I'm not sure, but I think that may be too simplistic a view. Although we are not really ones for saving sunbeds ourselves, as we are not early risers on holiday and only surface at about 9am. I think that what you have posted is a crass generalisation.

I am of the view that people just do this because they wish to sunbath and spend their days by the pool and it is the only way to secure a sunbed and umbrella to do the early morning thing.

This does not necessarily mean that they also have unruley kids shout across balconys, slam doors at two in the morning and scream across the pools.

Plenty of adults who dont have kids still reserve sunbeds at the crack of dawn.

I wasn't meaning to directly link the practice of saving of sunbeds with having unruly kids and a loud mouth but they do seem to have a correlation, at least in some hotels that I've stayed in and they are all really, really annoying when on holiday, trying to relax.............

Ive admitted previously that I reserve sunbeds for myself and my family. I would never leave the beds unattended and if we do disappear (other than to have lunch), the towels will disappear with us. We dont go on holiday with the sole intention of reserving a sunbed but with a small daughter to monitor and numerous familes all wanting beds around the kids pool, it does become a necessity. Its not a chore for me to get up early and enjoy an hour's peace around the pool on a morning so why cant I join in the scrum and grab the position and beds that I want? Mind you, I draw the line at being up and out before 8.00am

We've got a villa (a large group of us are going) this year so we wont have to be up early to reserve the sunbeds or umbrellas which will be a completely new experience. Hands up though, I am looking forward to not having to worry about getting a good position around the kids pool and fighting over the three sun umbrellas that are normally provided by the hotel for 50 odd families.

Sarah

Interesting posts.

I hate sunbed bagging, but assess the situation each place we stay, and if you have to do it you have to do it.
Getting up and popping a few towels out eases the stress of walking around the pool 2 hours later - or just chucking others towels on the floor. I have had that done to me once, and fair play too, I doubt many would really make a fuss about it.

The solution is for the hotels to have a policy, go round hourly, and remove the obviously reserved towels - its easy to tell.

Last year at the Seven Seas magic life in Turkey, we found a lovely spot in some semi shaded area, near the pool, near the bar, near the beach etc, and reserved it every day. I think in the context of sitting on your ar5e on a lounger, with a book and a drink, a bit of routine speeds up the relaxatio - there really isnt thast much exitement to be had sitting in a different spot round the same pool to be honest

I agree with the last poster. Hotels should have a policy to stop this.
We are usually up and ready for the pool earlyish(about 9 to 9:30) and we have stayed in many places where the sunbeds are already all reserved by then. Must admit when we have been unable to get sun beds and you see empty ones with towels on by midday we have been very tempted to throw the towels off and take them.
One year in Portugal when we left our sunbeds for an hour to get lunch (in the hotel), we came back to find the pool attendants had removed the towels and given the sunbeds to other holidaymakers!! Even though they knew where we were, that was really over the top!!
Its pure luxury now we have our own place, to never have any of these worries, and we also usually have so much more room around the pool!

I guess my take on this is, I don't have a problem with folk saving loungers if they are actually going to use them. It's when they save them from early morning and don't use them til mid afternoon or later I find it selfish and annoying.
I admit to saving sun loungers for my family. On holiday I love getting up early and going down to swim a good few lengths in the pool when its quiet, then lying in the not too hot morning sun with a book and enjoying the quiet time before the masses descend. I take the opportunity whilst there to save loungers for the rest of the family who are still lying in bed and appear in the next hour or so, having eaten breakfast first.
It's funny though because you do notice people becoming territorial about which sunloungers they reserve. I often notice the same faces in the same spots during the holiday, and yet again I own up to being a bit like that too - I try to find a spot where the sun stays longest , near the pool so I don't burn my feet walking to it, and where I can keep an eye on the family, and stick to that area!
I don't think there is a practical solution to the sunbed situation, because no matter what, someone isn't going to be happy. But if the pool staff notice the sunbeds lying vacant for hours on end then I think they're perfectly right to lift them and let someone else get the use of them. If I'm going for lunch I usually tell the people beside us so ours aren't lifted if we're away for an hour, as I do feel entitled to keep the use of my lounger for a short while, if I'm not there, and I am coming back to it.

Well I have just had a read through this thread so I thought I'd add my views

I have personally never gone down to reserve sunbeds before, if I get to the pool first I will put my husband's towel on the bed next to mine but I know he will be joining me shorlty after. My children are too young for sunbeds so I certanly wouldn't put a towel on one for them.

I have been at the pool and seen sunbeds with towels on for most of the day and often wondered who had the cheek to do that , I have no problem with people going of for lunch and then coming back but to put towels on a bed and go out for the day is just plain selfish to me.

If it came to a point when I couldn't find a sunbed and there were loads of towels which had been there for hours with no-one on them I would just take them on and put them somewhere else. If people aren't there all day they shouldn't expect to keep a sunbed.

I never actually sit by the pool for that long and when I have finished I take my towel away.

I am one of the many who find it maddening when towels are put on loungers early, only to find them still there and unoccupied until late morning and beyond.
Is the joke about the Germans getting up early to put out the towels a myth or not? To be honest, whenever i see it happen, it is without exception brits that are doing it.
Last year i went to Olu Deniz, Turkey which is predominantely Brits, with a few Russians, and whilst the hotels are smaller, it was going on there with clearly Brits the ones doing it then not using them till many hours later. Unfortunately the arrogance of many of our fellow country people is not going to make this get any better.
I know its tempting to move them but you can just picture the uproar that may cause, especially in the bigger med hotels, i can just see the arguments now.
Its probably not practical for hotels to employ a sunbed patroller so it is something thats not going to go away unfortunately.

A few years ago in Lloret De Mar we had been there about 3 days and noticed even when we were at the pool around 9am all the beds were gone.

That night we stayed in the hotel bar/disco late and we saw numerous people reserving beds at 3am. That day the reps advised that if the beds were not occupied by 10am towels would be removed and it did happen.

Helen

Prepare to get slated Luke!!

dare I say it we always reserve our sunbeds haha! were down there at 8 putting our towels down, but to be fair come 10/11 were there till 4 and when we go we take our towels. I think the problems not with people being selfish, rather hotels being greedy and taking on too many people when a pool area is too small to cope with large amounts of people.

We understand everyones point about peing angry with people who reserve but the simple answer is reserve yourself, we dont go to the beach we dont like it, If we cant get round the pool what we going to do? lug 3 toddlers around? or even worse go to the beach!

But I do understand your point

In my view there are two different scenarios

1) people who leave their towels on when they pop off for 10-15 mins, or go for lunch.

2) people who come down early to hog beds with their towels, or who just put down towels and the towels themselves spend more time on the bed than the people do

Option 1 i don't mind, if i come across Option 2 i remove the towels in the nearest convenient direction

I'm with Kimi on this one!!

I am a very early riser, can't sleep in (wish I could!). Therefore, I go down to the pool to reserve our beds. Mine, Hubbys and one for my two sons (they're never around at the same time, so can make do with sharing theirs). I LOVE the early morning around the pool. Have a swim as soon as the pools been cleaned, checked and whatever they do with that long pole!! Then relax in the sun with my book and my ipod - bliss!!!! Hubby and the lads come down around 9.00 and we're there for the day on most occasions. But if we do decide to go for a walk out, we always take our towels with us.

At the Terralta last year, the manager would come round most mornings and remove any unoccupied towels. Must admit, was really funny watching the people come down at lunchtime, thinking that the new occupants on 'their' bed had removed their towels!!

I personally haven't got a problem with people getting up early to get their beds, as long as they stay there. And families with young children do need to be close to the shallow end, shade, etc etc.

I remember staying at the Serenis Seaview in Ibiza - people were going down at 6.00 am, placing their towels and not coming down till lunchtime. I remember getting down by the pool at around 7.15 am - and the majority of the beds were reserved - and not a person in sight!!

This is the one thing that I never look forward to on my holiday. Last time we went away the sunbed reserving seemed to become my job and I was usually down there just after 7.30. We all usually get to the sunbeds, then go and have breakfast (staying all inc) then we're there for the day Luckily all our kids are older now and good swimmers so we prefer not to be right next to the pool.

The idea of a villa sounds ideal to me and OH but I think the kids would miss the entertainment.

We like to be around the pool on holiday and thoroughly enjoy the whole "pool scene" in larger hotels . The atmosphere , The music, watching people make ***** of themselves whilst playing stupid games .The whole sherbang . Just dont ask me to join in

Yes I always put our towels out every morning but it's never a chore for me . I dont need to set an alarm , I'm awake , I get up , get dressed and off I go . It just so happens it's always between 6-7am but I love that time of the day when on holiday and have no intention of going back to bed .

lyn

To me it's up to hoteliers (and campsites) to try and enforce this sensibly. As i've mentioned on here before i came across people in Italy who, in a very shady pool area, put their towels on the only two sunbeds that were guaranteed the sun all day

They went away for what i thought was lunch, but after an hour i just removed their towels and put them on another lounger. It was a further hour before they returned, and although they did wonder where their towels were, they didn't make any more of an issue of it. People like that get on my nerves when they think they can just reserve them for hours

^ Cider its like the hotel in Lloret, people weren't appearing until lunchtime and using the loungers they had reserved at 3/4am.

If I know i'm going to be at the pool early i'll reserve my bed, the only time I generally move is at lunch time.

Helen

I would just like to add that if you go to the Sunrise Beach hotel or Capo Bay in Protaras you get reserved sunbeds for the duration of your holiday, no hassle your beds and parasol and sometimes side table are waiting for you whatever time of day you decide to come down to the pool. It is just so much more civilised and more hotels should do it but i suppose you have to have enough beds to go round the number of guests which a lot of hotels dont. Anyway Sunrise Beach again this year no early mornings for us thankfully.

Thing is some people prefer different spots. Some people like to be near the pool so they can watch their kids where as others may prefer to be away from the pool (so they don't have to watch their kids )

We go as a group of 4 or sometimes 6. It doesn't really bother us where we are as long as we can be close to each other.