Occidental Allegro Playa Dorada-why do people hog the sunloungers??!!!!

abba23 · #1 11-24-2004, 07:52 AM

Hey me and my family came over at the end of August and stayed at the Occidental Allegro in Playa Dorada for 2 weeks. We really enjoyed it.

Can I just say how nice and polite all the Dominican staff were. Whereas many of the German staff who ran the childrens clubs were very rude and arrogant!! They were very rigid with the set up of all the activities. Whereas I got the impression in Dominica that there was a manana attitude which I liked. But the German staff were very rude when telling people to leave the pool or to get out the table tennis area. However they did not ruin my holiday - how could they?!!

The entertainment staff at the hotel really brightened up our holiday. They all had their own little catch phrases and little sayings which just made us laugh!!! They seemed to work really hard to put on a good show!

But I don't think I could have survived without the A/C. I have some family who live in Puerto Plata and we stayed over at theirs a couple of nights and we were really dying and wishing to be back in the hotel with the A/C. Its pathetic isn't?! We are so English!!

And what is it with those people who get up at god knows what time to put their towels on the sunloungers around the pool????!!! I sat round the pool for many hours and saw that many of those sunloungers were left for about 5 hours til anyone came to sit on them!!! Especially the ones in the shade. There was times when my mum really would have appreciated sitting in the shade for a bit but couldn't as all the sunloungers were 'reserved'. It was a joke. People need to get a life and chill out and share the sunloungers!!!!!!

AnnaC · #2 11-24-2004, 11:34 AM

The towel over the sunloungers happens in other Islands as well. One of my sisters that travels every winter to a diffirent Islands has said the same thing. Towels on the chairs at the crack of dawn but no one ever sits in them. May I suggest that the towel be accidentally blown away.

I mean is there a name, personal items on the chair? If not just use it.

KateP · #3 11-24-2004, 11:39 AM

The problem is that there isn't enough shade to go around nor enough lounge chairs. I was there in July and we had to put our towels on chairs at 7am to get some space. The sun is hot down here and when you can't find any shade to sit in, the day can be a bit long... We actually got into an argument with a couple because they ended up pulling their chairs up almost on top of ours to crowd into the bit of shade we weren't using. The girl complained long and loud that she couldn't sit in the sun because of her allergies, but an hour later she had pulled her chair into the sun and was cooking along...

TorontoTourist · #4 11-24-2004, 11:55 AM

Unless there was a name or personal items on any chair, that towel could have been left from the night before, if it was me and no one came back in 10 min, I'm sorry but you paid for that chair too, you can't go to a restaurant and put your coat on a chair in the morning and expect to have it still there at lunch.

And I'd be the first to tell the person when they came back that yes it's now on the floor, and they are the rude, selfish one! Stick up for yourself!

abba23 · #5 11-24-2004, 02:53 PM

well I will let you into a secret! my younger brother was quite annoyed about the towels on the sunloungers aswell and after a night out drinking he passed the pool and a couple of the towels ended up in the pool!! whoops!!!

Me and my mum, as we are more mature, ended up moving the towel and using the lounger till the person came to use it and then we moved to a different one. No harm done!!!

Angel_04 · #6 11-24-2004, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorontoTourist

Unless there was a name or personal items on any chair, that towel could have been left from the night before, if it was me and no one came back in 10 min, I'm sorry but you paid for that chair too, you can't go to a restaurant and put your coat on a chair in the morning and expect to have it still there at lunch.
And I'd be the first to tell the person when they came back that yes it's now on the floor, and they are the rude, selfish one! Stick up for yourself!

I agree...it is so rude that people try to "save" spots on the sun loungers. What I do when a I need a lounger and someone has deliberately left their towel for hours to save it--is simply move the towel and use the lounger. If the person comes back, I just say, "oh, really, that was YOUR towel? Well, someone must have moved it. Aww, that is too bad" (all said in a sweet voice and with a smile of course

). Works for me. Usually there isn't conflict. AND if someone was to get "rude" with me, I'd tell them in the nicest way possible, that it's just "TOO BAD baby!"

dominicanflea · #7 11-24-2004, 03:37 PM

As posted before, this is not the only place that it happens, in all honesty, it is very much a European thing. We encountered it in Spain, Egypt, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and even Thailand! I think it is rude and annoying, there would be enough chairs for everyone it people did not reserve them as most people only spend a total of around 3 hours at the beach... but as the old saying goes, 'when in rome...'
I think if everyone bands together and tosses the towls off, it may stop this annoying trend but that is in perfectland, more than likely you would just get in a fight with the 'reserver' and then it would make for poor vacation memories.... what to do??

bubba · #8 11-24-2004, 03:48 PM

It happens at all resorts, I have seen people tie 5 towels together and then tie them to loungers. I usually watch a chair(s) for 10-15 minutes or if I see the person who put the towel on the chair leave the area I fold them up and set them to the side.

I have had a couple of people try and get in my face until I stand up. I am 6 foot 3 inches and 275 pounds so that usually ends that.

It is just the "rules don't apply to me, I am better than you" attitude.
This attitude comes from many nationalities not just Germans.

abba23 · #9 11-25-2004, 08:36 PM

Just to make a point when I was only saying the German staff were rude in our hotel. I wasnt saying it was German people who were hogging the sunloungers as I think it was people of all nationalities. Just thought id make that point!

Keith&Cris · #10 11-26-2004, 03:40 AM

I'm Canadian, so perhaps I'm a bit of a 'woose'! Because so far I've treated those towels as legal bonified "claim stakes". But since reading this thread, THOSE TOWELS ARE GONE!!!!!! After 15 minutes, that lounger is mine and the towel is hucked somewhere into the bushes! Heck, those things are 'legal tender' or at least worth money if not returned, so anyone negligently leaving them un-attended on a lounger.... too bad, fool!

Quote:

Originally Posted by abba23

Just to make a point when I was only saying the German staff were rude in our hotel. I wasnt saying it was German people who were hogging the sunloungers as I think it was people of all nationalities. Just thought id make that point!