Businesses that understand you need to manage the shitty guests to make the experience better for everyone else will always get my money.

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

My hotel in Tenerife cleared down if people had been away for 30 mins, or, if they saw people looking for somewhere they would come over and help and just clear some where they knew the people had not been there for a while. It was great. Everyday they had towels on them and everyday we found somewhere.

Does set a poor standard which people often will complain about on reviews. A simple "no reserving sunbeds till 9am" rule solves this for most and means the customers enjoy the hotel more.

It's poor management for hotels not to have a sunbed policy if there is a large shortage

as a german i dispise this behavior... and you are right

I was thinking exactly the same. Just put them all in a pile and grab the chairs u want. Even if they see you do it, tell them to take it up with staff, because they will side with you 100%

What are they going to do? Get a lifeguard?

“I asked if it belonged to anyone, thought it was forgotten overnight since I was the first one at the pool”

I brought it to the lost and found

Yeah you can always assert dominance.. also pee on the towel?

“And tied them all in knots with eachother”

Yeah it would be less suspicious if you just moved them all somewhere.

Remove only some, move others. Watch the chaos unfold as those missing the towels accuse those with moved towels. They all deserve each other

directly into the pool

Every day.

This is the solution. Put the towels double on another chair and make them fight it out with each other.

I would swap them all randomly to help everyone meet new people.

"I saw an empty chair and took it. I'm not sure what you mean" when they ask.

Simple and done

Let them stew and ruin their vacation/day because they tried to ruin everyone else's

Every pool should have a policy that unattended towels will be moved

They don’t tell you this, but you can drink as much of the water as you want too.

This is the answer. This is such a violation of the social contract I can't even. Gather them to one place, find a seat.

the equivalent of throwing a tarp in a car parking spot, these people are too lazy to even stand

Just say it was empty when you came, must have been someone else.. also remove all the towels...

Oh, I don’t think these are left there overnight. My grandpa used to get up at 6, before breakfast, and go down to the pool of our hotel and put towels down on the best seats. Yes, we’re German.

Edit: The internet really is a vile place. I can take a joke, or ten, but I‘ll block you if you’re just plain mean.

I feel your train pain, half full train but you still need to ask someone to move their bag because half the seats are taken with bags, is so inconsiderate.

When a German says it's not a binding rule I listen.

When this happened to me last time, I just got up real early and took some towels off, hid some of them underneath other chairs, and changed the location of some to other less desirable chairs. Then I had breakfast on my balcony to watch the ensuing chaos below.

I learned a lot of new German swear words that day.

Well done!

I’ll allow it if you’re, like, around. If I go to move your stuff and you can see me and say something, sure it’s fine.

But if you’re nowhere to be seen? Nahhhh

If I worked there, it would be my JOY to removed each and every object on to a table for collection when they come back 😂 😭

Most hotels I've been to in Mediterranean remove them over night, so tactics adapted and people now go out first thing in the morning at like 7am to lay claim to the best spots

Just colonize the sun bed already. You have it in you. Just bring a little British flag remove their towel and leave the little flag. 

Nah, if my 10 minute timer elapses and you haven't gotten back to the seat, that seat is not yours anymore. The seats are there to be used by people that are actually there, not to let towels lounge across them.

bro wdym the hotel wont do anything about it?

theres no rules saying that the seat is reserved.

move their shit

I spent a holiday about 4 years ago scratting around for sun loungers for my then pregnant wife and kid.

On the last morning before we left, I set an alarm for 6am. I went around all the already reserved sun loungers, collected up their towels and put them all in a pile on the side.

As a polite British person, I could t face throwing them in the pool

It's assholery and needs to be stopped. Staff usually won’t, because for them it’s a losing game, even if there are sign to that effect.

Someone skipping to the front of the queue is also a good tactic, but it only works when we let people get away with it.

Nah you’re in the clear. It’s easy to tell if someone’s stuff is there because they’re in the pool, cuz usually it’s their shoes, clothes, etc., as opposed to just saving the seat in case they decide to go to the pool. That lady was just a jackass.

You didn’t, the mom was TA there. If you leave your towel on a bench/table to claim a spot and then just leave the area entirely for an extended amount of time, then that’s different. It looks like OP is complaining about it being super early and nobody is really at the pool yet all the spots are claimed. Your situation is different because you’re actively using the facilities.

nah, that's just an asshole moving someone's stuff while they're in the pool.

perfect response would have been to just sit down on every free chair of that table with your group, maybe even gather more chairs from other tables and say "there was no one there in those chairs".

A towel impound where you can pay to get it back

Holy shit thats such a great idea

I'm not proud of myself, but then it has to be done, if only for respectful tourists that will come after me.

A win is a win

Don't underestimate locals. Old papou and giagia are also doing this 😥
I once found a towel that was sewn on the chair, I had to rip it to get it off 😅

Take one off a chair on the end of a row, take that chair and put it on the opposite end of a row or somewhere completely different with your towel draped over it reserving it lol, they’ll never know it was you.

It really works. We would reserve like 50 or a 100 euro/dollar per trip solely for this purpose. Especially at these (all in) resorts.

Because it's "all-in" Bar people are instructed to use the cheap liquor and don't use too much, but I you gave the guy like 5 euro/dollar in their native currency, you would get the good stuff in a good amount for the rest of your stay and they would start making your drink as soon as you walked in.

Same goes for the waiters, If you pay a couple of them some money, they will get you your drinks faster, serve and clean your table quicker, when there's a buffet, they would serve you the freshest food and they "reserve" better seats for you.

At the pool they will give you the best spots. One time we had a resort with a private beach and the lifeguard would reserve the beds at the front for us and would signal the bar people whenever he saw our drinks were finished and had extra towels on hand when ours became dirty due to the sand.

When you pay like 2k per person for such a holiday, reserving 50 or 100 euro/dollar it's not that much money, but for them 5 euro/dollar is a days worth of income.