Book a sunbed?

Do you have to provide your own beach towel?

That would cost a lot for a family of 4. I may do it for myself but not if I was part of a family.

No I wouldn't pay, if we are having a 'pool' day while on holiday one of us gets up early to bagsy some beds together but we are often on a site seeing trip or prefer to go to the beach to swim in the ocean.

I'm not sure about this really. If it was just DH and me, we possibly might do it, even though we tend to prefer getting out and about and seeing the surrounding countryside. We often hire a car for a few days, depending on where we are of course. We certainly didn't want to take to the roads in Turkey or Egypt - the local drivers scared us both witless!
The thing is, if pre-booking of sunbeds becomes the norm, then on the days when anyone does want to just lounge by the pool they could well find that no sunbeds are available, no matter how early they get up to 'bag' them.

I find this so ridiculous and completely selfish. There will be people booking sunbeds that they won't use every day when there are people wanting to use them who wont be-able to.

I don't go on holiday very often but have witnessed towels being placed on beds at dawn with no-one using them until late afternoon.

Someone on BBC Breakfast [I think it was] suggested people on holiday go to the nearest supermarket and buy their own - it would be cheaper! And they could use it when they wanted or keep it in their room.

like the buy your own idea, wonder if hotels would then introduce a charge rather like corkage? . You could always sell your sun bed to new arrivals on your last day. Seriously I think it’s a way to extract more money and wonder what people from other holiday companies or of other nationalities staying in the hotel would make of it. Unless it’s just in hotels for Thomas Cook guests only.

I can see thousands of holiday makers in airports with sunbeds and brollies under their arms . goldengirl

No I would not pay- as I spend very little time by pool.
Many countries do charge, like Italy- so much for sunbed, so much per umbrella, so much per table- etc- a lot more than £22 for 1 week.

I wonder how they will ensure that no-one else uses 'your" sun bed? Will they need photo ID? What if you go off for lunch and someone sneaks an hour do you get a refund? Does anyone really want to spend every day on a sun bed in the same place surrounded by the same people? My idea of hell!

We're off on holiday soon and our hotel is a 5 minute walk from the beach - I've read that we can pay for umbrellas on the beach or borrow them for free from reception, so we'll definitely be walking round with ours under our arms, gillybob!

Surely hotels have sun beds to provide for ALL their customers so I would think it would make life very difficult for the hotel.

No, you can have a bed, you can't . He paid, yours is free , have the last laugh. The hotel would have to charge for all to hire a sun bed surely and that would go down like a brick with most customers.

I loathe people who put towels on sun beds and then don’t use them for hours and hours whilst those who ARE at the pool can’t find a seat.

I certainly wouldn’t pay . It’s just another profit making game . I agree POGS , I’d like to see how this would work in practice .

Agreed, one family from UK at the same place as us in North Tenerife a few years back, would send the kids to put towels on 8 sunbeds, every day (they were 5- go figure...) then go off for the day. On second day, I removed the extra 3 and put the stuff on the other beds! Taking the mick!

As said again, in many countries, like Italy- the Hôtels charge for the sunbeds, umbrellas, etc, on their own beach, for their own customers- as extras. Italians find it totally normal.

We used to go to Marina di Pietrasanta in Italy where the beach sunbeds had to be booked but they swept the beach in the evening

I have been to hotels, where there are clear notices "do not leave towels on sun loungers when you are no longer using them" loads flout that directive, it's very selfish "I'm alright Jack pull up the ladder" mentality

One of the cruise lines has resolved this. I think it was the Discovery Tui. A Thomson’s ship. If staff noticed a subbed “booked” with a towel they put a wee ticket on it with the time. They theory was that they would look again after 40 minutes and if there was still no one there they would remove towel and any belongings and give them to reception. Amazingly I didn’t ever see them having to do that. The threat of it seemed to be enough. There were always sunbeds available for everyone. Worked a treat. ???

It could be a recruitment opportunity - they will need sunbed police - maybe they will hand out tickets, or clamp your sunbed.

I'm afraid if there was no sun bed available and I wanted one, after 30 mins of vacancy I would simply move the towel and take up residency - after all ownership is 9/10ths of the law :-)

Like coast35 we have been on cruises where they specify a time limit, I think it was half an hour, enough time to use the loo ! It seemed to work well , we were told in advance that items left longer would be removed so nobody could complain .

A hotel I stayed at in Tenerife had a similar policy to that experienced by coast and Mauriherb. I saw staff removing towels from sunbeds on several occasions. One time I was on a sunbed when the people returned (having been away for most of the morning) and I had to direct them towards the hut where the attendants were to claim their belongings!