I can recall going on a cruise a few years ago with my family and frankly not looking forward to it for a few reasons. The main one was that you had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting a deck chair. I saw firsthand that people actually woke up at 5:00am to get the best spots on the boat. Next to the pool, bar, or wherever else they deemed as “the spot”.
A number of you have probably heard me tell the story that I actually got into a heated discussion with a woman from New York regarding saving chairs. It got so ridiculous that I watched someone toss someone else’s stuff in the garbage to make a point.
Well help is on the way. Hotels have noticed this as well and no doubt have been paying attention to customer surveys and now will be changing the rules.
In a recent article about resorts cracking down on chair hogs at pools, the Wall Street Journal had this to say:
Resort hotels are cracking down on chair hogs — those vacationers who claim prime spots early in the morning and then don’t show up again until after noon. Many hotels now enforce time limits on unoccupied chairs by removing and storing personal items.
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The battle over chairs — mostly at the pool — has become so extreme that hotels say they have no other choice.
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“We have 1,800 pool chairs at the hotel, but everyone wants the same 200,” says Matthew Hart, general manager of the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui. “It got to be refereeing adults.”
Who’s doing what:
- Guests at Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands who leave their tiki huts for more than an hour during holidays will lose them.
- If you disappear for more than an hour at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, Ariz., the chair is given to someone else, and you go to the back of the queue.
- And a new sign at the Peninsula in Bangkok, Thailand, instructs guests that items will be removed if left unattended for 15 minutes.
The Westin Maui has started sending attendants to tag chairs left unoccupied. Once tagged, the attendant waits half an hour, and if the guests have not returned, the belongings are bagged and kept at the towel desk for pickup.
Does this story sound familiar? Has this happened to you?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Matt Gershner says:
Marriott’s timeshares in Aruba has a unique tilt to this: half of the huts on the beach are available for reservation (paid) and half are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Pat Savolt says:
I have encountered this problem at the all inclusive Sun Palace in Cancun on 2 separate occasions. On our first visit, at 7:00 am (the first morning of our vacation), when my husband and I went for a walk on the beach 80%+ of the chairs had a towels on them. The first time I was shocked, and couldn’t believe people on vacation rose so early to save a chair. Needless to say by 9:30 there no chairs to be had. We ended up each day going by bus to the Cancun Palace (a sister hotel we had access to that was less than a 10 min. bus ride). We went back 2 years later, thinking this could not happen again. This time it was worse, we could never find a chair at any time of the day. Again, we went to the beach at the Cancun Palace. The second time I wrote a letter to the Sun Palace and relayed the fact that there were insufficient chairs for their guests. They said they had no idea such a problem existed and they were going to look into it immediately and promised me it would be remedied. That was 3 years ago. Haven’t been back since, but I am sure the problem still does exist. By the way, on our first visit, the one time we were lucky enough to get chairs at the Sun, we went for a quick lunch (gone 20 minutes tops) and when we returned our chairs were taken with our stuff thrown on the ground!
Zac says:
Thailand has a similar system, you can rent huts right on the beach for less than £5 a day, brilliant!