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CRAFTY HOLIDAY COMPANY Thomas Cook is launching a pre-booking sunbed scheme in some of its hotels.
Apparently this will put a stop to people rushing down early to the pool to bag themselves a lounger before the sun is almost up.
Have you ever, in your life, made a special effort to get up early to go bag a sun lounger while on holiday?
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Went on holiday a few years ago when younger and before being married to Spain- -we were on the ground floor and loads of Germans in the same complex
Every night went out with my girlfriend (now wife!). Came back in the wee hours and when we went out in the morning to the pool, every sunbed was taken
Next few mornings, set the alarm earlier and earlier but still when we went out all beds were taken — -same people every day near enough on the same beds
Towards the end of our stay, went out for a few pints and came back to hotel around 5 in the morning and saw a few German folks with stacks of towels, placing them on every bed (talked to a few non Germans and looks like that group had a rota going for placing towels on all the sunbeds )
I said feck that. Next night came back and dragged a few sunbeds into our balcony’s – -great to see the faces when we woke up around noon and just dragged a few of those beds from our balcony to the pool – -wa*&*(ers
@Daniel O’Leary: I knew a guy whose entire idea of holiday fun was dumping all the towels in the pool and then getting up early for an espresso and a read of the papers at a nearby café, as he watched the Germans having a kiniption.
@Daniel O’Leary: Das is very very gut ja !
Being typically Irish we don’t even get to the pool until around 12:00. By then most of the beds are gone. Its a cliché but the Germans are up at dawn to bag a bed. I was in Gran Canaria once in a hotel with huge pools and loads of sunbeds but they were always bagged by the Germans who would put their towels down and then head off for the day. A Belgium guy told me that sometimes they would select two beds each in different locations so they would have beds in the sun all day. Very sneaky. I did have a moment of satisfaction once. We had an early morning flight and were up at 06:00. We could see this German oul lad up putting his towels down. 15 minutes later it started lashing rain. Karma!
I can’t understand why people don’t just pull the towels off and take the seat if it’s clear that it has been grabbed for later. I’m not a fan of lying by the pool but when I did the hotels usually had a sign about towels and reservations being not acceptable.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: I wouldn’t like to start the lounger war with Germans, especially on holiday ;)
@Pierre Lecake: Do they use German coloured towels or fly German flags or how do you tell?
@Pierre Lecake: Throw the towel off and sit down. If he mouths off, tell him you don’t speak German or know what he’s talking about. Pfft, it’s like Poland again but with towels.
I don’t do packages but I have stayed in hotels that suffer from sun loungers being reserved. I’ve found the best approach is to grab a drink at the bar and watch for a pair that aren’t attended for 30 mins or so, then turf the towels off and move the loungers to a slightly different location. Nobody says boo and when the elderly german couple return from their lunch they haven’t a clue where the loungers even are, let alone who’s nicked them.
@Guy Incognito: I have been known to toss off a towel when the lounger has been vacant for hours. I was in Lanzarote with my family, kids very young and I was pregnant with my youngest. I couldn’t find a sun bed so looked around tossed off some towels and plonked myself down. Along came the owners of the tossed towels who glared at me but didn’t say a dickie bird as I patted my swollen belly and glared back. And they were English and Irish and I knew one of them vaguely . Not a German in sight. So it’s not all the fault of the Germans
@Guy Incognito: that’s genius. Don’t know why we didn’t do that. All the loungers were taken by 9am and mostly lay empty for the day. Second weeks holidays just set the clock for 5am and took it in turns to go down and get loungers.ridiculous.
one time arriving back at 6 AM we saw all the sunbeds had towels . Threw them all in the pool before heading for the leaba
Much prefer to get out and about than lounge all day.
That’s what kids are for..
@David Dineen: noooloooooooooo
Fair Skinned – head off to sunny climes and sit out in the full sun all day.
Above is a recipe for skin cancer.
Journal polls are getting more absurd by the day.
I am not German so no.
No, not really. Usually head to the pool between 9 and 10 am.
Did go to one place in Italy where we had to pay for loungers. There were always plenty available as not too many willing to pay. Also it was only for 3 hours as the pools close during siesta.
As the kids get older I find less and less time is spent by the pool. It’s either soccer or exploring.
I always get up at the crack of dawn and jump into the pool for a slash.
Only jump in the pool when the days exploring is done. Why waste a good morning lounging when I could be either finding an interesting market or getting lost in the next town over because I miscalculated how many roads it would take to get to where I wanted to go.
If there were sun loungers around Cavan they would have been taken ages ago.
JA IMMER!
Fuerteventura last year people were putting them out on the loungers the night before, selfish idiots. I’m not one for lying around the pool all day as i like to get out and explore with the fsmily so it doesn’t really affect me but it is a very selfish thing to do and it’s not just the German’s at it, the place i mentioned above had mainly British guests.
Ja! I do it all ze time, Ve must get zem before the Pixie Heads can throw up on zem
Hard to compete against the French and Germans because they don’t spend money at the bar and are in bed before everyone else. Also the French are without doubt the most ignorant race on this planet. Just saying.
@Paul: I got French neighbours who dont think the rules of the apartment block apply to them. Know what you mean.
@Dave O’Hanlon: have yet to meet a civil French person. They walk right through you as well. Total @ssholes
Sounds like a life and death decision !
@Johnny Mason: ur an idiot
@Darren Farrell: Sarcasm isn’t your thing I see, maybe too much sun it does that to small brains !
Always leave the Germans to it
No . But I have opened up the unopened end of a batch loaf to get the last Heel .. Hangs my head in shame. !
My ideal of hell. Laying in the sun all day, packed in like sardines
What’s up with you people and your sun loungers, God help me, I am freezing here, hold on, I have to go and get another bit of coal.
Brits and Germans always get there first
Package holidays must die.
Haha this made me laugh, as soon as one of us wakes up we leg it down before the good ones are gone!
Those pesky Germans.
I said because I have tried and failed miserably to get there on time
Just get a bunch of stickers made before you go on the hols. German “symbol” from the 1930s/40s if you get my drift. Stick them on the towel-covered chairs when you’re coming home from the boozer. Will be like kryptonite to the jerries. They won’t dare sit on these chairs. You’re welcome.
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