"Reserving" a chair at the pool...
 

Reading other posts about busy, crowded hotel pools where people go an "reserve" chairs by putting their towels on them early in the AM (and not using them for several hours later) got me thinking...

If you go to a pool and all the chairs are taken by towels, would you or have you ever sat down in the chair anyway?

I think this practice (reserving the chair) is so rude, that I think I'd take my chair of choice anyway. Of course with my luck the towel would belong to someone who would want to kick my a**.

In theory I agree with you and it'd be great know that chairs really are available.

However, the problem is that not everyone looks at it the same way. So, I can not have a chair and be comfortable knowing that I stuck to my guns while walking around like a schmuck trying to wait someone out - or I can simply toss my stuff down on my way to breakfast.

My approach is to see the lay of the land first. If people are rationale about it, fine with me, I'll grab a chair when I get to the pool. But, if they are like the Germans and English I encountered in Portugal last summer, I'll be damned if I get the broken chair because I didn't grab one by 8:01.

I remember seeing a lot of this at our resort pool in Cancun. Since there were 3 of us, there were never 3 chairs together, anyway, except way back from the pool in the shade, so we always ended up sitting there. Of course, all of the towels were the same seafoam green resort towel, so who would have known ...

To answer your question, YES, I think it is very rude to reserve a chair hours ahead of time. Unless someone is in or very near the pool, they should relinquish the chair to someone else. Really, I would only consider my chair "saved" if I had my swimsuit cover, shoes, or some other personal item in it.

Donna

I'm not sure I follow your point Ryan...

Are you saying you would do it or not?

I think it's rude to claim a chair unless you are ready to stick your butt in it.

Donna - if there were a sea of green towels, I'd have NO problem removing them and sitting in a chair! ;-)

If having a chair is so important you'd be rude to a strange, then go early and place your towel on it, just like everyone else. Don't be so lazy!

During our stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Hilton did go around and remove towels from chairs that nobody ventured to for an hour. However, on our second from last day at the hotel, we were at the pool for about two hours or so. There were NO chairs to be had, even though the number of people in the pool itself was nowhere near the number chairs claimed. Sure enough, right before we left, an entire family came from the beach and reclaimed their FIVE chairs. The Hilton didn't remove their towels because the family had also left personal items; I guess they were well aware just leaving a towel wouldn't do the trick. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

I think it is the heighth of rudeness to "reserve" a chair and not be using the pool. Probably the same people who butt in lines and use the emergency lane of the freeway to merge. It must be nice to be more important than everyone else.

Mary2Go: Are those the same people who park their car in handicapped spaces, and then run into the store hoping no one will see them?

Once we were on Lanai for a day outing, hammocks and rafts were at a premium. One incredibly rude family grabbed rafts and laid them on hammocks to reserve both even tho they were not using either at the time!

Sobe - that's kinda backwards logic - What I see is the mom or dad getting up early, bringing out the towels, then heading back to the room till about noon and coming to the chair. Who's the lazy one?

We were at a resort a few weeks ago. I was on my patio about 7 AM, having some coffee and I watched people come out put their towels down, and then go back to their room. Even tho signs said it was forbidden. Two of them took up tables and didn't get to the pool till after noon.

Amazing the issue people fixate on. Now somebody is going to claim not getting the right pool chair spoil your day. Get a life, folks, and stop fretting about nothing. Act like adults, will you!

I think it is extremely rude to reserve chairs, but on the other hand, it is also extremely rude to remove someone's personal belongings from a chair. We just had such an experience at a very quiet and uncrowded Bermuda beach. We had our towels on the chair along with personal items - I went off to the restroom while my husband went off to get us drinks from the pool bar and when we returned a couple gathered up our belongings and placed them on another chair! Now mind you, there were other chairs available, they just wanted THOSE particular chairs. Their behavior was rather disgusting if you ask me.

Sobe - I have this sneaking suspicion that you are one of those who runs down to the pool and claims a chair... Come on, fess up!

Austin, seriously, only a few of you care. Sorry, but that's life, I've seen the same thing as you ar resorts, and hey, it simply doesn't matter.

I can say that I have never saved a chair early in the morning, and certainly not if I didn't plan to sit in it in the next 5 minutes. So, I really haven't anything to fess up to. But I wish you better luck with chairs the next time you go.

If I owned a resort, people would not be able to "reserve" chairs. If you are not IN the pool or at the pool bar getting a drink, you could not have a chair reserved! There has to be a better way than how the resorts do it now......

Seetheworld - THAT would chap my beehind too. That has happened to me. I've told them that was my chair and luckily I got it back.

SoBe - no one is fixating. Just asking a question. Chill.

perhaps I've underestimated the seriousness of savings chairs. OK, I admit I did sneak out one day at 5 a.m. and place wet towels and dingy swim clothes on three lounge chairs, when I needed only two. I apologize.

Austin: Regarding watching from your patio as people took towels to the pool area to reserve chairs at 7 a.m. (!) ... that's when I would have been tempted to go down to the pool, gather up said towels, and deposit them in the used towel bin!

Donna

You think it's bad at resorts?

Try a cruise ship in the Caribbean! These people are ruthless!

Glad I'm going to the Baltics.

Besides, I thought most of were more concerned with skin cancer these days.

Kharma, perhaps. (not sure if I spelled that correctly)

isn't that a bit aggressive, donna? why would you risk a confrontation with a stranger over a towel? how do you know he or she wasn't saving it for an impaired person or eldrely person? what is about towels to reserve chairs that makes all you people so crazy? if you were to remove my towel, I'd wish you a good morning, and merely place it on another chair.

Rosemary1: yes some of us are concerned about skin cancer, so it is all the more insensitive of people to save umbrella chairs, leave for hours and leave those of us who would give our eye teeth for some shade to spend the day sweltering in the hot sun. Perhaps Bonnieboard the hotel should give out tickets or have a number lottery or something such as odd or even days (hehehe)! Just kidding. Maybe at the beginning of each week, hotels should have a mandatory etiquette meeting for hotel guests so that they can brush up on their manners!

I've experienced success with asking help from the attendant. I just approach the towel guy and ask him for two chairs together. He knows who hasn't been there for hours and will remove towels. He would much rather get his tip and the waitperson to serve drinks to people actully sitting in the chairs than to the phantom guests.

SoBeTraveller: "Oh, excuse me, was that your towel (smiling sweetly)? I'm so sorry, I didn't realize." I just had a brief vision of myself and a friend, running around from chair to chair (to the tune of the Pink Panther theme), swiping towels ... sometimes it's fun to be naughty.

Donna

Austin,
My point was that it could be considered rude. I'd prefer that it didn't happen. But, I'm not everybody and human nature being what it is - I doubt this will stop occurring (if you've ever been to a resort with Germans, you KNOW it'll always continue.)

If I'm spending several hundred a night for a nice beach hotel, I'd love to know I can get to the pool and get a nice chair at 10:00 a.m. But, reality is usually different than that.

Bottom line, if I have to I'm sticking my book on the chair at 7:45 when I'm usually up and out.

The moral of this story (or thread as it were)is to avoid big and impersonal hotels that are so crowded and hectic, the only way to get a chair by the pool is to rise at the crack of dawn (or bribe the pool boy).

Instead of being so mad at each other, why don't we direct our ire at the hotel that either doesn't provide enough chairs, or enough chairs with shade .
I've always wondered why hotels are so darn stingy with umbrellas or palapas...they must know how many guests they have...

Ugh. I had the worst time with this stuff at the Hyatt in Aruba. All I wanted to do was sleep late and relax under an umbrella by the pool. The first morning there I was s.o.o.l as I scanned the pool area for a vacant lounge chair in the shade. Shade at that hotel is as scarce as lefty sissors were in kindergarden. So many towels, so few people on them. I ended up stalling for time in the outdoor cafe until a chair opened up.

For the rest of the week my sleeping late was shot to hell for having to run to the pool at 7 am to put out a towel. Then I would go up and get ready for the pool, have breakfast, and be out on my chair at a reasonable 10 am. The whole thing sucked. I didn't like doing that any more than the rest of the newbies I saw day after day liked having it done to them. For what I was paying for that room, I was furious and will never go back. Or maybe I will, but I will tip the pool guy to have a chair waiting for me every day. I guess there is no way to resolve it so I will have to fend for myself. Just ridiculous, and one more reason to prefer sight seeing vacations instead of beached whale ones.

God, I love this thread...

Austin,
We had the same experience @ Las Ventanas in Cabo @ Thanksgiving '01.
All the early birds were Californians and nearly all "owned" wineries.
They would physically arrive about 12:30 PM.
One was gracious enough to let me continue to read the "magazine" someone placed about three hours earlier to reserve his spot.
Actually, I would simply "dump" the stuff next time if no one was there - possession is 9/10ths...
M

bugswife1, the "s.o.o.l" took me a second to get the meaning. May I suggest using "SOL", where the O is for "Outta". OTOH, some people might confuse that acronym with the "Standards of Learning" test that we have here in Virginia. Food for thought.

And for some of the kids taking the SOL test, they are SOL!

Well, headed to Vegas Sat and hopefully I'll be at the pool (Flamingo) early enuf (10 ish) and won't have to worry about it.

I think I like the possesion is 9/10ths philosophy best...

A question here - has anyone asked one of these resorts/their pool attendants what their policy is in regard to "reserving" chairs in this manner? Has the management said to you, "it's fine for people to tie up these chairs with just a towel for three hours while they're on the beach, we don't mind" OR is this just something people have decided to do, and other people put up with it?

We are always out sightseeing during the day, and only get in the pool at night so I never have had to deal with this.

Pool attendents have always moved towels off unused chairs when I've asked.

I can only remember a time at the Hilton on the BI (along the "river" pool") when there wasn't an attendent nearby. I put my things down on a table, drifted down the river, and when no one had returned to their chairs, moved their towels and belongings to a side table. Over an hour later a family of 5 returned (I'm sure they had been at the "beach". They glared - but what could/ would they do? They loudly gathered up chairs to move over closer to them...by dumping towels and belongings off someone else's "reserved" chairs!

The problem is that not all resorts have pool attendents. For instance, in the resort I stayed at in Bermuda, the only employees around the pool were waitstaff and the fellow who refilled the towel bin. And if there is an attendent, removing a towel might not be a big deal, but to remove someones personal "property" can become one for a hotel employee. People have become savy and realize that a towel is not enough to hold on to a chair for the entire day.

As for asking the hotel on what their policy is for such behavior I'd be very surprised if they could give a straight answer. This actually is becoming quiet amusing to me as my Bermudian hotel room had a huge void in it because it was missing two chairs - (I'll spare you from the boring details) So I couldn't get chairs in the shade by the pool and had no chairs to sit on in my room - maybe I'll pack one of those portable chairs...ya know the kind you take on a camping trip and cozy up to the hogs under the umbrella :)

I wonder if all of the rude people who "towel reserve" chairs were not to do so, there might actually be enough chairs to go around for everyone who really wants them since people's arrival/lounging times would naturally be staggered anyway. Just a thought.

Having the beach and the facilities largely to oneself is one of the great things about traveling during the off season.

Most of the resorts I have stayed in take a dim view of this practice, and do as some of the other posters have reported - remove unused towels every hour.

I think that is a great solution, and perhaps will make some of the "chair hogs" think twice next time.

Ryan, you're not only thoughtless but a bigot as well. Many of the places we've been to have had German tourists staying there as well, and I've never noticed their behavior to be any different than the rest of the people staying there.

Perhaps you need to upgrade the level of where you stay if you are encountering problems with fellow guests.

Thoughtless and a bigot? Wow, you can decipher all that from two posts, Diana. Perhaps you should consider getting a gig in Vegas as clearly you're clairvoyent. Of course, you missed that my Mom is German, so guess your powers of deduction aren't all that you think they are.

I'd also suggest that unless you actually HAD been with us last year at the Sheraton Algarve in Portugal, I'm probably a bit closer to those events than you are.

As I said, it'd be great not to worry about a chair at 7:45 and most of the time that's the way it works. But, when I've paid $600+ a night for a room at a hotel in Portugal or The Four Seasons in Bali, I'd rather just have the chair than the moral victory knowing that I was one of the FEW not getting my chair at breakfast.