JustCurious
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,396
My SO and I were staying at a hotel directly on a beach, and the hotel provided lounge chairs for guests on the beach directly in front of the hotel. You can walk directly onto the beach from the pool area, and the the lounge chairs are kept on the beach but they are stacked up every night after sundown and locked together with a cable so that you cannot remove any of them. Sometime in the morning after sun-up, they unlock them and guests are then allowed to use them and place them anywhere on the beach area in front of the hotel.
It seems that the number of available beach lounge chairs is less than the total number of guests, so they are in high demand, especially during the first half of the day until people start to leave the beach in the afternoon. So some people get up early in the morning as soon as the chairs are unlocked and "save" chairs by moving a couple of chairs to a designated area of the beach and putting a towel or some of their stuff on and around the chairs to make it appear as if they are using the chairs, and then they go back to the hotel and do whatever...take a nap, have breakfast, go shopping...and then come back sometime later, possible midday to use the chairs.
So my SO and I did not "save" any chairs and we go to the beach for the first time sometime around midday and all of the hotel lounge chairs are either occupied, or they have towels or other stuff in and around them to make it appear as if they are occupied. Of course I was aware that some people "save" chairs, but it was also possible that people could be in the water or taking a walk on the beach and coming right back, so the only way to know is to watch for a while. So I started watching, and I focused on two chairs that seemed suspiciously inactive and it did not appear that anyone was using them or nearby, and after a while I decided to remove the stuff (towels, a beach bag) and put them on the sand next to the chairs and move the chairs to a different nearby location and use them for us.
I'm sure you know where this story is going... so we are using the lounge chairs and enjoying the beach, and after a while, maybe 30-60 minutes, a couple walk from the hotel to the beach (they had clearly left the beach and left the hotel property to go get something to eat and they were returning to the beach, they told us that they "went out to get a bite to eat") and walk up to us and start saying to us "You took our chairs!" (Apparently they followed the trail in the sand caused by me dragging the chairs) I responded "These are our chairs." They said "No, these are our chairs, we had our stuff on them, and we went for a bite to eat." I responded "Is your name on these chairs?" They said "We are guests at the hotel, and we had our stuff on these chairs" and I responded "We are guests at the hotel too and our stuff is on the chairs now." Needless to say they were not happy and stormed off...they ended up going back to the hotel and they returned with their own fold up chairs (they must have been in their car). It was obvious that they were not happy with us and they kept pointing at us, and at one point the female of the couple walked by and said "Karma is a [b-word]."
So I am curious...what do you think about this? It seems to me that there are two sides to this and different people have different opinions. Do you think that people should have the right to “save” lounge chairs at a beach or a pool by putting towels or other stuff on the chairs for an indefinite period of time, and leave the beach or pool area and come back later and expect no one else to use them?
I want to be clear that there was no extra charge to use the lounge chairs, they were openly provided for guest use, and there was no way to reserve the lounge chairs. I also want to be clear that the couple had left the beach and had left the hotel property to go out to eat before returning to the beach. Had they been gone for a long walk on the beach and walked back to the chairs from the beach I would be more sympathetic to them.
It seems that the number of available beach lounge chairs is less than the total number of guests, so they are in high demand, especially during the first half of the day until people start to leave the beach in the afternoon. So some people get up early in the morning as soon as the chairs are unlocked and "save" chairs by moving a couple of chairs to a designated area of the beach and putting a towel or some of their stuff on and around the chairs to make it appear as if they are using the chairs, and then they go back to the hotel and do whatever...take a nap, have breakfast, go shopping...and then come back sometime later, possible midday to use the chairs.
So my SO and I did not "save" any chairs and we go to the beach for the first time sometime around midday and all of the hotel lounge chairs are either occupied, or they have towels or other stuff in and around them to make it appear as if they are occupied. Of course I was aware that some people "save" chairs, but it was also possible that people could be in the water or taking a walk on the beach and coming right back, so the only way to know is to watch for a while. So I started watching, and I focused on two chairs that seemed suspiciously inactive and it did not appear that anyone was using them or nearby, and after a while I decided to remove the stuff (towels, a beach bag) and put them on the sand next to the chairs and move the chairs to a different nearby location and use them for us.
I'm sure you know where this story is going... so we are using the lounge chairs and enjoying the beach, and after a while, maybe 30-60 minutes, a couple walk from the hotel to the beach (they had clearly left the beach and left the hotel property to go get something to eat and they were returning to the beach, they told us that they "went out to get a bite to eat") and walk up to us and start saying to us "You took our chairs!" (Apparently they followed the trail in the sand caused by me dragging the chairs) I responded "These are our chairs." They said "No, these are our chairs, we had our stuff on them, and we went for a bite to eat." I responded "Is your name on these chairs?" They said "We are guests at the hotel, and we had our stuff on these chairs" and I responded "We are guests at the hotel too and our stuff is on the chairs now." Needless to say they were not happy and stormed off...they ended up going back to the hotel and they returned with their own fold up chairs (they must have been in their car). It was obvious that they were not happy with us and they kept pointing at us, and at one point the female of the couple walked by and said "Karma is a [b-word]."
So I am curious...what do you think about this? It seems to me that there are two sides to this and different people have different opinions. Do you think that people should have the right to “save” lounge chairs at a beach or a pool by putting towels or other stuff on the chairs for an indefinite period of time, and leave the beach or pool area and come back later and expect no one else to use them?
I want to be clear that there was no extra charge to use the lounge chairs, they were openly provided for guest use, and there was no way to reserve the lounge chairs. I also want to be clear that the couple had left the beach and had left the hotel property to go out to eat before returning to the beach. Had they been gone for a long walk on the beach and walked back to the chairs from the beach I would be more sympathetic to them.
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