"Saving" lounge chairs at a beach or pool

[Free bird]

Do grocery stores ever run out of shopping carts? Not likely. Are you entitled to a shopping cart at the grocery store? No. Providing a cart is good for business. The grocery store doesn't have your money yet. The resort & the cruise ships get your money up front. Good luck getting even a portion of your money back because you couldn't find a pool chair.

 

[NW-Bound]

Cruise ships have plenty of chairs on decks. The scarcity is only around the pool, since it is necessarily small. Even a land resort pool area has to be limited to allow room for lawn. And then, some spots may be more desirable than others.

We never stay around the pool when taking a cruise. Too rowdy, and the music is often too loud for our taste. We have no problem finding lounging chairs away from the crowd.

 

[Free bird]

Ok does anyone have a problem with shade hogs?

 

[JustCurious]

You don't own the common area amenities. The corporation owns all the resources & property. You own whatever you brought with you.

I agree. It is the beach chair hoarders who think they own the chair just because they put their towel on it...then they start referring to it as "our chair." News Flash... it wasn't your chair before you put your towel on it, and it's not your chair after.

 

[Free bird]

I think vacations can be therapeutic but also a recipe for disaster. Some people like overcrowded venues. I don't. Being overwhelmed on vacation defeats the whole purpose. Paradise is so crowded these days.

 

[audreyh1]

A lot of folks enjoy these mass produced vacations because they can be inexpensive, and it requires very little planning if you head to a specific resort destination or cruise.

But it certainly doesn't represent the universe of travel. Nice venues with some privacy can be found. It might cost a bit more...

 

[Free bird]

Stack em deep sell em cheap. If I can't do it right I won't do it at all.

 

[NW-Bound]

But it certainly doesn't represent the universe of travel. Nice venues with some privacy can be found. It might cost a bit more...

Or it may just be off the beaten path.

The issue is that many vacationers like rowdy and crowded places. They may complain about it, but they do not want go to more quiet locations.

 

[audreyh1]

This past trip to Hawaii we were in an extremely popular beach destination area - not surprising as it's extremely scenic with nice weather and great beaches/ocean front. Lots of resorts. But the places we stayed at were quiet and secluded. Of course we were too busy snorkeling to do any beach sitting. And the best lounge chairs were on our own lanai with a great view so we didn't have to worry about "reserving" anything.

It's a commons problem. [As in tragedy of the commons]

 

[NW-Bound]

You went to Maui, as I remember. Maui does not have any beach as busy and crowded as in Oahu, such as Waikiki, Turtle Bay, or Waimea. And even these are nowhere as bad as some beaches in Europe that I have only seen photos of.

The one we stayed in Maui had its own little beach. Not a single swimmer there. We did not go in either, as we were going on a snorkeling trip later.

PS. Malibu Beach and Fort Lauderdale are awful too. Great for youngsters to ogle each other, but I did not mingle with the crowd even when I was young, so certainly not now.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We found what we thought was a nice, secluded beach once in Hawaii, but oddly there were all these helicopters with SWAT type people inside buzzing overhead and police everywhere. We didn't understand why at the time, but later in the hotel room on the news we saw the president and his family were vacationing nearby.

 

[audreyh1]

You went to Maui, as I remember. Maui does not have any beach as busy and crowded as in Oahu, such as Waikiki, Turtle Bay, or Waimea. And even these are nowhere as bad as some beaches in Europe that I have only seen photos of.

The one we stayed in Maui had its own little beach. Not a single swimmer there. We did not go in either, as we were going on a snorkeling trip later.

PS. Malibu Beach and Fort Lauderdale are awful too. Great for youngsters to ogle each other, but I did not mingle with the crowd even when I was young, so certainly not now.

But there were several high rise hotel/condos down the beach from us and we walked through a couple (beach boardwalk) that had numerous rows of lounge chairs surrounding the pools - pretty full by mid day. It was a very busy area. Nice to stay there yet not be aware of the crowding unless you drove somewhere or walked past the huge resorts.

Waikiki? I don't see the point.

 

[NW-Bound]

A lot of first-time visitors to Hawaii stay in Waikiki. It's eponymous of Hawaii. In our 1st trip to Hawaii 30 years ago, of course we had to stay in Waikiki. I have since come back once.

In Maui, we stayed further north of Ka'anapali, which has a group of hotels and resorts. Our area was quiet and surrounded by residential homes, and did not have the restaurant choices like in Ka'anapali, so we did have to go there to eat with the crowd. It's OK to go into touristy areas, and look at the shops, stands selling knick-knacks. I am a tourist too.

We had the choice to stay south, in Wailea. This, I later found out, appeared very quiet, perhaps too quiet. When I travel, I like something a bit less quiet than my high-country home. It's for a change of scenery.

 

[NW-Bound]

Even my 2nd visit to Waikiki was 20 years ago. I wonder how it has changed since.

My recent visit to Maui was just last year. My 1st visit to Maui was almost 30 years ago. I hardly recognized the place. The group of hotels at Ka'anapali did not exist then, nor did the boardwalk. I could not locate the hotel I stayed in. It must have been demolished. Tried to find the old restaurant we ate in Lahaina. It was right on the water. Could not find it either. A bit sad because I wanted to relive the old visit with my dear wife. She barely remembered that dinner. Why am I the only one with "superior memory"?

 

[Revlefty]

We found what we thought was a nice, secluded beach once in Hawaii, but oddly there were all these helicopters with SWAT type people inside buzzing overhead and police everywhere. We didn't understand why at the time, but later in the hotel room on the news we saw the president and his family were vacationing nearby.

I bet they had no problem getting a beach chair! One of those guys in the dark glasses probably just "found" chairs that were suddenly available.

 

[Danmar]

?........ We drank a lot, but tipped our waiter well, even though tips were supposedly included in the all-inclusive fee. As we were leaving the beach at the end of the day, we mentioned to our waiter that we would see him tomorrow. Next day (and for the rest of the week after that), our waiter rushed to greet us when we came back done to the beach and escorted us to a group of chairs he had set up and saved for us in a very prime shady location. We tipped him even better after that. Money well spent.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Yes, agree. We have found that tipping waiters or pool staff well, tends to diffuse most of these kinds of issues very quickly.

Here's another example of this type of behaviour.

Fitness club, busy time, all equipment in use save one stationary bike. A guy comes in in his suit and puts a towel over the one remaining stationary bike. Then goes into the change room to put his workout clothes on. Takes about 10 minutes, whereby he comes back to the bike. Somebody has removed the towel and is peddling away. Verbal altercation ensues. I am on the adjacent bike and greatly entertained.
"Saving" equipment not acceptable in my view and the remover was congratulated by me. I would have done the same in this case.

 

[redduck]

...Are you actually entitled to a chair or lounger at a resort or on a cruise ship? You don't own the common area amenities. The corporation owns all the resources & property. You own whatever you brought with you....At a resort your entitled to your room. Fighting over a chair that belongs to a corporation is mind boggling.

Yes, you are correct that a guest doesn't own the common area amenities--but, I would think that the guest in entitled to use them in a way a reasonable person might expect to use them. And, maybe you own whatever you brought with you or maybe you don't. For instance, you may have borrowed something to take on the trip (e.g. a suitcase, a sunhat, a vibrator, etc.), so you don't actually own those items.

I would think that a guest is entitled to more than the room that he is paying for. If you look at the hotel's brochures (took me three tries to spell that correctly), hotels are selling relaxation by the pool area and people will fly 3000 miles (or whatever) to do just that--relax in a chaise lounge by the pool. This expectation is fostered by the hotel's brochures. Perhaps not owning something doesn't mean that you are not entitled to it.

 

[JustCurious]

Yes, you are correct that a guest doesn't own the common area amenities--but, I would think that the guest in entitled to use them in a way a reasonable person might expect to use them.

I agree, so this issue boils down to this... is it reasonable for a guest to put their towel or personal items on a beach chair in a common area and leave the chair for an extended period of time and expect that no one else is allowed to use that chair when there are not enough chairs to go around and other people have no chairs to use? I say no, it is not reasonable and it is rude. And so far the people responding to the poll agree with me by almost a 4-1 margin.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I agree, so this issue boils down to this... is it reasonable for a guest to put their towel or personal items on a beach chair in a common area and leave the chair for an extended period of time and expect that no one else is allowed to use that chair when there are not enough chairs to go around and other people have no chairs to use? I say no, it is not reasonable.

can't argue with that

 

[JustCurious]

can't argue with that

So the only thing about which we disagree is whether it is appropriate for me to remove their personal stuff and use the chair? What if they put only a hotel towel on the chair, is it appropriate for me to remove that?

What if I notify the hotel management, and their response is "we have no policy on that" and they do nothing? What if I attempt to notify the hotel staff but no one is around and I can't get anyone to respond to my attempts to get a response? What if the pool attendant says he has to go ask his manager and leaves and doesn't come back? If your response is then I just have to accept it, we respectfully disagree because I don't think I have to accept the rudeness of the chair hoarder simply because of the lack of response from the hotel staff.

 

[CaliKid]

So the only thing about which we disagree is whether it is appropriate for me to remove their personal stuff and use the chair? What if they put only a hotel towel on the chair, is it appropriate for me to remove that?

What if I notify the hotel management, and their response is "we have no policy on that" and they do nothing? What if I attempt to notify the hotel staff but no one is around and I can't get anyone to respond to my attempts to get a response? What if the pool attendant says he has to go ask his manager and leaves and doesn't come back? If your response is then I just have to accept it, we respectfully disagree because I don't think I have to accept the rudeness of the chair hoarder simply because of the lack of response from the hotel staff.

At least you acknowledge the main issue. Of course it's rude to save a chair for an extended period of time. That's not much of a question. The question is whether YOU should move someone's PERSONAL stuff. I think the results of that poll would be against you but I could be wrong.

You bring up a good point of what to do if hotel won't take action. However, in my experiences, the hotel will take action. As demonstrated by a few of the responses on this thread you could put yourself in harms way by moving their personal stuff.

Also, if you stay at a hotel where they charge you for beach chairs for the day then you really do "own" it for the day. I have found that to be worth the $50/day +/-. Then you come and go as you please with no risk of someone intruding on YOUR space.

 

[Big_Hitter]

So the only thing about which we disagree is whether it is appropriate for me to remove their personal stuff and use the chair? What if they put only a hotel towel on the chair, is it appropriate for me to remove that?

What if I notify the hotel management, and their response is "we have no policy on that" and they do nothing? What if I attempt to notify the hotel staff but no one is around and I can't get anyone to respond to my attempts to get a response? What if the pool attendant says he has to go ask his manager and leaves and doesn't come back? If your response is then I just have to accept it, we respectfully disagree because I don't think I have to accept the rudeness of the chair hoarder simply because of the lack of response from the hotel staff.

moving a hotel towel is okay, touching someone else's stuff is OB (i.e. yankee move)

just get out there earlier next time - this is an ER forum - no sleeping in!

 

[CaliKid]

Fitness club, busy time, all equipment in use save one stationary bike. A guy comes in in his suit and puts a towel over the one remaining stationary bike. Then goes into the change room to put his workout clothes on. Takes about 10 minutes, whereby he comes back to the bike. Somebody has removed the towel and is peddling away. Verbal altercation ensues. I am on the adjacent bike and greatly entertained.
"Saving" equipment not acceptable in my view and the remover was congratulated by me. I would have done the same in this case.

That's a good twist on this thread. It is slightly different than beach chairs but why!? I don't know the answer. I am a gym freak and most gyms I have visited over the years have posted signs and/or written policies specifying 30 minute time limit when people are waiting. Unfortunately they usually do not specify you can't save a bike for some period of time. I would say the possibility of that ending up in a fight is great. It's definitely bad form, in a gym setting, to save a bike for 10 minutes. It's a limited use item to begin with so to hold one for 10 minutes is clearly wrong. I am a creature of habit guy. I go to the gym at the same time every day. I see the same people. If someone did that everyday, and people were waiting for equipment, they would be an outcast.

 

[CaliKid]

moving a hotel towel is okay, touching someone else's stuff is OB (i.e. yankee move)

just get out there earlier next time - this is an ER forum - no sleeping in!

I am generally with you in this thread. However, where on earth is "yankee move" defined? I want to make sure I don't commit such a move.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I am generally with you in this thread. However, where on earth is "yankee move" defined? I want to make sure I don't commit such a move.

it's a term of derision we use in Texas - it basically means someone from up north that's rude

1)Yankee-Someone who was born and still lives in the north.
2)Damn Yankee- Someone born in the north who moves to the south with intentions on moving back up north.
3)GD Yankee- Someone born in the north who moves to the south with intentions of staying in the south.