Anonymous wrote:I pay the pool boy to save them for me so that no one can take them. You'd be amazed at how far a few dollars goes.

This

I like the tipping idea. If you are that "special", you need to pay for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who leave just a towel thrown over a chair and then leave for hours?
Like 6-10 chairs for their group.

I take their spots if they are only seats available.

Well aren't you just a peach. Bless your little heart.

You're kidding, right? Some people come out early in the morning, dump towels on however many chairs they want to "reserve" for the day, then go in for breakfast, down to the beach for an hour, back to the pool, leave towels on the chairs while they go to lunch, etc. In what universe should they not be called out for this when other people have no chairs?

+1

One chair to put your stuff, maybe. A bunch? No way.

Local pool once had my stuff on it, guest of someone actually took it (It was one chair, not a bunch). Bad idea.

Yikes. This does not make me want to go to a resort.

Sometimes it's like the opposite problem, people leave for the day and just place their towels on their chairs instead of in the hamper, etc. by the towel attendant. So no one knows if they're ever coming back or if the chairs are free. So people get too scared to move the used towels.

Many resorts have staff that you "tip" to get a spot. They put towels out everywhere so you can't get a seat without tipping.

It's super obnoxious. The only thing I have tolerance for is people who are swimming or who are in the bathroom. If you wait long enough that you're sure that's not what's happening, just move the stuff.

They're taking a risk that nobody will move their stuff when they leave it there. You're taking a risk that you won't get kicked out of the hotel on the chance that they find out that it was you who moved the stuff. I'm not a betting girl, but I'd take those odds.

We travel to a lot of islands so this happens to us all of the time. And yes, the Germans are the absolute worst. I have seen more hotels put signs up and yes, like an earlier poster said, it does help to tip the pool guy a few bucks.

Once when I was staying at the glam Delano in South Beach, all of the chairs were reserved even though it was raining. They had some sort of scam going on. When I returned home, I wrote to the CEO and attached the picture of all of the empty chairs where the pool guy had said they were "all reserved". I got 2 free nights for a return visit and be assured we had chairs reserved for us.

It pays to speak up (in a nice way)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who leave just a towel thrown over a chair and then leave for hours?
Like 6-10 chairs for their group.

I take their spots if they are only seats available.

Well aren't you just a peach. Bless your little heart.

I do, too.
I don't go to fancy resorts, but at our local neighborhood pool people do the towel toss thing on chairs and entire tables and leave for an hour to swim.
If there are no other tables, I just invite myself to join.
This is not the same as the movie seats obviously, but I don't mind inviting myself to share. Likewise, I always offer people who are looking for seats to share my table. It works both ways.

Um, if they are in the pool they are still there. You think a person is supposed to remove their towel and belongings from the lounge chair/chair/table that they are sitting at every time they get up to go for a swim? No way.

I think what folks are referring to are the people who come to the pool at 8am, stay for 30 minutes and then leave to go (? sight seeing? brunch? back to bed?) leaving behind their stuff to "save" their spot until they get back. In that situation, I would move the items.

The beach is a little different. People get up early, go out and stake their claim to a spot on the sand with their own chairs/umbrellas/towels. And then they leave their stuff there all day while they come and go from the spot. As long as they aren't taking up a huge amount of space, moving their stuff in that situation would be very rude, IMO.

Anonymous wrote:This is a problem at high end places like Ritz Grand Cayman, Four Seasons Nevis, etc.
We have four kids and we aren't early risers so we have to pay the pool attendants to save seats for us. When we arrive, they always have the lamest things on the chair like a teeny shovel or an old newspaper. They aren't even trying to make the chairs look used. I'm convinced it's a lucrative side business for the pool staff

I've never had this problem at a Ritz. If you tell a pool attendant, they'll go get you a chair.

We were at the Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos last fall. I saw people doing this around the main pool. They'd go get coffee or whatever and toss their stuff on chairs first thing in the morning. Who knows when they'd be back. I think that's super tacky and rude.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who leave just a towel thrown over a chair and then leave for hours?
Like 6-10 chairs for their group.

I take their spots if they are only seats available.

Well aren't you just a peach. Bless your little heart.

I do, too.
I don't go to fancy resorts, but at our local neighborhood pool people do the towel toss thing on chairs and entire tables and leave for an hour to swim.
If there are no other tables, I just invite myself to join.
This is not the same as the movie seats obviously, but I don't mind inviting myself to share. Likewise, I always offer people who are looking for seats to share my table. It works both ways.

I've never thought to do this before but will start. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a good human and

Anonymous wrote:Don't be German. Or British. Just don't.

British person here. Don't lump us with the Germans. The Germans are notorious for this. I've never heard it claimed as a British trait!

I just got back from a fancy resort in the caribean and everyone was saving chairs. We had to get to the pool or beach early (before breakfast) to put stuff down on chairs just to get near an umbrella or the pool. Everyone was doing this.

Anonymous wrote:We quit Northwest Branch Pool because the asshole members pulled this move too many times.

Suburban pools, too - one chair! How pathetic.