A German holidaymaker has successfully sued a tour operator in Greece after the lack of available sun loungers devalued his package holiday due to the dreaded “dawn dash.” The Düsseldorf man, who spent more than £7,000 on a package holiday for four to Kos, won nearly €1,000 (£868) in compensation. He claimed that, despite getting up at 6am, he spent up to 20 minutes a day trying to find sun loungers, only to fail because other holidaymakers had already snagged them ultimately.
Beating the Germans to the sun loungers is a trope as old as package holidays themselves. The frantic early morning scrabble to lay down towels and bags is laid bare in endless TikToks of holidaymakers of all stripes battling for the best spots, sometimes going to the extreme of sleeping on loungers and occasionally resulting in poolside brawls. It’s like a live game of Risk, in which the goal is to conquer Hotel Del Sol in Benidorm rather than taking control of Belarus.
But with mounting pressure on household finances raising expectations for those precious summer escapes, shouldn’t equal access to a sun lounger be a basic holiday right?
The rising tension caused by these towel wars or handtuchkriege, as they’re called in Germany, can ruin a holiday. Each year, there are growing calls for hotels and resorts to crack down on the practice, or at the very least provide a reasonable ratio of sunbeds to guests. Towel confiscation and fines introduced by some resorts and destinations often prove ineffective.
Greece leads the way with extra beds
While a government plan in Greece is gradually removing sunbeds from fragile “Apatites Paralies” (untouchable beaches), some of its island resorts are going in the other direction, in a bid to foster a more relaxing atmosphere around the pool.
Sun loungers on the beach and lawns at the Lyttos Beach Hotel in Crete (Photo: Lyttos Beach Hotel)Lyttos Beach Hotel in Crete has 3,500 sun loungers for just 2,150 guests, spread across its 11 pools and Blue Flag Analipsi beach on Hersonissos Bay – a ratio of 1:6 loungers per guest. As well as an Olympic-size outdoor pool, there are polo, indoor, kids’ and splash pools with flumes. And when you’ve finished lounging next to them, there are tennis and football academies, Padel and pickleball courts and beach courts for volleyball and football. Caspar Nelson, holiday expert at online package holiday specialist On the Beach, said: “Getting a sunbed can sometimes feel more competitive than the Olympics, but at Lyttos Beach, there’s absolutely no need for sunbed wars.” Doubles start at £217 all-inclusive in May.
On the island of Rhodes, the Akti Imperial Deluxe Resort & Spa Dolce by Wyndham has also invested in more poolside furniture with 2,150 sunbeds for its 1,850 guests, in case they don’t fancy exploring the ancient ruins of the Lindos Acropolis. There are also 42,000 m2 of gardens, a main pool with a “no-sunbed-reservation policy” (loungers left unattended for more than 40 minutes have towels or personal items removed by pool staff), a quiet “snail pool,” and a lounger-lined private beach. Doubles start at €178 (£155) all-inclusive in May.
Tech helps stamp out the stampede
Technology is helping combat the towel war, too. Digital reservation systems allow fairer access to sun loungers, eliminating the need to get up for the “dawn dash.”
However, there is potential for this to be an opportunity for hotels to start monetising sun loungers in the way that many upmarket beach clubs do.
Examples include Nikki Beach Dubai and Régence Plage at the Radisson Blu in Nice on the French Riviera, which use booking apps such as MySunbed or BookMySunbed to manage the sun lounger melee, with prices starting at €20 (£17) in Nice and going up to AED1,500 (£300) in Dubai.
At the five-star, adults-only Iberostar Selection Sábila resort in Tenerife, if guests don’t fancy a round of golf or a hike up Mount Teide, they can book a sun lounger for free, via the Iberostar app or reception. However, it has to be claimed by 10.45am. Guest reviews mention this as a highlight. Doubles start at €272 (£236) in May.
Sun loungers line a beach near Venice. Digital reservation systems could help combat the towel war (Photo: StockImages_AT/Getty)Many Eurocamp sites in Europe have introduced a similar reservation system. Netmum’s Joanna Lovell tried it out at the Pra Delle Torri, a family park in Caorle near Venice. Italy has a long tradition of lidos, beach clubs where hundreds of sun loungers line the sand in uniform fashion, which can cost dearly in the most exclusive spots.
However, at Pra Delle Torri, reservations cost €6.50 (£5.60) per day, paid online in advance, while the park’s lodges start at £381 per week in May for up to six guests. “It was brilliant! We could have a lazy morning and arrive at our sunbeds whenever we wanted, knowing no one else would be on them. I wish more places did it as it saves the rush and the worry that you won’t get a sunbed,” said Lovell.
“I’m an organised person, so I was happy to secure these months before. The only downside is that if you’ve not been before, you won’t necessarily know your preferred spot around the pool, so I booked different spots each day for variety.”
An old fashioned approach to booking
For guests at the Olympic Lagoon Resorts in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, pre-booking is not a problem. As an alternative to the ritzy beach clubs on Nissi Beach, the hotel’s poolside towel kiosk issues guests numbered cards for sun loungers and umbrellas on the first day of their holiday, which are valid for the entire stay. Doubles from €346 (£300) all-inclusive in May.
In Paphos – where you can find Roman mosaics and Aphrodite’s Rock – the Alexander The Great Beach Hotel also allocates guests their own personal sun loungers and umbrellas for the duration of their holiday. Doubles start at €315 (£273) B&B in May,
The result of the recent sunbed court case is the beginning of the end of the “dawn dash”. As these trailblazing hotels and resorts show, if you pile on extra loungers, use booking apps, hand out personal tags, and employ the staff to monitor any potential “towel rage” situations, this age-old problem could be consigned to history.
Hence then, the article about i found six hotels that have killed off sunbed wars for good was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I found six hotels that have killed off sunbed wars for good )
Also on site :