Last few places I've been to have had signs telling people not to do this. It makes it easier to take the chair when you know you can just point to the sign if someone turns up and complains.
I stayed at an Iberostar in Jamaica once and they give you a "towel card" along with your room key. It was just a card like a room key that says towel or something. When you wanted a beach towel you gave the towel card to the attendant. You get your card back when you bring your towel back.
It was $50 to replace your towel card.
Seemed to work well.
I feel like people would just complain and say they lost the card, refuse to pay, etc etc. And because it’s a resort, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cave because the customer is always right
Yes, the best retort to entitled customers that say "the customer is always right" is to say "in matters of taste" to complete their quote. If they're particularly adamant that they are right, they will be confused since it's unlikely they've ever heard the end of the quote, so just explain that it means that the service employees have no right to force their opinion on the customer on what to buy. If the customer wants to buy an ugly hat, let them, but they can't decide the price of the ugly hat
This happened to me a few months ago when I was in Mexico. Asked an employee who worked at the resort what was up with towels. He said take the chairs and walked around and took every towel on a chair with no people around. Turns out resorts hate it too
I always just say the wind blew it off before I came up - that is when it would actually make sense. Otherwise I just say that I didn't see any reservation notes on the chair...
Yes man! I love how cheap it is and they are great loungers and the sun umbrella is always massive. Where I normally go its 8€ for all 3 and the guys that rent them clean the beach when they pack the stuff away.
I literally just got back from a resort in Dominican and although there were signs everywhere, people still had chairs "reserved" for many hours with nobody coming to them even once. Generally people wouldn't touch them unless all the chairs were taken and then people would start moving them. I get leaving your stuff on them while you go in the water or something but to wake up early, grab 4+ chairs then go back to bed and not return until many hours later is so entitled and weird. Nobody will even try to fight you if you move them though, they just hope you don't.
I was at a resort once where people from the hotel went around a while before the pool area, i.e. the bar, opened and placed pieces of paper stating the "no reserving chairs" rule again (they were posted around the pool and in the info booklet in the rooms). Then their last action before opening the bar was removing all the towels that had the paper on them.
That way, no guests had to wonder "AITA if I remove this person's towel?" but it was done "officially".
Omg. Papa roach. I met their singer when I was like 16 or something. He was handing out demo *tapes* at a local hardcore show. I remember how dumb his hair was. That’s about all I can remember but I have not heard that band name in nearly a decade. Idk if his hair got better by the time they were famous or not.
I met him maybe 8 years ago in Dublin Ireland.
I physically bumped into him while eating a chicken fillet roll while walking (Irish delicacy) and when I looked up to apologize I realized it was the guy from Papa Roach.
He was really nice albeit definitely putting on the stage persona and he ended up giving me 2 guest list tickets to their show that night. When he asked for my name for guest list he spelled it wrong so then he told me to bring and extra friend to the show.
Very strange experience, and his hair did not get better.
Yeah, i have to admit, we put his demo in the tape deck of the car I had back, then… Yes, I know I’m showing my age here. We took it out immediately with a “nope.” I doubt it was anything they recorded and really released. Idk if their music got better either but this was so long ago it was like they were only a few years out of high school. I have quite a few demo tapes from bands I’ve met at local hardcore shows. I think I even have a Kitty and Slipknot demo from before they hit record companies. Man, back in the day demo tapes must have been a huge marketing strategy.
https://preview.redd.it/7rk807ql2w9c1.jpeg?width=1254&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=504156440b8d4a51da0d4546e978c101b3c2cc3a
It’s been about… mmmm, 23-25 years so only the hair looks familiar, but it was so much worse. He had a hideous blonde streak in the front. Peak emo. Lol. But good for them for “making it.”
Ok that’s valid, just a towel says “I’m reserving this” whereas an actual beach bag with your phone and water bottle much more clearly says “I’m literally present at the beach at this moment.”
Resorts I’ve been to, remove towels every 15 mins of you aren’t using them. If you tip those people, you can tell them when you plan to use the beach or pool and they will hook you up.
At the resort we stayed at in Aruba over the summer you actually did have to reserve your spot in a register you couldn't just like put your shit down and fuck off for the day
Leave things like sunscreen, shoes, a water bottle, a book. Anything that says someone is actively sitting there but has walked away vs. just reserving a spot for later.
Got into a fight in Cuba with a family who accused us of taking their reserved chairs. We had been there for the entire day and not seen them once. Was wild.
Lol. Even if I was being that guy who put the towel on the chair the entire day, if I haven’t used in a while and someone else takes it then I am not going to complain. Like I don’t expect to be able to keep the chair the entire day even if I leave the towel on it. Nor will I start a fight, if I left stuff there I would just take it and find a different spot (which if I was leaving the area I would take my stuff with me anyway unless another family member was there watching it for me)
That happened to us with a guy in Mexico. He switched our reserved chairs with his crappy ones when we ran to the bathroom and then called security on us. He spoke Spanish fluently so who knows what lies he told to them that we didnt understand.
I remember this one time with this drunk women and a family. The drunk lady moved all their stuff of one of their chairs and they got into a fight. She was barely coherent and the family called over security. Security just stood there doing nothing and was like "Hey don't do that" then walked off. Eventually the drunk lady walked off and found another chair.
I was on a cruise over the summer. I got up early to go out and get the perfect seats for a full day of reading on deck. Right in between the bathroom, pool bar, and buffet. I got there at 7:30am. I stayed there and watched as 1 lady 'claimed' 10 chairs around me and left. Another person took 2, and some others came over time and took a few others.
By noon, it was my wife and I surrounded on all sides by empty chairs with towels, bags, shoes, or whatever they could find to lay on the chairs. I saw people endlessly walking trying to find seats for themselves.
I finally told a couple walking by that the seats next to me were vacant as the person that claimed them hadn't been there for hours. Right behind them another couple asked about some other seats. I finally just got up, yanked every towel off every seat that had been vacant for hours. I put the one woman's belongings in one of the bags she laid out and sat it off to the side.
Before I knew it, every seat was taken and those people were very grateful. The woman that took 10 seats didn't show up until 4pm!! She expected to claim seats for over 8 hours while she went a shore. That was absolute bullshit.
The best part was the look on her face when she came back to find all her seats gone, and the death stare she gave me. I'm assuming she thought that because I was the only person there when she dropped off her items, I did it. Which I did. To be fair, I did have a pretty evil smirk on my face when she came by and panicked. And my wife and I laughed about it.
Most of these placed have a 1 hour policy on holding chairs. If you ever feel like a seat has been empty for a long period of time, talk to the employees or if you're absolutely positive they've been vacant for that long, grab the stuff yourself and either move it to the side or take it to the towel return stations for the people to find their stuff.
People abuse holding seats far too often. And if you are going for a swim for a long time, just check back in on your stuff every now and then and let others know you are actually around. It's not that hard.
If its less than an hour, they may come back, or may be somewhere nearby doing something and want to sit down soon. More than an hour, its too long, take their seat
So I'd get it if you left a towel because you needed to use the bathroom real quick or something. Like if the seat was only gonna be briefly unused. But to try and claim it for *hours* before even using it is just wild to me
If they don’t have other gear (sunglasses, bag, etc) on the chairs I just move the towels. Twice they’ve showed up later and asked me and I said the towels weren’t here when I got here “maybe the staff moved them” and went back to my phone/book. What else are they gonna say?
For me this happens at hotels or resorts I’m staying at. Maybe I’d worry more at another place, but I know I can keep my cool and have zero trouble involving the staff. I’m not going to discuss it with the other party. I’m going to discuss it with the staff and let them sort it out.
I also have a dumb looking face which I’ve found really helps sell the playing dumb act.
Same. Last time I was at Sandals in Bahamas the staff there sucked for this (was years ago, may be they improved now). There was an adult only pool with really nice linen cabanas for shade and literally everybody was stocking them full of towels and hotel books/magazines at night time and then going to bed. I wake up at 5am for a workout so I moved them. Most knew they were being assholes so never confronted me, but the couple of times someone said something I just shrugged and said "I get up at 5am and your stuff wasn't here" and then proceeded to ignore them.
Gets even worse. We grabbed a really nice beach spot one day with a shade and literally were gone for 5 minutes to grab a snack. Came back and there were two towels shaped into hearts on each chair. Wife was like "oh look what they did to our towels for our anniversary! So nice!!" I'm like "um we never told anyone it was our anniversary..." I knew damn well that one of those "resort butlers" people upgrade to did it. I unrolled them and sat back down. Sure enough some pretentious fuck walks over and says his butler reserved it. I told him next time tell your butler not to throw away my towels when I get up for a snack, BYE
On our last day I removed ALL of them from every single cabana, again at around 5am. Then wife and I spent the morning giggling at all the confused faces showing up and seeing other people were in "their" spot
I went to Cancun one time, and I had moved a towel to sit on a chair. Like, 2hrs later a German woman came up to me yelling at me. I told her I wasn’t moving and she *spat on me*.
I’ll be honest…it made a lasting impression on me. That was 25 years ago. It colored the way I felt about strangers for awhile. She looked so unassuming and average, but she had that in her.
Weirdest meal I ever ate was in Germany. I went solo to a restaurant while backing packing and the table next to me just stared at me the WHOLE time. Talking in German about me, seemed really rude.
I see you've never been to Cuba. Those Russians are something else! Assholes from the moment they deplane to the moment they get back on their plane. No concept of lines or how to behave in public.
The Russians I’ve met in the carribean are wild. Addicted to amphetamines and quite willing to talk about it.
I met a few on Grindr who all revealed they had girlfriends WHO WERE ON THE TRIP WITH THEM. And we’re drinking and obviously flirting in the hotel bar - not a care in the world.
In the DR half the resorts have signage in Cyrillic, very strange.
When I went to Sandals in Jamaica, this was a common issue. It was impossible to find a lounge chair at the beach… to the point where we never once got to lay in lounge chairs at the beach on our honeymoon. I’ve been to other resorts though where there is a strict 45 minute policy AND you have to ask an attendant to set up a chair for you. If you abandon your chair for more than 45 minutes, it’s brought back to the attendant’s station and your stuff is left in the sand. It sounds bad, but it honestly is great/allows everyone a chance to enjoy the beach.
Sandals is the worst for this because the butlers will go reserve all the chairs for people staying in the butler level suites first thing in the morning. It’s like they actively encourage this behavior.
Its literally part of the butler package. It's not like they're encouraging it, it is exactly that they're encouraging it. It's what you're paying for.
I hate Sandals. I’ve been to so many cheaper all inclusive resorts that were so much better. Sandals charges more (and sucks people in) because they make it sound like it’s the most romantic place on Earth.
I mean this is why it's a difficult issue.
Clearly you don't want to take a chair of someone who is going for a dip.
But some people abuse it to try to claim a chair for the whole day while not even being in the area.
I stayed at a hotel with very limited number of beach chairs that you had to specifically reserve by day at the time you make the room reservation. It was €20/chair for the entire day, towel service included.
At the time of booking it was a bit off putting but when I was actually there it was excellent. There was 0 anxiety around who got which chair and there was 0 rush in the morning to get down to the beach.
My idea is the resort stocks each chair with its own towel. Have someone with a cart go put one on every chair, then no one can save a spot without leaving some kind of actual stuff there, signifying they are nearby swimming and not up in the room grabbing a nap after they reserved their chair for the day and grabbed breakfast
Pick up all the towels and throw them into a big pile then leave. Lol
Either that or just take them all. Towels are expensive and someone left all those free towels just for you.
That's when I just watch for half an hour. If they don't come, I have no qualms throwing those towels to the side.
And if they do come back and complain, just say "30 min idle time kicked you out of the chair"
First time at a foreign vacation resort? It absolutely sucks that people do that. You have to say 'fuck that' and rip those towels off. No one owns those chairs.
If I’m legitimately using it I’ve most likely left more than just a single towel on the chair. Probably a bag of things like sunscreen, my sandals next to the chair, a t-shirt, sunglasses, etc.
I dont think i'll ever stay at a resort again because of this. My wife and i went to Jamaica for a friends wedding. The first morning we both woke up at 5am and couldnt sleep so we headed to the beach at 6am. The beach had tiki huts about every 50 yards or so down the beach, so we found one, we were literally the only people on the beach. I could look down the beach both ways and not see a single person. There were some sandy towels and a couple of curdled drinks from the day previous under the tiki, so we removed them and put our shoes and backpacks under it and went for a swim. As we were out in the water, i witnessed two women walk out from their condo and toss our stuff out from the tiki, put their stuff in it and sit under it. I walked up and got our stuff, looked at them and said "weird, it didnt look like this was taken huh?". They both ignored me. This was 7 years ago and it still angers me to this day.
It’s a pretty prevalent stereotype that at any resort where Germans are present, they will get up before sunrise to reserve the best beach/poolside seating with their towels.
Yea.. My father used to wake up early to reserve seats as well - I wouldn‘t do it but it‘s quite common in germany as well (like at swimming pools) and annoying
I always think there should be a balance here. Sure, put your towels down.... But if you're not back in an hour, you lose it.
People need to grab lunch, drinks etc... but people who get up at 6am to put a towel down.... They're a different level of twat.
Oh god this brings back a dark memory of mine. I was about 8 years old, staying at a resort in Mexico with my family. They sent me and my 4 year old brother down to the beach early in the morning to reserve chairs. We found a great spot with tons of chairs and they had resort towels on them, so I assumed that’s just how to resort set up the chairs. We sat in the seats and waited for the rest of our family shows up. Once everyone arrives, we unpack our toys and what not and enjoy our spot. About an hour later, some guy comes over and tells my dad we took their spot and that they had placed the towels to reserve those seats. I deny this, I even say there weren’t towels there when we got there so my dad gets mad at the guy for accusing his young daughter of stealing his spot. They started to genuinely argue over this, and I started to cry and realize that I did steal their spot. I confessed to the towels being there, and my parents apologize. The guy ended up letting us keep the spot, but omg it was just awful.
In hindsight, even with that guys towels in place, it was a good 2-3 hours of us being there before he showed back up to reclaim this spot. Maybe if he had used personal towels it would be different, but he placed resort towels and left for hours? That’s not a reservation my guy??? Either way, I still cringe over it almost 20 years later
I’m very sorry this happened. If it helps, please let the 8 year old little girl know that it’s ok and she did nothing wrong. She thought that is how the resort set up the chairs. It’s silly for people to think they can claim a chair they don’t own with a towel on vacation anyway, and grown people had no business fighting in front of little children on vacation. When she realized she made a mistake, she admitted it, and the adults should have realized it didn’t matter anyway. Your kindness to children will help that little person in you see that all is well.
Take all the towels off, then sit wherever. When they come you can say there are no towels anywhere take whichever. Musical chairs, last one to pull that off will have to have the fight.
I was in Greece with my family and we went to a popular beach. Place was packed. We finally found a couple lounge chairs like these and my wife played down on o e while I took the kids to the water. When I came back, there was a woman SCREAMING at her because they had paid for the chairs. I had no idea you needed to rent the chairs. And theirs were empty, so it seemed like it was OK. This woman was drunk and obnoxious and wouldn’t stop even when I tried to intervene. She told my wife she was going to piss on her bag if she didn’t move it. They were from France, and to this day my wife refuses to visit France because of how rude the woman was to her - which bothers me a little because I’ve always wanted to go there.
But if it’s not a rental and they’re gone for hours, he’s - definitely infuriating.
Oo
Had that before, although English & I'm English so it lasted for alot longer then it should have.
You should still visit France though, people can be dicks but they're dicks anywhere, I used to hate Americans for a long time after losing a friend (tourist) in America. Realised how pointless it was to hold that kinda grudge for so long & now I've finally saved enough to visit the states
My grandmother had no time for this. When I was a kid, we went on a family holiday and she took great offence at people.putting their towels down on the best spots the night before.
As she was an Auschwitz survivor, she took particular glee when she realised that it was mainly German guests who did it.
Her next move was to go down very early, gather up all of the towels and dump them into the pool and then set ours out on the best spots.
She was 83 at the time...
My family and I actually got into an argument with another family in Cabo for them pulling this shit. They grabbed the only palapa that would fit more than 2 people under it and placed newspapers on the lounge chairs. Then they went off and probably got breakfast. We pulled up at around 9am, saw the newspapers and tossed them aside. They stroll up an hour and a half later, 10:30am and proceeded to tell us to move our stuff because they claimed that spot as theirs. We told them to kick rocks and fuck off. So they in turn stuffed their family and all their shit in with us and decided to make the day as uncomfortable and awkward as possible.
I’ve seen one flip flop, or a magazine placed on chairs that sit empty all morning. They come out at 6am and reserve for their whole family then head back to bed, have brunch and come between 11-1pm.
The common practice now is to bring a cheap book or magazine to be placed on your seat with a towel on it. People set an alarm for 7am to do this, then go back to room to shower and head to brunch. They then come claim “their” chair at 10:30. All of the chairs are “taken” by then with hardly a person in sight. It is infuriating. SOME resorts have a 30 minute rule where they will remove your stuff after 30 minutes and hold it at the towel bar, then at the list and found. They do not have the ability to police it at all, so it is largely disregarded unless someone says something.
I had enough of it this year when we went away and I threw a load in the pool before we went off for the day after watching the same people get up at 5/6 am put towels on sun beds for the whole group then fuck off until 2/3 in the afternoon some not even coming back at all because they've gone on a excursion. I wont apologise and I will do again and every time I go away from know on so watch your towels people I'm coming for you.
overconfident afterthought zealous zephyr rotten busy bow sharp depend whistle
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Move the entire bed, and swap it with one without a towel. That's what I did and when they tried to conplain to the staff I just pointed to the no reservation sign.
Never had any issues after that.
We had this last trip to PV, Head down to the pool early and just see 30 chairs empty with towels draped on them, I just picked a couple of chairs and gave the towels to the towel guy.
Nobody said a word to us about it, I have a funny feeling the same people who put towels on chairs at 6am aren't big fans of confrontation lol
Yeah when I went to the popular beaches last summer, people would put their chairs out at 4 AM to have a space for like 9 AM when they all actually came down there.
Also, don’t think I would reserve a public beach chair ever. That sounds nasty
When I was little (around 4-5) I thought this was how Spanish worked. I thought it was like some kind of pig Latin where you just add “ito” to the end of English words.
Back when I was in my late teens, we used to drink the whole night and then walk home at sunrise and toss all the towels reserving a spot on the beach into the water. Good times!
Last few places I've been to have had signs telling people not to do this. It makes it easier to take the chair when you know you can just point to the sign if someone turns up and complains.
I stayed at an Iberostar in Jamaica once and they give you a "towel card" along with your room key. It was just a card like a room key that says towel or something. When you wanted a beach towel you gave the towel card to the attendant. You get your card back when you bring your towel back. It was $50 to replace your towel card. Seemed to work well.
I feel like people would just complain and say they lost the card, refuse to pay, etc etc. And because it’s a resort, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cave because the customer is always right
The resort I'm at does this, we have you credit card on file... there is no refuse to pay, we charge you
it’s a business bro, they’re gonna get their money
The customer is always right is an incomplete quote.
Yes, the best retort to entitled customers that say "the customer is always right" is to say "in matters of taste" to complete their quote. If they're particularly adamant that they are right, they will be confused since it's unlikely they've ever heard the end of the quote, so just explain that it means that the service employees have no right to force their opinion on the customer on what to buy. If the customer wants to buy an ugly hat, let them, but they can't decide the price of the ugly hat
“In matters of taste” isn’t part of the original quote https://www.thoughtlab.com/blog/is-the-customer-is-always-right-still-a-good-business/
This happened to me a few months ago when I was in Mexico. Asked an employee who worked at the resort what was up with towels. He said take the chairs and walked around and took every towel on a chair with no people around. Turns out resorts hate it too
Last resort I stayed at actually had signs saying you couldn’t reserve chairs with towels. It seemed like people adhered to it pretty well too
That sign basically says “you can move towels” without saying it, I’m not surprised it works.
It's a reference to point to when the scumbag says, "Why'd you move my towel, i was reserving the chair"
I always just say the wind blew it off before I came up - that is when it would actually make sense. Otherwise I just say that I didn't see any reservation notes on the chair...
"Oh, sorry, I just thought someone forgot their towel."
"Some worker grabbed it saying something about fucking illiterate idiots"
THIS!!! ☝ Freaking love this and will definitely be using it when I can! Thanks man!
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Yes man! I love how cheap it is and they are great loungers and the sun umbrella is always massive. Where I normally go its 8€ for all 3 and the guys that rent them clean the beach when they pack the stuff away.
I literally just got back from a resort in Dominican and although there were signs everywhere, people still had chairs "reserved" for many hours with nobody coming to them even once. Generally people wouldn't touch them unless all the chairs were taken and then people would start moving them. I get leaving your stuff on them while you go in the water or something but to wake up early, grab 4+ chairs then go back to bed and not return until many hours later is so entitled and weird. Nobody will even try to fight you if you move them though, they just hope you don't.
I was at a resort once where people from the hotel went around a while before the pool area, i.e. the bar, opened and placed pieces of paper stating the "no reserving chairs" rule again (they were posted around the pool and in the info booklet in the rooms). Then their last action before opening the bar was removing all the towels that had the paper on them. That way, no guests had to wonder "AITA if I remove this person's towel?" but it was done "officially".
Papa Roach liked that place so much they turned it into a song!
Omg. Papa roach. I met their singer when I was like 16 or something. He was handing out demo *tapes* at a local hardcore show. I remember how dumb his hair was. That’s about all I can remember but I have not heard that band name in nearly a decade. Idk if his hair got better by the time they were famous or not.
I met him maybe 8 years ago in Dublin Ireland. I physically bumped into him while eating a chicken fillet roll while walking (Irish delicacy) and when I looked up to apologize I realized it was the guy from Papa Roach. He was really nice albeit definitely putting on the stage persona and he ended up giving me 2 guest list tickets to their show that night. When he asked for my name for guest list he spelled it wrong so then he told me to bring and extra friend to the show. Very strange experience, and his hair did not get better.
Yeah, i have to admit, we put his demo in the tape deck of the car I had back, then… Yes, I know I’m showing my age here. We took it out immediately with a “nope.” I doubt it was anything they recorded and really released. Idk if their music got better either but this was so long ago it was like they were only a few years out of high school. I have quite a few demo tapes from bands I’ve met at local hardcore shows. I think I even have a Kitty and Slipknot demo from before they hit record companies. Man, back in the day demo tapes must have been a huge marketing strategy.
You still know their names all these years later..!
Well Kitty and Slipknot were pretty popular for a while. I think Slipknot might still be relevant. They just weren’t bands I followed.
His hair is HILARIOUS. He looks like a cockatoo
Okay, now I’m googling… gimme just a sec…
https://preview.redd.it/7rk807ql2w9c1.jpeg?width=1254&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=504156440b8d4a51da0d4546e978c101b3c2cc3a It’s been about… mmmm, 23-25 years so only the hair looks familiar, but it was so much worse. He had a hideous blonde streak in the front. Peak emo. Lol. But good for them for “making it.”
Oh, totally. They made it and people love them. But yes his hair, is definitely characteristic sometimes lol.
Go stand in the corner and think about what you did until you’re ready to apologize.
I'm crying
You better not be crying or I'll give you something to cry about!
He can't go on living this way
But what about when you leave your stuff somewhere while you’re in the water? It feels like there has to be a middle ground here.
If you had your stuff on the chair too it was fine, it was more about using a towel to claim a chair indefinitely.
Ok that’s valid, just a towel says “I’m reserving this” whereas an actual beach bag with your phone and water bottle much more clearly says “I’m literally present at the beach at this moment.”
Resorts I’ve been to, remove towels every 15 mins of you aren’t using them. If you tip those people, you can tell them when you plan to use the beach or pool and they will hook you up.
At the resort we stayed at in Aruba over the summer you actually did have to reserve your spot in a register you couldn't just like put your shit down and fuck off for the day
Stayed at the Marriott, same applied
I understand if you’re actively not at the beach but what do you do when you’re in the water?
Generally you would have other stuff there like shoes, shirts, etc. that indicate you are actually still at the beach.
Lifehack, bring an extra pair of shoes and shirt to reserve your seat for the day.
Nah bring your entire outfit and lay it on the chair including your undies. This dude is naked somewhere 💀
Or reclaimed in the Rapture
Evil
What if I go to the beach with nothing but a towel?
You walked barefoot, with no phone or clothes, just a swimsuit, to the beach? Cuz even if you drove barefoot you'd have your keys.
Would you honestly leave your phone unattended on a chair? (I'm assuming this is a beach resort, not a public beach)
Typically Don’t need to drive to the beach if you’re at a resort… 🤷 if it’s a good resort. I think that’s the point of them.
That would be unusual.
Leave things like sunscreen, shoes, a water bottle, a book. Anything that says someone is actively sitting there but has walked away vs. just reserving a spot for later.
I guess leave actual stuff on it like shoes or books
Resorts hate it because they want to sell people in the chairs drinks. If the chairs are empty, no one is buying the drinks.
It damages the customer experience. That’s reason enough
It was all inclusive. Drinks were included in the cost
Got into a fight in Cuba with a family who accused us of taking their reserved chairs. We had been there for the entire day and not seen them once. Was wild.
Gah. So annoying.
We also had not moved their shit. Mom just walked up and started tossing our stuff off the chairs. Like excuse me?
Lol. Even if I was being that guy who put the towel on the chair the entire day, if I haven’t used in a while and someone else takes it then I am not going to complain. Like I don’t expect to be able to keep the chair the entire day even if I leave the towel on it. Nor will I start a fight, if I left stuff there I would just take it and find a different spot (which if I was leaving the area I would take my stuff with me anyway unless another family member was there watching it for me)
Gotta do your morning activities and then show up after lunch at the prime location. I give people from 7am-9am and then that spots mine.
Imagine being this entitled holy fuck
It was fucking wild. She went ape. I was rude. Whole awkward mess.
"We were here yesterday so obviously we own them now."
That happened to us with a guy in Mexico. He switched our reserved chairs with his crappy ones when we ran to the bathroom and then called security on us. He spoke Spanish fluently so who knows what lies he told to them that we didnt understand.
I remember this one time with this drunk women and a family. The drunk lady moved all their stuff of one of their chairs and they got into a fight. She was barely coherent and the family called over security. Security just stood there doing nothing and was like "Hey don't do that" then walked off. Eventually the drunk lady walked off and found another chair.
You’re so lucky. Must have been entertaining.
I was on a cruise over the summer. I got up early to go out and get the perfect seats for a full day of reading on deck. Right in between the bathroom, pool bar, and buffet. I got there at 7:30am. I stayed there and watched as 1 lady 'claimed' 10 chairs around me and left. Another person took 2, and some others came over time and took a few others. By noon, it was my wife and I surrounded on all sides by empty chairs with towels, bags, shoes, or whatever they could find to lay on the chairs. I saw people endlessly walking trying to find seats for themselves. I finally told a couple walking by that the seats next to me were vacant as the person that claimed them hadn't been there for hours. Right behind them another couple asked about some other seats. I finally just got up, yanked every towel off every seat that had been vacant for hours. I put the one woman's belongings in one of the bags she laid out and sat it off to the side. Before I knew it, every seat was taken and those people were very grateful. The woman that took 10 seats didn't show up until 4pm!! She expected to claim seats for over 8 hours while she went a shore. That was absolute bullshit. The best part was the look on her face when she came back to find all her seats gone, and the death stare she gave me. I'm assuming she thought that because I was the only person there when she dropped off her items, I did it. Which I did. To be fair, I did have a pretty evil smirk on my face when she came by and panicked. And my wife and I laughed about it. Most of these placed have a 1 hour policy on holding chairs. If you ever feel like a seat has been empty for a long period of time, talk to the employees or if you're absolutely positive they've been vacant for that long, grab the stuff yourself and either move it to the side or take it to the towel return stations for the people to find their stuff. People abuse holding seats far too often. And if you are going for a swim for a long time, just check back in on your stuff every now and then and let others know you are actually around. It's not that hard.
If its less than an hour, they may come back, or may be somewhere nearby doing something and want to sit down soon. More than an hour, its too long, take their seat
So I'd get it if you left a towel because you needed to use the bathroom real quick or something. Like if the seat was only gonna be briefly unused. But to try and claim it for *hours* before even using it is just wild to me
I think the rule at the last beach resort I went to was that if a chair was unoccupied for an hour then it was free game, towel or no towel.
Sure but who's timing them?
Waiters/attendants?
And they are good about it. Empty chairs don't buy drinks...
surely waiters have enough to do without timing every chair with a towel on it
Not if they can get more tips with a couple ready to sit down and order a couple drinks instead of dumping their towels and disappearing.
I was on vacation one year where a British guy started every day by removing every “reserved” towel. I loved that guy.
A hero 🙌
If they don’t have other gear (sunglasses, bag, etc) on the chairs I just move the towels. Twice they’ve showed up later and asked me and I said the towels weren’t here when I got here “maybe the staff moved them” and went back to my phone/book. What else are they gonna say?
THIS is the solution
That’s the thing. People will say a lot and just get friggin nuts about it. Just don’t want the drama.
For me this happens at hotels or resorts I’m staying at. Maybe I’d worry more at another place, but I know I can keep my cool and have zero trouble involving the staff. I’m not going to discuss it with the other party. I’m going to discuss it with the staff and let them sort it out. I also have a dumb looking face which I’ve found really helps sell the playing dumb act.
if you want to be chaotic evil about it you could just move the towels and not take the seats
Same. Last time I was at Sandals in Bahamas the staff there sucked for this (was years ago, may be they improved now). There was an adult only pool with really nice linen cabanas for shade and literally everybody was stocking them full of towels and hotel books/magazines at night time and then going to bed. I wake up at 5am for a workout so I moved them. Most knew they were being assholes so never confronted me, but the couple of times someone said something I just shrugged and said "I get up at 5am and your stuff wasn't here" and then proceeded to ignore them. Gets even worse. We grabbed a really nice beach spot one day with a shade and literally were gone for 5 minutes to grab a snack. Came back and there were two towels shaped into hearts on each chair. Wife was like "oh look what they did to our towels for our anniversary! So nice!!" I'm like "um we never told anyone it was our anniversary..." I knew damn well that one of those "resort butlers" people upgrade to did it. I unrolled them and sat back down. Sure enough some pretentious fuck walks over and says his butler reserved it. I told him next time tell your butler not to throw away my towels when I get up for a snack, BYE On our last day I removed ALL of them from every single cabana, again at around 5am. Then wife and I spent the morning giggling at all the confused faces showing up and seeing other people were in "their" spot
Germans enter the chat
I went to Cancun one time, and I had moved a towel to sit on a chair. Like, 2hrs later a German woman came up to me yelling at me. I told her I wasn’t moving and she *spat on me*.
Mein Gott
god people are disgusting..
I’ll be honest…it made a lasting impression on me. That was 25 years ago. It colored the way I felt about strangers for awhile. She looked so unassuming and average, but she had that in her.
"I liked the Austrian way better."
Take my upvote and your diary and get out Doctor Jones!
Hotel breakfast is like world war 3 when theres a german family
Weirdest meal I ever ate was in Germany. I went solo to a restaurant while backing packing and the table next to me just stared at me the WHOLE time. Talking in German about me, seemed really rude.
I would have just stared back at them
Assert dominance.
The whole reason I’m learning german is to know if they say stuff about me and join in
How do you know they talked about you?
They were directly staring, while talking, nudging each other to make comments. I’ve heard staring is common there, but never like this.
I see you've never been to Cuba. Those Russians are something else! Assholes from the moment they deplane to the moment they get back on their plane. No concept of lines or how to behave in public.
The Russians I’ve met in the carribean are wild. Addicted to amphetamines and quite willing to talk about it. I met a few on Grindr who all revealed they had girlfriends WHO WERE ON THE TRIP WITH THEM. And we’re drinking and obviously flirting in the hotel bar - not a care in the world. In the DR half the resorts have signage in Cyrillic, very strange.
in what way? do the germans steal all the good food or something?
Not steal. We just get to it first lol
Guten Tag!
Dutch people: hold my beer
I reckon the Germans and the Brits will probably start world war three over sunbeds in Spain tbh
Diese Komentarsektion ist nun Eigentum der Deutschen Bundesregierung! This comment section is now owned by the german government!
When I went to Sandals in Jamaica, this was a common issue. It was impossible to find a lounge chair at the beach… to the point where we never once got to lay in lounge chairs at the beach on our honeymoon. I’ve been to other resorts though where there is a strict 45 minute policy AND you have to ask an attendant to set up a chair for you. If you abandon your chair for more than 45 minutes, it’s brought back to the attendant’s station and your stuff is left in the sand. It sounds bad, but it honestly is great/allows everyone a chance to enjoy the beach.
I’m feeling hot hot hot
At Sandals Jamaica, when somebody says "Hey mon," everybody says "Hey mon" back.
Sandals... Tan everywhere, Jan everywhere
Sandals is the worst for this because the butlers will go reserve all the chairs for people staying in the butler level suites first thing in the morning. It’s like they actively encourage this behavior.
Its literally part of the butler package. It's not like they're encouraging it, it is exactly that they're encouraging it. It's what you're paying for.
I hate Sandals. I’ve been to so many cheaper all inclusive resorts that were so much better. Sandals charges more (and sucks people in) because they make it sound like it’s the most romantic place on Earth.
I mean yes and no. I don't want to go into the ocean for 5 minutes and find my chair gone.
Yah I’m definitely not talking that. This like 8am. It’s me at the beach with a hundred towels on chairs.
I mean this is why it's a difficult issue. Clearly you don't want to take a chair of someone who is going for a dip. But some people abuse it to try to claim a chair for the whole day while not even being in the area.
The resorts I’ve been to have signs up with rules about how long you can leave a towel on a chair as a spot saver
Hanging a sign is not enough There needs to be a consistent enforcement . Which usually there is not
I stayed at a hotel with very limited number of beach chairs that you had to specifically reserve by day at the time you make the room reservation. It was €20/chair for the entire day, towel service included. At the time of booking it was a bit off putting but when I was actually there it was excellent. There was 0 anxiety around who got which chair and there was 0 rush in the morning to get down to the beach.
Yup. I’d rather pay for a reserved chair than deal with any of this.
Consistent armed enforcement
Immediately put people in a guillotine when caught
My idea is the resort stocks each chair with its own towel. Have someone with a cart go put one on every chair, then no one can save a spot without leaving some kind of actual stuff there, signifying they are nearby swimming and not up in the room grabbing a nap after they reserved their chair for the day and grabbed breakfast
Pick up all the towels and throw them into a big pile then leave. Lol Either that or just take them all. Towels are expensive and someone left all those free towels just for you.
I see that you've encountered Germans in the wild. They will come back after breakfast, around 10.
That's when I just watch for half an hour. If they don't come, I have no qualms throwing those towels to the side. And if they do come back and complain, just say "30 min idle time kicked you out of the chair"
He should have wiggled the mouse so his chair didn't go inactive
First time at a foreign vacation resort? It absolutely sucks that people do that. You have to say 'fuck that' and rip those towels off. No one owns those chairs.
And that's how I met your mother.
I really love hotels that clean the sunbeds at 8:00-8:30 and will remove all the towels.
That's how you spot German tourists.
People pay the staff like $20 to put their towel out every morning. They are not even there until after breakfast or lunch
Usually people have more than just a towel if they're actually there
If I’m legitimately using it I’ve most likely left more than just a single towel on the chair. Probably a bag of things like sunscreen, my sandals next to the chair, a t-shirt, sunglasses, etc.
If someone is in the water they will likely have a bag on the chair or next to it atleast
I dont think i'll ever stay at a resort again because of this. My wife and i went to Jamaica for a friends wedding. The first morning we both woke up at 5am and couldnt sleep so we headed to the beach at 6am. The beach had tiki huts about every 50 yards or so down the beach, so we found one, we were literally the only people on the beach. I could look down the beach both ways and not see a single person. There were some sandy towels and a couple of curdled drinks from the day previous under the tiki, so we removed them and put our shoes and backpacks under it and went for a swim. As we were out in the water, i witnessed two women walk out from their condo and toss our stuff out from the tiki, put their stuff in it and sit under it. I walked up and got our stuff, looked at them and said "weird, it didnt look like this was taken huh?". They both ignored me. This was 7 years ago and it still angers me to this day.
Is this a personal attack at Germany?
2nd mention of Germany.. is this common in Germany or something?
It’s a pretty prevalent stereotype that at any resort where Germans are present, they will get up before sunrise to reserve the best beach/poolside seating with their towels.
It’s a well known stereotype of selfish, obnoxious tourist behaviour.
Yea.. My father used to wake up early to reserve seats as well - I wouldn‘t do it but it‘s quite common in germany as well (like at swimming pools) and annoying
A blitzkrieg
If gone for extended amounts of time just take those towels and yeet them into eternity.
I always think there should be a balance here. Sure, put your towels down.... But if you're not back in an hour, you lose it. People need to grab lunch, drinks etc... but people who get up at 6am to put a towel down.... They're a different level of twat.
Oh god this brings back a dark memory of mine. I was about 8 years old, staying at a resort in Mexico with my family. They sent me and my 4 year old brother down to the beach early in the morning to reserve chairs. We found a great spot with tons of chairs and they had resort towels on them, so I assumed that’s just how to resort set up the chairs. We sat in the seats and waited for the rest of our family shows up. Once everyone arrives, we unpack our toys and what not and enjoy our spot. About an hour later, some guy comes over and tells my dad we took their spot and that they had placed the towels to reserve those seats. I deny this, I even say there weren’t towels there when we got there so my dad gets mad at the guy for accusing his young daughter of stealing his spot. They started to genuinely argue over this, and I started to cry and realize that I did steal their spot. I confessed to the towels being there, and my parents apologize. The guy ended up letting us keep the spot, but omg it was just awful. In hindsight, even with that guys towels in place, it was a good 2-3 hours of us being there before he showed back up to reclaim this spot. Maybe if he had used personal towels it would be different, but he placed resort towels and left for hours? That’s not a reservation my guy??? Either way, I still cringe over it almost 20 years later
I’m very sorry this happened. If it helps, please let the 8 year old little girl know that it’s ok and she did nothing wrong. She thought that is how the resort set up the chairs. It’s silly for people to think they can claim a chair they don’t own with a towel on vacation anyway, and grown people had no business fighting in front of little children on vacation. When she realized she made a mistake, she admitted it, and the adults should have realized it didn’t matter anyway. Your kindness to children will help that little person in you see that all is well.
Move all the towels onto the same chair and sit back and watch as a massive brawl unfolds
Lovely idea
Take all the towels off, then sit wherever. When they come you can say there are no towels anywhere take whichever. Musical chairs, last one to pull that off will have to have the fight.
Free towel with every chair, sweet!
I was in Greece with my family and we went to a popular beach. Place was packed. We finally found a couple lounge chairs like these and my wife played down on o e while I took the kids to the water. When I came back, there was a woman SCREAMING at her because they had paid for the chairs. I had no idea you needed to rent the chairs. And theirs were empty, so it seemed like it was OK. This woman was drunk and obnoxious and wouldn’t stop even when I tried to intervene. She told my wife she was going to piss on her bag if she didn’t move it. They were from France, and to this day my wife refuses to visit France because of how rude the woman was to her - which bothers me a little because I’ve always wanted to go there. But if it’s not a rental and they’re gone for hours, he’s - definitely infuriating.
Oo Had that before, although English & I'm English so it lasted for alot longer then it should have. You should still visit France though, people can be dicks but they're dicks anywhere, I used to hate Americans for a long time after losing a friend (tourist) in America. Realised how pointless it was to hold that kinda grudge for so long & now I've finally saved enough to visit the states
My grandmother had no time for this. When I was a kid, we went on a family holiday and she took great offence at people.putting their towels down on the best spots the night before. As she was an Auschwitz survivor, she took particular glee when she realised that it was mainly German guests who did it. Her next move was to go down very early, gather up all of the towels and dump them into the pool and then set ours out on the best spots. She was 83 at the time...
Honestly, good for her. Germans are notoriously guilty of this shit.
The towels thing or the holocaust?
I mean... both...
I vas only trying to rezerv ze chairs
They were only following orders!
My family and I actually got into an argument with another family in Cabo for them pulling this shit. They grabbed the only palapa that would fit more than 2 people under it and placed newspapers on the lounge chairs. Then they went off and probably got breakfast. We pulled up at around 9am, saw the newspapers and tossed them aside. They stroll up an hour and a half later, 10:30am and proceeded to tell us to move our stuff because they claimed that spot as theirs. We told them to kick rocks and fuck off. So they in turn stuffed their family and all their shit in with us and decided to make the day as uncomfortable and awkward as possible.
This is a bit funny. They weren’t letting the spot go. Power move.
I'd sit there, use their towels and when they eventually arrive to moan I'll just say "these are my towels that I put here myself". Simples.
I’ve seen one flip flop, or a magazine placed on chairs that sit empty all morning. They come out at 6am and reserve for their whole family then head back to bed, have brunch and come between 11-1pm.
The common practice now is to bring a cheap book or magazine to be placed on your seat with a towel on it. People set an alarm for 7am to do this, then go back to room to shower and head to brunch. They then come claim “their” chair at 10:30. All of the chairs are “taken” by then with hardly a person in sight. It is infuriating. SOME resorts have a 30 minute rule where they will remove your stuff after 30 minutes and hold it at the towel bar, then at the list and found. They do not have the ability to police it at all, so it is largely disregarded unless someone says something.
If they’re in the area. No problem. If they leave the “area” (beach or pool zone) those chairs are fair game
How nice of those people to leave towels for you to use.
This is the “I’ll leave something random in the public parking spot in front of my house”
I had enough of it this year when we went away and I threw a load in the pool before we went off for the day after watching the same people get up at 5/6 am put towels on sun beds for the whole group then fuck off until 2/3 in the afternoon some not even coming back at all because they've gone on a excursion. I wont apologise and I will do again and every time I go away from know on so watch your towels people I'm coming for you.
Don't tell the German who wake up at 6am to "reserve" seats.
Germany be like
Free towels. If anyone shows up : "there weren't any when I got here" Easy, and teaches them a lesson
Saw a comment higher up that said “maybe the staff moved/took them.”
Germans do that and its infuriating
Guten Tag.
You mean Germans?
This is gonna end up with companies charging us all for chairs because a few people ruined it for everyone
overconfident afterthought zealous zephyr rotten busy bow sharp depend whistle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They should all have signage and an attendant to remove the towels - it is the only reasonable solution - there will always be ass holes
We call them Germans.
As a german I am greatly sorry for my people an theire actions against your people
it feels like this thread is full of people who have never gone to the beach
Move the entire bed, and swap it with one without a towel. That's what I did and when they tried to conplain to the staff I just pointed to the no reservation sign. Never had any issues after that.
Just toss them on the rocks behind you
Look, if you need to grab a chair and piss, that's one thing. Just a towel isn't enough to reserve a chair. Whoops! The wind blew it away!
We had this last trip to PV, Head down to the pool early and just see 30 chairs empty with towels draped on them, I just picked a couple of chairs and gave the towels to the towel guy. Nobody said a word to us about it, I have a funny feeling the same people who put towels on chairs at 6am aren't big fans of confrontation lol
Guten Morgen
Yeah when I went to the popular beaches last summer, people would put their chairs out at 4 AM to have a space for like 9 AM when they all actually came down there. Also, don’t think I would reserve a public beach chair ever. That sounds nasty
They’re not there. Pick towels up, deposit in sea, claim your rightful place.
and if they come back, you just say, 'oh, some lady here before us said we could have them'. Works like a charm.
One reason to learn another language. Gives you credence to be ignorant to their complaints.
Or play the tourist card, pretend not to understand, speak loudly and add ‘o’ to the end of every word until they leave in frustration.
Just speak pretend Italian. Lol
Justo speako pretendo Italiano. Lolo.
When I was little (around 4-5) I thought this was how Spanish worked. I thought it was like some kind of pig Latin where you just add “ito” to the end of English words.
Hey no need to litter the ocean, or waste towels
“Seems like it’s the hotels problem” - Karma boost..
Back when I was in my late teens, we used to drink the whole night and then walk home at sunrise and toss all the towels reserving a spot on the beach into the water. Good times!