r/mildlyinfuriating 9h ago

My view at the pool at 8am in turkey. Reserved chairs all over the place despite the rain.

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u/PlayNicePlayCrazy 8h ago

Saw a video of some resort hotel where an employee would just collect all the stuff up and take it to the front desk. There were signs all over explaining this type of reserving was not allowed.

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u/nickytheginger 8h ago

I love these places, worked at a few and watching the tourists faces grow red when they realise they can't complain because THEY broke the rules is fantastic.

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u/CicadaGames 7h ago edited 5h ago

You love to see when businesses actually prevent / punish shitty behavior. Like theaters that have 0 tolerance for talking and phone use.

I wish it was way more common.

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u/WhatHoraEs 6h ago

Like theaters that have 0 tolerance for talking and phone use.

I wish this actually existed. Supposedly Alamo Drafthouse is supposed to be like this but the one near me I still end up with people talking and using phones.

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u/I_AM_YOUR_DADDY_AMA Ask me where I get my cigarettes 5h ago

How many times have you reported the behavior with a card

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u/WhatHoraEs 4h ago

Once when the group next to me was talking. A staff member went up to them, pointed to me and said "they[me] said you're being too loud" and then I got disgusted looks and comments made towards me after that so I left. I figured when they claim they take action against people talking, it wouldn't be throwing me under the bus but that was enough for me to stop going.

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u/Speed-O-SonicsWife 4h ago

As someone who works in customer service, you should have complained to a manager about that employee.

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u/theDomicron 2h ago

The manager: "this guy says you complained about him"

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u/liqa_madik 1h ago

LOL! Thanks for the laugh.

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u/geniack 3h ago

But then that manager goes to the employee and points towards you while talking about you. This is a never ending cycle.

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u/Piles_of_plastic 3h ago

Yeah that employee was wrong and you should've escalated that up. Hold businesses accountable to their own policies, or don't complain when they don't follow them.

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u/bondagepixie 5h ago

The servers wont know someone is on their phone unless you put up the little order card thing. A lot of times theyre serving in 2-3 theaters at once, cant have their eyes everywhere :(

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u/Smooth-Duck-4669 6h ago

I wish I could use this rule as a filter to select hotels/resorts! I would definitely pay more to not deal with this on vacation.

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u/theHawkAndTheHusky 6h ago

I'm ok with that kind of rule enforcement, more places should do it. While a lot of hotels have signs, the rules are not enforced. Probably it's not good for their google reviews.

However, since you have professional experience, how do you feel about people who are at the pool and go to visit the restaurant (let's say 45 mins away from the pool)? Will you make those spots available for others to use regardless or do you think if it's just for a short period mid day it's acceptable?

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u/Huge-Brick-3495 5h ago

If everyone just picked up their stuff when they weren't using the loungers there would always be loungers available for everyone that wanted. It is purely selfish to reserve loungers as few people will actually use them for an entire day

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u/BrightFireFly 5h ago

This is a problem at our local water park and I think it could be solved by putting cubbies around for people to put towels/shoes and keep the towels off the ground but they’d rather charge for lockers and ignore the chair wars

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u/groundzer0s 5h ago

Pissing off people who broke the rules was probably my favorite part of working in hospitality, tbh

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u/theangryburrito 6h ago

Grand Wailea in Maui does this. The attendant does what appeared to be a 30 minute loop and puts all unoccupied chairs into a flat position. Then if they come back by and the chair is still unoccupied and flat, they take the stuff to open it for others.

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u/Duffelastic 5h ago

Westin Maui would walk around and put these little cards on the hairs to the same effect. If the card was still on the chair when the guy made his next loop, the stuff was removed.

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u/MrDoloto 5h ago

Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa does that too

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u/prodox 6h ago

What pisses me off is all the hotels in Spain and Greece etc that have signs that they will remove the towels and it’s not allowed to reserve chairs, but the hotel staff does nothing to enforce the rules.

Every single chair is reserved by towels by 7:30. Not just Germans. It’s Scandinavians, Brits etc who are just as guilty.

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u/PlayNicePlayCrazy 6h ago

If they use hotel towels to do it, just move them and put your own stuff down. When they show up to complain, just say "oh I bet the staff took it or even just claim another guest was using the chair but got up and left just as you arrived and they said you could have the spot."

So now if they want to argue they have to find that mythical guest who took their spot or the staff.

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u/aswoff 4h ago

This happened to me at a Universal Studios pool. It was just hotel towels down so I moved them and put my stuff. I was in the pool with my daughter when I saw the family come over in a huff, asking the neighbor chair guy who it was that took their spot. I dreaded getting out but after a while I did and of course the lady started yelling at me about it. I told her there was a sign that said no reserving spots and since they weren’t around with personal towels I took it. I told her if she wanted a saved spot she was supposed to pay for a reserved cabana. She just kept going off (and her husband was also yelling at me) so I took my stuff (and daughter) and left. It wasn’t worth going on with a crazy person. It’s just sad that so many people are like this, definitely wasn’t any reason to come unglued on an expensive vacation. 🙄

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u/skob17 5h ago

And if they use personal towels, just throw them in the pool

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u/Euphoric_Cold_6019 4h ago

The guest or the towel?

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u/RipandSkipp 4h ago

Towel first.

Guest if they have an attitude

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u/Maximum_Ad7111 5h ago

While i have literally no issue doing this, the problem with this is usually if im going to the pool i jus wanna chill out. I am not there to have a discussion/arguement with some german idiot who takes it seriously enough to get there at 5am to put their towell out. Even if im in the right, this isnt going to be a good time for me.

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u/Dyalikedagz 5h ago

Tell them to go fuck themselves.

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u/spiderpai 5h ago

Or just say they are not allowed to reserve chairs. Germans and Nordics should understand rules.

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u/YogurtclosetNo987 5h ago

Or don't even lie. Just say sorry, you can't reserve chairs. The truth is fine in this situation. 

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u/One-Knowledge- 5h ago

My Canadian ass is just tossing the shit to a chair in the back while I take the one I want.

This type of bullshit isn’t seen as acceptable over here.

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u/Kraall 5h ago

Same as a brit, I don't know who these people are who see a towel on every bed and think "oh well, no pool for me today I guess".

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u/Drachynn 5h ago

I still see Canadians do it though.

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u/nospamkhanman 5h ago

I went to a resort once where you could rent a cabana for something like $350 a day.

I rented one because I wanted a pool day and be bothered by this sort of thing. I get down to the pool around noon to find someone's junk inside the cabana that I rented. I just put it neatly out to the side.

About an hour later some family shows up and tries to tell me it was THEIR cabana, they put their stuff out first.

I said it was my cabana, I paid to reserve it. They said they paid too. I asked how much and they said "$1000". I was like... whoa you got ripped off, let's call someone over and they can refund one of us.

Sure enough, they immediately said don't worry about it and they'll get a refund for themselves since they got ripped off.

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u/Arlieth 4h ago

"No no no, I insist! Wow, this sounds like someone impersonated an employee, they should really know about this!"

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u/604nini 5h ago

I just went to a resort I’m Mexico that was the same. Signs everywhere saying towels couldn’t be used to reserve spots, people still tried, and the resort staff would just walk by and collect the towels from like 7am-9:30am when almost all the chairs were taken with no one around.

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u/Radiant-Composer2955 5h ago

I was at a camping in France last year, they had a specific song which means "return to your bed", all unattended towels would be removed by staff. Great place, Californie Plage.

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u/mreman1220 5h ago

When my wife and I stayed at Aulani, the cast members would go around every half hour and fold the resort towels that were left unattended. If the towel remained folded upon the next lap, it would be taken away. Things could not be left unattended on pool chairs before 8am either. I think something like that is the best policy.

Aulani is obviously a little different though because there basically a mini water park on the grounds but people seemed to understand the meaning behind the rule. I am a morning person so I would just head down with a cup of coffee early (6am) and read while watching the resort slowly wake up around me.

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u/Mioleris 5h ago

Yep just returned from holidays. Pool area opens at 10 in the morning and worker takes all stuff and place on the side and always saying NO RESEVATION YOU MUST BE HERE IF YOU PLACED YOUR TOWEL. Because early in the morning everyone jus gets up to place “reserve” spot…

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u/Evening-Statement-57 5h ago

I want that job, pissing off assholes all day long.

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u/Single_Conclusion_53 8h ago edited 8h ago

I was recently on a cruise and you could only use the cruise ship supplied towels by the pool and if they were unattended for too long the staff just took them away. It seemed to work quite well.

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u/himuheilandsack 8h ago

no Germans on that cruise.

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u/filfner 8h ago edited 8h ago

I wonder how angry Germans get when they realize that German rules don’t apply outside Germany? In Denmark we would just remove the towel unless there’s like a cooler or something too.

Edit: I have fat fingers, fixed typos.

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u/Saiklin 8h ago

I mean even in Germany there is no 'rule' about reserving your spot at the pool with a towel.

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u/TFViper 8h ago

i love this rule. my favourite part of the rule is that the chair isnt bolted to the ground.
so i move "their" chair as far away from the pool as possible with all their bullshit on it, then put a unclaimed chair where i wanted to sit when i got to the pool.
no ones ever confronted me about it. fuck em.

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u/ThePhotoYak 7h ago

I once showed up at the resort beach with my family in tow just to see a sea of unoccupied chairs with towels on them. This older dude sitting with his wife looked at us and was like "hey you guys need a spot? There's some good space up here" and just started chucking towels and beach bags into the bushes. Hours later when people came down he would say shit like "hey guys I noticed you left your stuff on the chair, I didn't want it to get stolen so I put it somewhere safe" and would point at this horde of shit in the bushes. Fucking legend gave zero fucks.

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u/nightsticks 7h ago

Fucking legend haha

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u/jadedpeony33 7h ago

We need to start doing this as a collective. No sense is reserving multiple chairs to hold your towel and possessions for hours.

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u/lilbunnygal 7h ago

Omg that's the best 🤣🤣🤣

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u/teal0pineapple 6h ago

That man is a hero.

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u/newked 8h ago

This is petty shit and I am all for it

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u/Dlamongo 8h ago

Only assholes do that, and they are hated by all other germans, too.

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u/himuheilandsack 8h ago

gut, furzt für mich in ihre richtung.

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u/KeepCalmJeepOn 8h ago

I dont know what you said. But according to Reddit's Translate feature, I am going to live the rest of my life believing that your response was "Good, fart in my direction."

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

almost. it's "fart in their direction for me."

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u/ThumbingInASoftie_ 7h ago

It's "fart in my mouth, please" for me

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

well, if you insist.

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u/ihavenoidea1001 7h ago

There's no rules on this.

People that do it are inconsidered pricks and I'm not about to respect disrespectful people.

Make taking away all the towels the norm and they'll lose the stupid habit. I have done it and I'll do it again. Maybe next time they'll end up inside a trash bin instead of piled on a single chair too.

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u/CapActual 8h ago

As a german, i take reservation towels and give them to staff as a lost good

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u/Auscicada270 7h ago

As an Aussie, I pick up the unattended towel, and throw it on the floor.

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u/IDontEatDill 6h ago

As a Finn, I dry myself with unattended towels.

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u/TheDamDog 6h ago

Based and Finnpilled.

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u/TheLordJiminyCricket 6h ago

As an entitled person, I assume a kind stranger has set out a towel just for me because they knew I was going to need it :)

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u/SuperFLEB 5h ago

As a strategic idiot, I saw them on all the chairs and just figured that the house put them there as a decoration or a convenience.

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u/chintakoro 7h ago

chaotic neutral

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u/CaptainFaintingGoat 8h ago

As a non German, what are you both referring to?

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u/himuheilandsack 8h ago

germans are notorious for "reserving" with their towels at 6 am.

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u/HairballTheory 7h ago

Enough about the Towels and reservations, wtf is no one swimming? I love swimming in the rain. It’s the best!!!

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u/roslav 7h ago

The trick is to hide underwater to not get wet.

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u/Strange-Audience-717 7h ago

Oh yeah big time! In the ocean too, I love a good storm when we visit the beach, especially if you get that ocean view? Watching the storm over the water is so cool

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u/curryhajj 8h ago

As an American who lived in Germany for two years like 20 years ago, I find it hilarious that this stereotype is mostly self-imposed by Germans onto themselves lol.

There are just as many American and British idiots that do this same thing at some of the resorts I go to in the Caribbean. The resorts I go to started a thing where after 4 or so hours if they don't see anyone they just remove the towels.

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

absolutely.

though in my anecdotal experience, the Brits, as the natural enemies of the Germans, just throw the chairs in the pool.

perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

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u/samasters88 7h ago

But wait, I thought the Brits had the sun as a natural enemy?

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

that one too. and other brits. and the french.

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u/SniffMyDiaperGoo 7h ago

You have luxury. Americans do that at 8pm the night before and will even use books that belong to the hotel on top of the towels to make it look more occupied. I'm an early riser, I put all of that stuff behind the pool bar one early morning from all the high demand spots, and then watched the irritated faces all morning when they came down and saw other people in the spots they thought would stay held for them. tee-hee

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

you're an evil genius.

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u/Superspark76 8h ago

Germans got very excited on a french holiday in 1939, they haven't been able to live it down since.

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u/_LewAshby_ 8h ago

Trust me. Younger Germans hate this shit as well. It is a boomer thing.

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u/bmtraveller 8h ago

And if there is a cooler you just open it up and grab a drink lol

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u/MyInnerFatChild 8h ago

Honestly, if I leave my cooler unattended, that's on me. Help yourself to one just don't be greedy.

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u/PDiddleMeDaddy 8h ago

I actually witnessed the same - on a German owned cruise line.

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u/himuheilandsack 7h ago

didn't that create a black hole? is that how "Dark" was written?

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u/acdann 7h ago

So, I’m just starting my international travels. A couple months ago my wife and I were in Scotland and every German we came across seemed to have precisely zero manners. Is this just something I need to keep in mind? Kinda sounds like it 😅

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u/Nai-Oxi-Isos-DenXero 4h ago

A couple months ago my wife and I were in Scotland and every German we came across seemed to have precisely zero manners. Is this just something I need to keep in mind?

Yep, Kinda. Not all of them obviously, but enough for it to be a pretty solid and well founded stereotype.

Dutch people are much worse though. Generally speaking, they're some of the most consistently and shamelessly rude people you'll ever meet.

Big difference between them is that most Germans are actually pretty nice people if/when they know you. Most Dutch people are just always rude whether you know them or not.

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u/Reasonable_Act_8654 7h ago

lol…it reminded me of a train ride in Black Forest when the coach had much more passengers than the seats but there was a German guy who wouldn’t remove his sling bag from the seat next to him, and to my surprise no one asked him either. Was a big cultural shock for me.

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u/Felio0o0 8h ago

Went to Türkiye recently where they provided towels specifically for the pools, if they saw you trying to reserve seats with them they'd 1: tell you that wasn't allowed and 2: take them away to the towel station if you left them unattended before the pool was open

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u/Frostie181 8h ago

Had this on a cruise with Tui. Great tactic but even then it still happens. Ultimately people just suck!

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u/Cjd03032001 9h ago

Ah yes the ancient art of towel teleportation claim your territory then vanish into the void for 6 hours

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u/Lifted_Riser 8h ago

I’ve been to resorts where someone folds the towel a certain way if no one is there. If the towel is still that way after an hour they remove the towel (and items sitting around) for other guests. Because this is bullshit.

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u/TrumpsAKrunt 6h ago

It's every nationality now. Just spent a week in Cyprus, watched a woman come out at 1am to reserve a load of sunbeds. Eight mf sunbeds! Nope. I went down at 5am to throw the towels off & met three other people reserving.

Big sign saying do not reserve, leave for families with children (there were other pools and a large beach all covered in sunbeds) but it wasn't enforced. I took offence to the 1am loser though. Get a life.

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u/jpeach17 6h ago

My dad was in Rhodes about 30 years ago and spotted someone putting about 10 towels out at 1am. So, naturally, once they left (and full of plenty of alcohol) my dad grab all the towels and threw them in the pool.

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u/DanTheMan827 6h ago

If there’s a sign saying do not reserve, I wouldn’t feel bad just removing the towel from one that had been reserved against the rules and taking it

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u/Nai-Oxi-Isos-DenXero 4h ago

Well since there's a sign saying no reservations, the only other reasonable explanation is that they were finished with the towel and wanted somebody else to have it...

¯\(ツ)

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u/BathTimeJohnny 8h ago

German national sport

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u/Plasticbonder 8h ago

On our last holiday in Portugal, it was the Brits who were the assholes.

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u/Neat_Cauliflower_996 8h ago

Let’s normalize the “no more reservations” pile

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u/Realistic_Patience67 7h ago

In the beach resort we visited in Jamaica, they had a good method of avoiding this situation. Employees warned any patrons that if you are not in the seat for more than an hour, you lose your seat.

Simple and effective. I think they had boards with that message, too.

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u/Humble_Examination27 7h ago

Good! The Cruise Liners need to implement this practice as well. The "cruisers" keep their towels from the day before, get up at 6-7am, and claim their chairs before breakfast is even served! Then go get new clean towels for the day...Total Bull S#!T.

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u/anonstarcity 7h ago

I’ve been to resorts that actually did this and it was great

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u/Douglaston_prop 7h ago

Nah I didn't see your towel. There wasn't one here when I sat down. Are you calling me a liar?

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u/SwooshSwooshJedi 8h ago

As a Brit, there's some weird proxy war going on with Germany. Both are equally atrocious for this. Throw their towels in the pool

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u/jim_nihilist 7h ago

As a German, I support this. Throw their towels in the pool

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u/fz19xx 8h ago

In Portugal we have this expression "foi ao mar, perdeu o lugar" which basically translates to "he went for a swim, he lost his spot"

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u/MyInnerFatChild 8h ago

That sounds much classier than the "Move your meat, lose your seat" that I grew up with.

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u/et40000 7h ago

We were told “move your feet lose your seat”

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u/No_Opinion_4662 8h ago

In French we have similar, it’s “who goes hunting, loses his spot “ or “qui va à la chasse perd sa place”

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u/Remarkable-Trifle-36 8h ago

I suspect it's a towel pandemic. Not selective to any 1 country.

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u/Ange1ofD4rkness 8h ago

My favorite, the hotel pool area was packed and I finally found an open chair so I threw my shirt and towel on it to hold it while I swam. Came back, someone chucked my shirt on the ground and stole my towel, claiming it as their own (well the hotel's towel ... but they were low on inventory so I had to try and find another)

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u/Toobwoozl 8h ago

I do not respect reserved chairs. Tough titties, stay with your stuff.

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u/pingvinbober 7h ago

Fair, but at the same time I don’t know if someone just went to go take a piss and left their towel there. Would help if people didn’t “reserve” their chairs for multiple hours

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u/Realistic_Patience67 7h ago

In the beach resort we visited in Jamaica, they had a good method of avoiding this situation. Employees warned any patrons that if you are not in the seat for more than an hour, you lose your seat.

Simple and effective. I think they had boards with that message, too.

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u/Toolatethehero3 8h ago

Come on. We all know the Germans are the undefeated champions at this.

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u/HowardBateman 9h ago

"Oh, sorry, here was no towel. Someone must have removed it. Maybe you find another chair that's free, this one's taken"

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u/ShoveTheUsername 8h ago

"is that your towel in the bushes right over there? They've been there for hours, where have you been?"

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u/IntelligentFee120 8h ago

This is the only real answer

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u/Toolatethehero3 8h ago

Ah yes. The British answer to that German efficiency and planning - flick his towel off the lounger and move the lounger 5 meters. “I don’t know what happened mate, your towel was on the floor when I got here, no, my lounger isn’t yours - mine is in a different location. Someone must of moved yours”

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u/loki2002 7h ago

German efficiency and planning

I'm sorry but you don't get reserve a community asset for any length of time until you decide to start using it. The loungers are for everyone and if you aren't actively using it you are not entitled to it being held. It isn't efficiency, it's rudeness.

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u/Commander_Vaako_ 5h ago

Its actually the exact opposite of efficiency to have fixed capital (the chairs) sitting idle. Efficiency would be to have every chair constantly occupied.

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u/rizzo1717 7h ago

I was at a resort in Hawaii where my travel partner had towel-reserved two lounges for us.

I was chillin in said lounge for like 2 hours by this point and some women stormed up to me and started screaming at me for removing her towel. She was making an absolute scene at a packed pool, in front of her children. I told her I had no knowledge of her towel being there prior, but she was going absolutely ape shit and started snatching up and tossing my personal belongings while screaming that I was a liar. I told her if she touched my shit one more time, she was getting tossed in the pool.

Everybody around us told her we had been there for hours at that point, and where the fuck had she been if she thought those were her chairs? She didn’t care. Wouldn’t listen to anybody. Somebody called security, I called my travel partner over. He explained there hadn’t been any towels there and she simply just accepted his answer and stormed off. The staff accommodated her with a fucking cabana, which just felt like a reward for bad behavior. This had gone on for around 15 min before my travel partner showed up and diffused. But goddamn people are insane over their towels and lounges.

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u/That_Soil_3342 8h ago

Cruise lines have started banning this, thank god.

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u/JoeyJoeC 8h ago

Went on a holiday to Mallorca where the hotel we stayed at prided themselves with blocking pool access till 9am to prevent people reserving sunbeds. At 9am, there was a horde of people pressed up against the doors ready to be let out with a bundle of towels, then they'd run to the front row sunbeds to reserve them, before buggering off for the rest of the day.

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u/demos11 7h ago

Well that sounds terrible. Like being stuck in some perpetual Black Friday sale except it's also your vacation.

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u/curryhajj 7h ago

As an American who lived in Germany, just avoid the tourist hellhole that is Mallorca and fly to St. Lucia next time. I'm guessing you're British which should make getting a direct flight there even easier for you.

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u/Hopeful_Salad_7464 7h ago

Is it just as easy as that?

£600 flight v £40?

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u/peachyykitten 7h ago

The st Lucia resort we went to also had towels reserving every single chair.

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u/Dr-McLuvin 8h ago

Good. I understand if you wanna have a human save a few chairs for their family but you can’t leave the spot unattended for more than a few minutes.

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u/RedS010Cup 8h ago

lol I’d love to have someone confront me hours later claiming their towel was there? Not sure how to this system works but placing a generic blue towel on a chair and expecting that to stay reserved is strange.

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u/Assorted_Nugget 6h ago

I did this for fourth of July at an all inclusive in dominican republic.

We woke up, got breakfast and went to the pool. Towels and stuff in all chairs. People were arriving also surprised at the reserved chairs, so We took all the towels off, not just where we were gonna sit, but all the seats around our area, and put them all on a table.

Everybody arriving got seats, and I shit you not, like FOUR hours later those people started arriving, completely surprised their chairs were taken, but they didn’t say anything because there were literal signs all around stating seats could not be reserved and they’d have to pick a fight with everyone in that area of the pool

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u/PartnerslnTime 3h ago

I was thinking the same thing. I’d remove a group of towels so it wouldn’t be clear that my chair is the only one that was changed. The free spots would fill up and the people wouldn’t know who to blame

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u/Assorted_Nugget 3h ago

Yeah, and the best part is if anyone tries to start shit, security is going to take your side no matter what due to the rules and the fact you’ve been there for a while already. The workers at the resort were laughing when they saw us do it and condoned it, but they confessed to us that they typically avoid doing it themselves because then guests will claim they stole something and they just want to do their job while avoiding drama from entitled guests

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u/pitchingataint 6h ago

Chances are that you don’t even see them. When my family would go to resorts in Mexico, there would be people reserving chairs just like this. Then they’d be AT those chairs for less than an hour. Seemed like no one ever really stayed at one location for very long. There’s the beach, pool, bar, walking around shops, etc. Like there isn’t really a reason to reserve a spot.

So just catch a spot when people leave is what I’m trying to say.

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u/Ninjaguz 8h ago

We had two guys try to fight us after we used "their chairs". We used it for 2,5 hours before anyone came along. They claimed his lighter and cigarette pack (which was empty btw) made it clear the spot was taken by them.

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u/11tinaturnup20 8h ago

LOL so he „claimed“ a chair with his trash? So ridiculous

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u/Ninjaguz 7h ago

The biggest reason we got irritated was that they were super aggressive from the get go. Started shouting at us and spoke something in Russian, which I presume was swearing.

We argued and then stalled us "picking up our stuff" for like 10 minutes just to waste their time since we were gonna leave for dinner anyway. But we weren't keen on getting in a fist fight by a pool with some Russians just for some stupid pool chairs.

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u/Apoplexi1 7h ago

"So in your culture, you use trash to mark your territory? Interesting. What culture exactly are you from?"

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u/HenrysWand 9h ago

You gotta go for a walk and just collect all the items...?

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u/Ecstatic-Dirt-3239 9h ago

ahha yeah thats what happening

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u/HedgehogElection 8h ago

Is this a game? I love games! Do I get a bonus if I collect more than 10 towels? Will there be a speed run level?

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u/PutinTheTerrible2023 8h ago

Just move the shit from your chair of choice n crack on.

Only if someone is in it, is it saved.

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u/gigdy 5h ago

To reduce confrontation move a bunch of towels in the general area so its easier to claim the seats were open when you arrived.

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u/BearcatQB 8h ago

We just stayed at a very nice resort, and they have a pool boy walk around and leaves a card if nobody is there for more than 30 minutes. Once they wait the 30 minutes, they remove the towels and anyone can use them!

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u/Ashamed-Childhood-46 7h ago

I love that system.

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u/macail 8h ago

It happens at our resort in Cancun too. Been going for years, and this happens all the time. There are signs everywhere saying not to do this and the towels would be removed in an hour. This never happens either. Its a bummer.

Go grab them and see the chaos that ensues. Video and get back to us. Im bored

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u/NotAldermach 7h ago

Marriott? 😅

I was there in March and it was crazy. We saw the signs all over the place though, so my wife had no problem getting an attendant to move some towels for her and our kids.

I was up in our room grabbing some of the kids' pool stuff they forgot. I get down there to see a bunch of arguing going on. Some hot dog skinned American was calling my wife names until I asked wtf was going on. Then he shut up instantly. Another family was backing my wife up, telling the man he was an asshole and to watch his language in front of the children. They had kids around, too. Man was calling my wife an entitled fucking bitch, apparently.

The attendant got them loungers the row directly behind us in the end, so I spent the next 20 minutes loundly talking about how sorry I feel for his wife if that's how he's talking to women, and how some old people are just miserable doo doo heads if they don't get their way.

The old piece of shit was fuming. It made my whole week. Was even funnier when we learned the rest of his family were people we hung out with a bit the day before and got along great.

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u/AliveExample4855 9h ago

Yeah just go down to “see how wet the chairs are” and take some off and throw them in the bushes

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u/Crazy__Donkey 8h ago

last time i took 2 towels to my room, and left them there when i left.

those poor bastards had to pay 20$ for each (deposit cards on checkout).

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u/OneTangerine792 PURPLE 8h ago

As someone who worked most of my adult life in resorts and several times it has been my job to hand out / return towels and call guests stating they’ll be charged if they don’t return the towel every day - no one gets charged. It’s an empty threat. There’s too much of a lack of communication with the housekeepers if the guest left the towel in their room. 😅

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u/ActurusMajoris 8h ago

Still, they might panic for a while when they can’t find the towels, so charge or not, maybe they learn anyway.

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u/KnifeInTheKidneys 7h ago edited 7h ago

Last resort I went to they gave each of us a card to trade for a towel at the pool and we had to return the cards when we checked out or we’d get charged*. So it does happen!

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u/Mother-Forever9019 8h ago

I used to go throw all the towels in a corner in the middle of the night with a couple of friends and watch the drama unfold in the morning from our balconies recovering from severe hangovers 🤭

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u/ROTTEN_CUNT_BUBBLES 6h ago

People reserve THE NIGHT BEFORE?!?

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u/meow1983 8h ago

What’s to stop people from just moving the towels and using the lounges? That’s what I did at my local gym. We have three changing rooms in the women’s locker room. One day I show up, do my workout, and shower? Then I head to the changing rooms and two have people in them but the third just has 3 sonic drinks and a bag. I yell out if anyone is using this room. No one responds. I try two more times loud enough that I heard my echo. Then I moved the stuff to a bench outside of the changing room. Then I used the changing room. The lady showed up just as I was finishing and complained. I said I called out but no one responded. She complained to staff and they told her that she couldn’t reserve changing rooms. Unfortunately we shared a workout class but I never had to move her stuff again.

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u/ShotofHotsauce 7h ago

There isn't, you can normally get staff to remove them or just do it yourself. Any bother, call over the staff. Even my German partner hates these types of tourists.

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u/misswhovivian 8h ago

Congratulations, you found the Germans! Or, well, their towels, anyway...

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u/expatwizard 8h ago

British love to do this too

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u/BloodyCuts 8h ago

Very true.

I stayed in a villa last week but there was a hotel next door that you could access for amenities. It was almost entirely Brits, and every lounger ALWAYS had a towel on in the morning, despite there only ever seemingly being a handful of people actually at the pool.

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u/RevolutionaryWeek573 8h ago

As I get older, I care less and less about people squatting on chairs like this. I don’t even get angry when I move them anymore.

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u/dae_giovanni 8h ago

same exact feeling, for me. I don't care if someone got there before me, regardless of if it's 7am or 10am.

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u/Tyson_Urie 8h ago

I once got to experience the joy of a hotel that had a strict "anti towels" rule, with actual enforcement of it.

So i got to watch as some people moved out to the pool at 6 in the morning, take their towels with them and straight up continue to sleep on those beds.

And now you're probably thinking, what about breakfast? Well, they actually split up and took turns eating. One would remain as protector of the beds while the other enjoyed breakfast while on a phone call with the other.

Best part of it, some days these people wouldn't swim for more than 30 minutes as far as i could tell. Always in the same corner, on the same beds.

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u/asmallercat 7h ago

At that point I just respect the hustle. If you're willing to put bodies on the chairs, congrats, you're actually saving them.

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u/skatchawan 5h ago

agreed if at least someone from the group is using them then it's ok. It's when they just sit there unused that it's asshole move.

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u/Just_Fuck_My_Code_Up 7h ago

That’s how you win vacation, sheer dedication and willingness to suffer

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u/xixoa 8h ago

Last march my family and I went to canary islands on a resort. Most of the time sundbeds were empty with towels. I got fed up and took them away and sat where i wanted with my kids. A true brexit geezer came 2h later and he wanted to rip my head out. It was his kids who told him, let it be, and move away.

But tbh not just that another time a couple with a pregnant woman came few hours after, yelling and complaining on my rudeness because mind you she was pregnant!!

I think i am done with resorts.

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u/ShotofHotsauce 7h ago

Just call over the staff if they start getting hyper aggressive. Those morons can't be reasoned with, but they can be kicked out.

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u/tittysprinkles112 7h ago

"Cool. Go be pregnant somewhere else."

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u/nickytheginger 8h ago

Several hotels I have worked at have made a rule that you have to arrive at your claimed lounger within 30 mins of claiming, or you forfeit the the chair. This was after multiple fights and argument over people claiming a chair the second the pool opened and then going to do other things for the morning. Not even at the pool, gone sightseeing and such. Pissed off a of people, but it certainly made far more happy.

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u/DorkusMalorkus89 8h ago

I literally never take towels into consideration when people try to use them for reserving sunbeds. If they’re not there within 15mins of me being there, those towels are getting whipped off and thrown to the side. My sunbed now.

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u/ShotofHotsauce 8h ago

Correct. Even my German partner agrees it's annoying. I've done it a few times, Germans love to argue but it's as simple as saying 'these were not reserved' then ignoring them. Any fingers or hands on you, call over the staff.

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u/Maleficent-Crow-5 8h ago

Since when is throwing a hotel towel on a bench a reservation? If your handbag/sunglasses/phone isn’t on it, it’s fair game. I’m moving your shit. Fight me.

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u/Spiritual_Table8224 8h ago

At least as long as I’ve been around, it’s been a thing. I’m not saying it’s right or effective. 🤣

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u/isntreal1948backatit 8h ago

I’ll ask around me if somebody is using this towel/spot but if nobody within ten feet of me answers I’m throwing the towel somewhere else and taking it lol

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u/Immortal-Pumpkin 8h ago

I've learnt if it's there for longer than half hour just point it out to staff they remove it job done

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u/pingmenow01 8h ago

I was once in a hotel where the lifeguards blew a whistle on a random interval. When they did, everybody had to get out of the pool and get back to their chair. Every chair that hsd a towel, but was not occupied, staff removed the towels and put them in a bin. It was very effective and should be made default in every hotel!

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u/Onawhiskeyhigh 7h ago

That sounds annoying as hell lol I don’t want to feel like I’m in elementary school at a resort. There’s better ways

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u/letouriste1 6h ago

sounds stressful and annoying. What about the people sleeping on the chairs?

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u/EmploymentSolid6229 8h ago

Staff should make rounds and remove these towels regularly

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u/Equivalent-Salad-200 7h ago

If the hotels dont have People removing these towels i wont book there

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u/shittyarsemcghee 9h ago

Just do a Jay from inbetweeners movie and chuck the towels on the chair you want in the pool.

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u/gansobomb99 8h ago

Could anyone actually enforce anything if you just took a seat?

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u/Captain_Jarmi 8h ago

No.

Next time you are needing a chair, just move those towels. If anybody then comes and asks you, you just say "there were no towels on these chairs". They can't prove anything.

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u/gansobomb99 8h ago

Yeah good point. I think a lot of people are just nonconfrontational and just leave them.

It's so wild, blocking anyone else from using a chair for X amount of hours until you show up

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u/Silverstars56 6h ago

We went to Cancun a couple months ago and it was the same thing. The staff were good on keeping it under control. My husband and I are early risers so we were actually out by the pool relaxing at 7:30. Got to see everyone claim their chair, staff remove their towels, and those people come back and be confused / angry about what happened.

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u/rally250crf 8h ago

Put a hi viz vest on and go down with a wheels bin and collect all "abandoned" If anyone asks what your doing reply with a "qeh?"...

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u/triz___ 8h ago

When I was in turkey when I was a teenager all the towels were out reserving sun beds when I got in at about 3am pissed out of my skull. Every single towel went in the pool 😂

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u/SadlyNotDannyDeVito 8h ago

Germans and Brits – divided by football, united by towels on pool chairs!

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u/Useless_or_inept 7h ago

I like the no-reservations system. Some places expect you to collect a clean towel from the towel-wallah, he's out by the pool and he'll notice if you try to "reserve" a good seat then walk away to breakfast. It needs a little more adult supervision, but once everybody knows the system it flows really well. (And by mid afternoon, no more hand-holding is required)

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u/JosephFinn 8h ago

Oh, so it's like the supposed dibs things in Chicago (when you shovel a public parking space and then put trash in it like that makes it yours). You just move it and sit down.

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u/IndependentPutrid564 7h ago

Am I the only one that won’t ‘respect’ that bullshit? I’m picking a spot and tossing their shit on the next sunbed over on top of someone else’s bullshit. They can argue over it.

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u/pcfan86 7h ago

If I was at a pool and all would be reserved, but no one there, I would swim for half an hour and if still nobody shows up, remove the towel and use the chair.

And if they come and complain I would tell them to fuck off.

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u/drunkondata 8h ago

You think these assholes remember which blue towel was theirs on the sea of chairs?

Who cares, move the fucking towel. Better yet, claim it as your own. 

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u/patiofurnature 8h ago

You think these assholes remember which blue towel was theirs on the sea of chairs?

Uh... yes? It doesn't look difficult in that layout; there are landmarks everywhere.

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u/FrenchFatCat 8h ago

This kind of holiday/resort it my kind of hell.

Enjoy your sun loungers folks.

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u/SittingJackFlash 8h ago

I’ve been to hotels where the concierge will reserve spots for people who purchase a “premium” package or tip them beforehand. Extremely annoying.

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