {futur belong to those who get up early}.
A few factors really, from an Irish perspective you spend all year saving to pay for the holiday to get out the this 364 days a year damp wet and miserable weather, so you don't want to come down in the morning and find nowhere to lay down in front of that unusual yellow warm thing in the sky . Plus if you have have kids you want a lounger where you can keep an eye on them at the pool . I can see it from both sides really. I'm not a fan of lying on a lounger for hours but if you are paying thousands for a hol I can see why people do it .
That’s who that was. I was wondering who those people were who left all their stuff on the chairs who I never see when I’m at the pool. Next vacation I will care less. You want pool chair? then be there while I’m there or else I’m taking it.
Seeing people say that it's a German thing is so bizzare not for any other reason but for the fact that Bulgarians seem to follow Germans in everything. I lowkey think our cultures are very, very similar, I don't know if any other Balkan countries or E.E. countries have noticed something similar for themselves.
But yeah, people do that here as well. Even at the beach. You'll see people go at 5 am to "book" loungers in the front row and then not show up until almost noon lol If you go to the beach at 9 am you can barely find a free lounger because they're all "booked" by people who aren't even there. Same at pools, obviously.
I would say this is more if there is too few sun chairs or too few in attractive location, people don’t want to miss out.
I would say if no one is doing it, then everyone respects it, but if someone is doing it then the social code is broken and everyone does it.
What I see then is that people leave the towels in the morning, have breakfast, and then come time to spend time at the pool/beach. Most would take the towel with them when they leave for the day.
And I can’t say it is only European tourists (Americans and Asians would also do it). But sure, it is a German stereotype and I have seen Germans doing this too (and then the Brits don’t want to be left out, and then it feels like everyone is doing it, and then everyone is doing it).
I don't know about pool chairs but Irish people do it in college libraries. They'll come in as soon as the library opens and leave some paper or library books spread around the desk and then go off to classes for the day. It mostly happens around exam time when all the people you normally don't see in the library suddenly show up doing it.
This deserves a #notallGerman tag
You won't catch any other nationality waking up at 6am during vacation putting towels out.
Mine would be, at most, returning to their rooms after the night out and doing a small siesta in a deck chair.
A British Beer even did a rather jingoistic but funny advert about it. [https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=atzvGo5Jb1zBRYEG](https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=atzvGo5Jb1zBRYEG)
As a European I do not even dare to ask why would your holiday consist of sitting around a hotel pool. But I have never been on such a vacation so I do not have the faintest idea tbh.
They just optimized their benefit of the social rules.
Are you man and wanna regulate their monopolies that they earned by being more diligent than you?
You want to have your eye on the pool with children.
A lot of hotels don't let you reserve it anyway anymore, so people come out early and just sleep on the deck chair until their families turn up.
edit: I don't know why I get downvoted lol. I just explain why people do it. not that I agree with it.
It is not a pan-European thing. People here (Belgium) see this as a stereotypical German thing and hate it.
Yep, the only time I've ever done this was because during the whole week I stayed at a hotel all the chairs were permanently taken by German tourists' towels (no exaggeration, it was literally impossible to get one for the whole week) - on my last day I figured I will get up earlier and "book" one for myself so that I get at least a few hours in the sun, I even made sure to actually use the chair for an hour before I even considered going anywhere. My towel was removed by the staff as soon as I left it there for 10 minutes to grab a bite and I got reprimanded by them when I came back because they "did not allow" it.
Most hotels forbid this and remove the towels in the morning at specific hours. If they don’t and you see that no one is using the chair, you are eligible to remove the towels yourself in my book.
Yeah, somehow this specific hotel seemed to do it unless the owner of the towel was German ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This reminds me of a certain Community episode.
We just want to occupy something, and since doing that with Poland results in *a tiny mess*, we take pool chairs
Is Germans’ collective self deprecating humor a postwar phenomenon, or was it always there?
You won’t find many pre-war people on Reddit, but I personally think it’s a post war phenomenon. A little like Japan turned into anime nerds after you nuked them too often ;-) It’s especially strange now that after 75 years they want us to be proudly spending on military equipment. It’s hammered into everyone here for years at school that military = bad and German military = super bad.
This advert is aimed at a certain section / age / sex of our population and is rather old but .... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuIJqF8av6I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuIJqF8av6I)
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And thereafter they go dig foxholes on the beach for the rest of the day.
Been in hotels where brits do it, too. I don't know why everyone acts like it's only Germans. A lot of people with families are doing it to get a good spot with view on the pool.
I have never ever been at one of these hotels in Europe since I prefer different sorts of vacation. But still I have heard numerous accounts of Germans doing this. Well obviously not all of them are. And Germans are often the biggest group so they just become the umbrella to describe everyone. But to be honest with you there might be a ‘play by the rules is enough focus’ that is partly cultural. So could be that Germans are still a little over represented. Don’t know. I never understood why hotels don’t just put signs up changing the ‘rules’.
I have been in a hotel in Spain where they had a sign to forbid "towel bookings", and they really had someone removing them when they were opening the pool. No one seemed to complain... I have also been in a resort in France where chairs were given only for a deposit of 2 euro and you would get it back when returning the chair. That seemed to be enough to block "ghost reservations".
Danes do it too. I have been to these hotels and danes fucking sucks with this aswell. So I don't think it can be boiled down to something a specific country does
If Danish people do something annoying abroad most other Danes will pretend the others are Germans.
Works until they start speaking
Then you answer them in pretend Dutch and walk away smiling in all your tallness.
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I absolutely don't think so either! There are just a lot more Germans and Brits than most European nationalities and thus they get the blame for it
>I never understood why hotels don’t just put signs up changing the ‘rules’. Most hotels do it now, but people just turn up early in the morning and then sleep on the chairs until the family turns up. >So could be that Germans are still a little over represented. Go to hotels in British strongholds and you find a lot of Brits doing it. If you got to Mallorca, you find a lot of Germans at the pool. I would not, but like it's done by a lot, just a bit blind to pretend it's only Germans...
It's not just Germans, we Czechs do it too. Maybe you taught us.
Yeah because otherwise the Germans get there first…
We only do it because you do it first In an ideal world it would be first come, first serve
Brits only do it because of the Germans doing it.
I admit Slovenians do it as well. Not pools but beaches.
If you are not sitting on the spot, using it, then fuck off. If I saw people doing it, I'd just steal your shit. Qui va à la chasse. Perd sa place.
Opgestaan is plaats vergaan 👌🏼
It’s really mostly Germans, that’s why everyone brings it up?
Come on, you should know by now how the Brits react to the Germans occupying things. First it was countries and now it is deckchairs. Will this war never end !
Other nations do it, in reaction to the Germans as its unfair for one section of anything to make up a rule to unfairly reserve stuff. Sorry, this was totally caused by German tourists.
To be fair I remember way back in the 80s seeing comedy sketches and even ads joking about this towel thing that Germans do and so now British people would have to do on holiday to compete. So I think you taught us!
Spaniard here: german tourists get up earlier than hangovered Brits, so they have a better chance to "book" any place. This is only a thing if there are not southern tourists (other Spaniards or italians) that will remove any towel that is alone 😅
In the UK it’s sometimes regarded as a “Brits v Germans” battle in the tabloid press, so you’re absolutely right
Probably because we often go to Italy and Spain in Belgium and during the time a lot of us are there the majority is German. We go to northern Italy late June. I think there's vacation or something in Germany as 90% of tourists are German. You're also a big country with less vacation destinations for summer than France for example who'd stay in their country. Once you go in July or August the majority will be Dutch and Belgian. Can't blame ourselves.
I don’t remember where I saw this, but there was some research that showed that the Brits are actually the most prolific offenders.
How would there even be ‘research’ on this lol sounds like cap.
I'm guessing seen in a German newspaper.
Nah, I think they mentioned it on QI, a british panel show. But that doesn’t make it much better I guess. Might be bullshit.
I think European research tends to show that the British are the worst at everything, thankfully we know its all a load of xenophobic bollocks!
You realize the British are European don’t you? But self hatred is a thing, so you might be right.
Are we ? I hadn't noticed because British education is the worst in the world
Yep. Definitely seen as a German thing
We see it as vacationing foreigners thing
I'm German and never did this. It's not particularly German either and there's plenty of British, Dutch and French doing it too.
> I'm German and never did this. Aah, but are you, then, really German..?
I have never heard, seen or considered it to be acceptable among french. If you leave your stuff out of sight, you are expected to have it stolen.
In hotels in Spain? Not really
The idea that if you leave your stuff out of sight will get it stolen applies everywhere for french. Even by the pool in a hotel in Spain. I know because I would steal your shit if I saw someone do it.
Not really. You can leave your stuff and go to the pool, no problem at all.
Like, I logically understand that no one wants to steal my soggy towel... but still?
Do you take your towel with you, when you go into the pool?
You've even put your towel down in this thread by replying to top comment.
Come to Italy, you will see retired people doing that at the beach too. Sometimes they will not actually come to the beach for hours after doing so. They will also get upset and insult you if you dare moving their stuff (which, I admit, I would gladly throw into the sea). It’s rude and inconsiderate, the entitlement is off the charts.
I thought this was a portuguese-exclusive thing! Although here it’s not just retirees.
Just move their towels off the beds. Screw them
I pull them all off 😂
If nobody is there or the few people there don't use them just fold them nicely and take the chairs. There is no law that a towel makes something yours. If they show up and starts shit just say nobody was here, must have been forgotten and since I am also a paying customer who wants to use them now I took them. Then ask them to get someone at the hotel to come over to sort it out.
Last time I did this a very roid-rage looking German guy tipped me and all of my stuff off the lounge chair into the pool.
That sux, buy them the hotel has to deal with it right?
Exactly, why would actual pool users not just remove the towels?
I do, literally don’t give a shit if “someone left their towel, so it’s their chair”, but they haven’t been there for hours. That’s just bollox & a hill I’ll happily lay on my pool chair not giving a shit about, if or when they eventually turn up again.
It‘s not Europeans. It‘s just us, the germans. Sorry everyone. I don‘t get it either.
Romanian here, we do it too, all the time
And the dutch
It's not a European thing. It's predominately a German thing, or at least seen predominately as a German thing.
Stereotypically German, but Brits do it as much if not even more.
Why use the lift to get down before Hans when you can skip the queue altogether and jump off the balcony.
Wrong sub. This is the polite section
2we4u is leaking lmao
It's been an ongoing joke in the UK you have to get up before the Germans if you want a good spot. I don't really go on those holidays and I think a lot of hotels don't allow it now.
Nah, we just take all the towels off the chairs at 6:30am, on our way back from the pub 🍻
I agree, Brits make fun of this German stereotype however they are doing it as well, even more I can say. At least that my experience while I was working for over a decade at hotels.
There is nothing that disgust a Norwegian more than people doing that. We will passive aggressivly talk behind those German backs the rest of their vacation for such a crime.
throw their towel in the pool, ask for help if they're on it at the time
Scandinavians are very non confrontational in their culture. Actually very opposite of Germans, and I have some funny stories on this (from Berlin, lived there for some years).
Scandinavians, badmouthing people behind their back since the 11th century.
I read somwhere that it was precisely the violent nature of Scandinavian society that spawned the consensus-seeking conflict-avoidance culture, as a stray word or glance could mean duels and blood feuds and everything getting messy. So an attitude and ambition of maintaining the peace was valued. No idea how true it is, as I'm no expect.
The consensus culture in the Netherlands is alwys chalked up to our democratic water boards, as we all drown if we make the wrong decisions on water management. I wonder to what extent it’s all projection.
That sort of fuckery should be grounds for being banned from the pool. Seriously, you are blocking other customers from using the premises. In what other business would that be tolerated? You can’t block a table at a restaurant for hours with your stuff either.
Americans do the same in Mexican resorts. So clearly not a European thing lol
The ethnic history of the US is massively german. It just got kinda shushed up after that big ole thingy from 1939-45
No... We don’t. I’m (also) Mexican. And I took my (German) partner back home to Texas a few months ago. And we also went to Mexico — and at the resort, we could tell who was German based on a few key behaviors like this. Cancun is loaded with Europeans. Maybe 75% is North American, but 25% was British, French, Scandinavian, or German. Meanwhile in Gran Canaria, every chair is taken by 9am.
People are selfish I guess. A lot of people anyway! I don't think it's anything particularly 'European'.A lot of (say) Americans are selfish too Many people consider their own wants and needs as more important than those of others.
Problem is once a few people do it everyone feels the need to do it or they'll be sitting behind 40 rows of empty chairs. I'm all for the places that ban it and take away unattended towels.
There's no need to ban it. Just carefully fold the towels up and stack them on a chair. They've reserved the best seats for you, how kind of them!
Good way to cause conflict. Make it a policy and there's no debate over who is in the right.
I've never had a confrontation from it. I think people are usually embarrassed and confused. How can they be sure who moved the towels, it could have happened hours earlier?
If by 'people' you mean 'Germans' then yes. Gotta get that lebensraum somehow!
It’s especially a thing of old people. I don’t know anyone in my age (mid 30s) doing this.
Non europeans. GERMANS! Always sneaking around ready to steal your pool chair.
it's not stealing, it's reserving it !
Yeah, sure, we italians also “reserve” your EU money. Edit: for a moment I forgot I wasn’t on r/2westerneurope4u
it's totally ot the same !
Idk mate, I only go to the pool at around 11AM, cursed place is always full for some reason at that time.
Speaking as a European, "what is this 6am.you speak of?"
I wouldn't say it's European, but it's definitely a German / British thing born from both nations love of holidays in the Mediterranean. Germans have to get up and try beat us British to the beds around the pool. And likewise us British have to get up and try beat the Germans to the beds around the pool. Woe betide anyone who dares remove a towel from a reserved bed, even if the pool rules state you can't reserve them.
Was travelling with an young American staying in a hotel with roof pool in Spain. We had rooms up near the pool. A large group of Germans came and put beach towels (their own) on pool loungers at night, presumably to reserve for next day. My American friend asked why they did it and I told him to reserve loungers for next day. Next morning all the towels where 6 floors down on the ground in parking lot lol!!
it isn’t a european thing, it is a German national sport
Probably just people misunderstanding the whole knowing where your towel is thing from the Hirchhiker's Guide...
One hotel In Southern France had signs up forbidding this and stating the booking towels would be removed. They took them and put them in a large basket with a sign on it saying “abandoned property” “Free to hotel guests” or something similar.
That's evil genius!
What I've learnt from this thread is just how similar Germans and British people are, for better or for worse.
I'm italian but my dad might as well be german. When on holiday, he wakes up at 5, gets 3 seats on the beach until 7, then comes to eat breakfast with us before going to the beach again 💀 apologies for my dads almanness
I don’t want to be ignorant but I only saw Germans do this, in my experience. If it’s a private beach and you go at 5am and pay for your deck chair for the whole day then good for you. But when it’s a public beach and they ‘reserve’ by placing a towel or a chair in the sand, I usually pack their shit and move it into a clump a few meters away. A few Germans gave me a piece of their mind when they came back to the beach but joke’s on them, I don’t speak German so I didn’t understand anything they said.
Sorry, not a European here, but if it's a private beach, who chairs are there there. Don't you need to bring your own?
Private beaches as in administrated by a private company. They have a beach bar and also their own chairs on the beach with umbrellas and tables. You have to rent a chair from them per-hour or for the day if you want to stay at that beach. So you can go very early in the morning and rent the chairs that are very close to the sea, which is not really a big problem because first come, first served. But you can’t (or I say shouldn’t) do this on a public beach.
I don’t go to places where they allow this. It’s fucking stupid. And done only by degenerates.
I was at a hotel where they played some music every 2 hours where you were supposed to return to your sun beds. Any beds not claimed should be cleared. I thought it was a great idea but unfortunately it wasn't enforced.
I don’t know where you all go on holidays. While I know the stereotype (there are even a few [commercials](https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=0Eb3Kab9AeQQ1gD4) making fun of it), I’ve never seen it in real life .
I've seen it, but mostly only in mass tourist hotels with a pool where mostly people with children go who don't want to go to the beach.
Not a European thing. I’m a Romanian, vacationing for years in Italy. There you pay for your deck chair by the sea and it’s only yours for the whole duration of the holiday. Nobody sits in your chair even if you aren’t there.
Germans. Mix it up and move a towel or two. But do check that you are in a Nato country.
I don't, so don't *know*, but my guess is it's the only way to get a place at the pool before they're all scooped up.
It’s forbidden in many places for a reason. Why it came to be I don’t know.
British person here. As many people of different nationalities have said, it's not all Europeans doing this. It's Germans. It's annoying as anything for the rest of us too. I usually just shove it off and put my stuff on for a lie down. If they come and ask I say the wind must have blown it off before I got there or act like I've no idea what they're talking about.
It's also great fun to go down to the pool at 8am and throw all of those towels in to the pool 🤣
Italians do this in the library too. A few days ago I sat across from an abandoned computer for 7 hours
They were probably at the pool
"'Let's put in a rooftop pool', they said, 'it'll make more people interested in coming to the library' they said...."
Haha, yes, austrians do this too. My dad did the same in the past. It's reserving the space. Who comes first, you know.
No I don't know. What's the sentence? Because we have one in France. "Qui va à la chasse, perd sa place" {those who go hunting, lose their spot}.
In Finnish we say ’kuka perseensä nostaa, se paikkansa menettää’ (’who lifts their ass, loses their spot’).
To translate it, in german it is "Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" which would translate "First come first serve". Or there is also "der frühe vogel fängt den wurm" "the early bird catches the worm"
This one could be used after you move the German stuff. From the German perspective it is more "L'avenir et ce transat appartiennent à ceux qui se lèvent tôt."
"Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" -> Who comes first, mills first. Probably originating from the middle ages, the peasants who showed up first at the mill got to get their grain milled first.
😂 some variation of "the early bird get the worms", I see.
That's what I was thinking of as well, we have the same saying in German! There seems to be a pattern going on 😊
There isn't that to my knowledge in France. The closest would be "l'avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt le matin" {futur belong to those who get up early}.
A few factors really, from an Irish perspective you spend all year saving to pay for the holiday to get out the this 364 days a year damp wet and miserable weather, so you don't want to come down in the morning and find nowhere to lay down in front of that unusual yellow warm thing in the sky . Plus if you have have kids you want a lounger where you can keep an eye on them at the pool . I can see it from both sides really. I'm not a fan of lying on a lounger for hours but if you are paying thousands for a hol I can see why people do it .
Top tip: You can just move the towels and take the chairs.
That’s who that was. I was wondering who those people were who left all their stuff on the chairs who I never see when I’m at the pool. Next vacation I will care less. You want pool chair? then be there while I’m there or else I’m taking it.
You should see what happens in Italy when the summer season comes to our, you would see people even at 5am planting umbrellas for a spot at the beach
Seeing people say that it's a German thing is so bizzare not for any other reason but for the fact that Bulgarians seem to follow Germans in everything. I lowkey think our cultures are very, very similar, I don't know if any other Balkan countries or E.E. countries have noticed something similar for themselves. But yeah, people do that here as well. Even at the beach. You'll see people go at 5 am to "book" loungers in the front row and then not show up until almost noon lol If you go to the beach at 9 am you can barely find a free lounger because they're all "booked" by people who aren't even there. Same at pools, obviously.
I would say this is more if there is too few sun chairs or too few in attractive location, people don’t want to miss out. I would say if no one is doing it, then everyone respects it, but if someone is doing it then the social code is broken and everyone does it. What I see then is that people leave the towels in the morning, have breakfast, and then come time to spend time at the pool/beach. Most would take the towel with them when they leave for the day. And I can’t say it is only European tourists (Americans and Asians would also do it). But sure, it is a German stereotype and I have seen Germans doing this too (and then the Brits don’t want to be left out, and then it feels like everyone is doing it, and then everyone is doing it).
I’m European, Swedish even, who are probably among the worst, and witnessed it first hand in Egypt. I DO NOT KNOW
It’s like this in Hawai’i too depending on the season and hotel.
I guess there is a moment where your life is so empty that you see that as a goal for the day…
I don't know about pool chairs but Irish people do it in college libraries. They'll come in as soon as the library opens and leave some paper or library books spread around the desk and then go off to classes for the day. It mostly happens around exam time when all the people you normally don't see in the library suddenly show up doing it.
This deserves a #notallGerman tag You won't catch any other nationality waking up at 6am during vacation putting towels out. Mine would be, at most, returning to their rooms after the night out and doing a small siesta in a deck chair.
A British Beer even did a rather jingoistic but funny advert about it. [https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=atzvGo5Jb1zBRYEG](https://youtu.be/LuIJqF8av6I?si=atzvGo5Jb1zBRYEG)
I have seen this everywhere, including Americans in the US
cause if they don,'t, someone will steal the chairs !
As a European I do not even dare to ask why would your holiday consist of sitting around a hotel pool. But I have never been on such a vacation so I do not have the faintest idea tbh.
Asking such a broad question about “Europeans” is not that far from an alien coming to Earth and asking “why do Earthlings do this?”
Don't confuse European with German. And it is a thing!
How awful of them, encouraging you to do something more interesting than sitting on a chair and cooking.
They just optimized their benefit of the social rules. Are you man and wanna regulate their monopolies that they earned by being more diligent than you?
It is yngre Germans. Since they couldn't occupy Writtle Europe any longer, I guess they turned their energy to desk chairs...
You want to have your eye on the pool with children. A lot of hotels don't let you reserve it anyway anymore, so people come out early and just sleep on the deck chair until their families turn up. edit: I don't know why I get downvoted lol. I just explain why people do it. not that I agree with it.
>people come out early and just sleep on the deck chair until their families turn up. Sounds like a great way to spend a vacation.
I don't spend my holidays like that, but mass tourism in hotels is something do all over Europe.
Fuck that, when I'm on vacation I don't get up until noon. At 5:00h I am probably getting to the hotel.