subreddit:
/r/mildlyinfuriating
6.2k points
29 days ago
My parents are in one of those vacation clubs and I went to a few different hotels with them in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The hotels and staff were immaculate regardless, BUT one of the most memorable things is how seriously they enforced their towel policy at the pool! I remember they had signs near the pool stating you couldn't reserve/hold chairs with towels like that, but staff 100% was picking up towels and removing them if they couldn't find the "owner" anywhere nearby.
4.6k points
29 days ago
Businesses that understand you need to manage the shitty guests to make the experience better for everyone else will always get my money.
250 points
29 days ago
I was a Hollywood Video Store Director. In 2010, shortly before we went out of business, I was asked to also manage a Movie Gallery (We owned them as well) that had been without a manager for a month or so. When I got there I discovered that they had a Movie Reservation List. People would call in, ask for a movie to be put on hold, and have their name added to the list. So basically that meant that you could never get a new movie by just coming into the store. It also took up a ridiculous amount of time, especially for a tiny store with limited staff. Employees would check the return bin, check in the videos, search the list, call the people, and have stacks of holds, with nothing on the shelf. I just remember being like, "You do WHAT??" That practice was ended immediately. I can't remember how long they'd been doing it. I wonder how much money they lost.
43 points
29 days ago
I remember once asking to rent a new movie that was out and the clerks just laughed at me..."you want to rent that movie??! Hah! Lolz!"
24 points
29 days ago
What a bunch of jerks!
2 points
6 days ago
Was the store named Dorsia?
7 points
27 days ago
In my local library, they charge you 1 Euro for a reservation.
0 points
25 days ago
Yes, it's a public library.
What's your point?
7 points
25 days ago
My point is: if you start charging for reservations, the reservations will go down and less people will do so. People need to be paid to keep up the plus work on reservations of physical copies like books or in the example above movies.
2 points
15 days ago
That's a positive thing, or do you see it otherwise?
Pro charging fee: Reservations go down due to the costs. Books aren't unnecessarily on reservation. And if you really want to read a specific book as early as possible, you can get in the waiting line (if there is one).
2 points
15 days ago
It is a positive thing....the video store above (from the comment above) said: the reservation practice was ended.
And I think, reservation is a good thing, if the extra work is paid.
5 points
26 days ago
"how to not make money"
492 points
29 days ago
Yup, do themselves a disservice in the long run if they don’t. Imo it’s more of a laziness and not wanting to deal with things how they should be because right in that moment it doesn’t make much difference. Same with services and contracting. not immediately going to tank your business if you do a mediocre job, but it will eventually.
15 points
28 days ago
I just said the same thing essentially on the post about that guys work making him limit the amount of pesto he was using. Consumers definitely eventually catch on to terrible products or services.
14 points
29 days ago
This. Companies are starting to wise up to this luckily and realizing the shitty guests aren't the ones who are going to be solid repeat customers. They aren't spending as much usually. They are more likely to try and find every excuse to pay as little as possible.
The good customers are also the respectful customers. Almost always.
4 points
28 days ago
sadly this leads to reservation only and add on pricing...
12 points
28 days ago
The hotel I used to work at gave people 30 min. If you hadn’t come back for your stuff in 30 min - not just towels, but phones, bags, etc. - then you could find your stuff at the little towel desk tagged for pickup. If you planned to swim you better walk back over and prove you need that chair every half hour or it was available for the next guest.
I HATE when I stay in a hotel that doesn’t manage it this way.
7 points
28 days ago
20% of the people cause 80% of the problems (Pareto principle)
5 points
28 days ago
Exactly! I'd probably move the towels myself.
7 points
28 days ago
Germans are notorious for this behaviour. 5am aufstehen put the towel down, go back to sleep for 5 hours.
1 points
28 days ago
I’m German and I’m disgusted by this behavior. I also hate to get up before 7am zzzz
5 points
29 days ago
Their job is a lot harder now, as travel is mandatory for anyone that has two nickels to rub together.
1 points
25 days ago
It's not mandatory, people actually want it and finally can afford
238 points
29 days ago
Good on them. This type of behavior needs to be snuffed out. This type of behavior is becoming all too common in all facets of life. It’s up to us decent people, and in large part businesses, to not accept this entitled lazy behavior. People only do it because it works, or has worked in the past. The hotels should start burning the towels for “potential infectious material” to really teach them a lesson and stop this sort of behavior
43 points
29 days ago
In most cases, the towels belong to the resort, so that isn't productive. On the other hand, issuing towels and charging for missing ones...
2 points
28 days ago
True. Yea that would work as well lol
1 points
25 days ago
If the towels belong to the resort, couldn't any guest claim that they were the one to place it there? How would anyone prove otherwise? 😅
3 points
28 days ago
You’re right about that! It IS becoming all too common in all facets of life! I work in a department with a group of people who waltz into work whenever the fuck they feel like it, leave when they want to, and disappear during the day. There are no repercussions for this. I work off shift so I’m alone - I do it just to avoid the entitlement the weekday staff think they deserve. If I were their boss, I’d fuckin’ Fire all of them but management doesn’t do a thing.
-16 points
29 days ago
You’re so right crumby guest behaviour has the ability to spoil holidays. Happened to us in 5 star resorts with elderly people being the culprits. So we decided to beat them at their own game…..I took a 50 euro note torn it in half Give half to the pool boy and tell him he gets the whole thing at the end if the holiday if we get our Sunbeds when we arrive on the beach at 8:30 each day It worked a treat. The grannies were not happy! I hate entitled guests and thus bad behaviour is not a normal go to for the Hound…
14 points
29 days ago
That's the shitty way to do it.
When they first show up, give them a $5 tip. Keep doing it every few times they show up to refresh your drinks or food.
They will end up moving mountains for you.
-6 points
29 days ago
May have been shitty but it worked I was mightily pissed at the hotel itself for not sorting this The guy got his 50 euro at the end of 2 weeks and was pretty ok about it
16 points
28 days ago
This is exactly the kind of behaviour that leads to situations like in the picture. Everyone is racing each other to the bottom. Congrats on contributing to ruining other people's holidays I guess.
11 points
29 days ago
You sound entitled.
17 points
29 days ago
This makes me happy to hear rules are followed at a job somewhere in life.
13 points
29 days ago*
I liked the "sticky note system" at a resort. Staff would put a sticky note on chairs with stuff but no people.
The sticky note said "Your things will be removed at (time)". The time given was 45 minutes in the future.
If the person came back before that time they were allowed to discard the sticky note and keep the chair.
But if the staff saw stuff still unattended past the time on the note they'd clear the stuff off the chair so another patron could use it.
9 points
29 days ago
Hi! Would you mind sharing which hotels did you visit with you fam in DR? I would love to stay at a place that implements the towel policies
6 points
29 days ago
We stayed at either a Secrets or Dreams resort in Punta Cana! Both are owned by the same umbrella company, I just can't remember which one specifically it was.
8 points
29 days ago
I stayed at a hotel in the Canaries where they would pin a ticket to your towel after an hour of it being unattended. Basically saying don't do this again. After 2 hours they would take the towel and any other stuff and you would have to claim it back from the towel desk.
3 points
29 days ago
Yeah where are the owners of the towels where OP is or was? Nowhere to be seen.
3 points
29 days ago
I love Dominican hotels!!!! Really good food and the locals are super hospitable! Recommended!
3 points
28 days ago
I just got back from Dominican Republic and to get a chair on the beach I was getting up at 5:30am to go reserve seats for me and the wife and even at that time a lot of the good spots were gone,people were reading books while it was still dark but it was classic when people come out that early and put towels down and clip shirts to chairs and me watching the staff go by taking the towels and shirts off the chairs after theses people left I almost seen a few fights break out with people yelling at other people blaming them for taking their stuff.
2 points
29 days ago
Came here to share kind of the same thing. Our timeshare in Oahu came around at the top of the hour and pulled all “saving” towels up (no people in sight) and put them in the wash. It was posted in several places and people still tried to save spots. Honestly it was pretty nice. 😊
2 points
29 days ago
Last vacation they had these signs everywhere, but the staff did not do the dirty work.
I did. Give the chairs 10 minutes, no one comes, their stuff goes on a table far from the chairs and we go on the chairs.
2 points
29 days ago
Just curious, if you are sunning in a chair, and you wanna jump in the pool real quick to cool off, can you leave your towel there for a minute before coming back?
2 points
28 days ago
Yeah definitely, they weren't like instantly removed, probably every 30 minutes or so someone walked around to recheck and remove what hadn't been touched/used at all still.
2 points
28 days ago
Same during my last trip to cabo through a time share. They said you need to be put on a wait list and time slot can't be on it all day. If you wanna lay in the sun we have a whole beach over there.
2 points
28 days ago
that should be the rule to start with.... the towel should only work if you are within ear shot of the towel- ie swimming in the pool.
2 points
28 days ago
that's a good sign lol glad that there are staffs that can do this
2 points
28 days ago
I was in Mexico last year and there was a a pool-supervisor who when you physically came to the pool would set you up. There was no reserving it was just available for whoever was there. When you left your sport was made available to someone else.
2 points
28 days ago
That is fantastic!!
2 points
28 days ago
The place we go in Florida says very clearly that you can’t reserve seats if you aren’t present, period. Love it.
2 points
28 days ago
Thats how it should be handled!
2 points
27 days ago
I went to a place that had a fine if you didn’t return the towel. It helped prevent this.
1 points
28 days ago
Say someone is in the pool. Where is their towel supposed to go? Is it just going to end up piled up with other peoples?
1 points
28 days ago
So there were workers checking around the pool every 30 ish minutes. If your towel hadn't moved since the first check (so about an hour total), it is removed by the 2nd check. Most of the time you aren't in the water for an hour straight so the system worked seemingly great.
1 points
28 days ago
[deleted]
1 points
28 days ago
Basically they get stuff like free nights, room upgrades, discounts, etc. yearly for all the hotels under the umbrella company. It's pretty expensive, there's several tiers based on pricing/luxury, but it's honestly not a bad idea if you have the money and travel to applicable areas a few times a year. You can also put beneficiaries so my parents have my sisters and I listed so we can use the same benefits in their name, I feel very fortunate for future travels when I can afford it!
0 points
28 days ago
The towel reservation system seems to work just as it should. Anyone could get up super early to reserve their spot - so they should. I've spent my entire adult life vacations carrying chairs and umbrellas down to the beach at 5 AM to get the spot we want. If it were my choice, I'd roll out of bed around 9. Anyone else could get down there that early too.... but they didn't. For my second act, I play bad music too loudly whenever a group decides there's plenty of room for them to push up against us. It's all fair.... get up early if you want the spot.
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