# New pool towel check-out at Shadow Ridge...anyone seen this at their resort?



## applegirl (Apr 11, 2009)

We went to Shadow Ridge recently for the day and they were checking out the pool towels.  They wanted our room number (we didn't have one) and then wrote down how many towels we took.  I was afraid they were only going to allow one per person, but we took 6 for four of us and it wasn't a problem.  You can exchange a towel at any time for a dry one.  They have clearly posted that you will be charged $25 for any missing towel.  Give me a break!   Those are far from worth $25.  So silly. 

I was just wondering if anyone else has seen this at their Marriott t/s?

Janna


----------



## ciscogizmo1 (Apr 11, 2009)

At Ko'Olina they did the same thing.  Also, they required a wrist band.  The only reason I can see them doing this is because locals are using the place or owners are not returning the towels.  I think, if you say the towels only cost $5 a piece then, people will be less likely to return them as it isn't much money.  But if you say it cost $100 people will make a conscience effort to return them.  JMHO....


----------



## Empty Nest (Apr 11, 2009)

OK, here's a true story told at an owners' meeting  by a FORMER General Manager at Shadow Ridge, NOT the current one.  I was there.  This GM said that one day loss prevention phoned and said an owner had just driven up to the pool with car loaded to return home, opened the tailgate, went to the towel bin and took a stack (a dozen maybe) pool towels, put them in the car and drove off.  Loss prevention wanted to know if he should stop them at the gate.

The GM said, no, because they were owners, don't make a fuss! The towels cost something like $2.88 per towel.  Those of us in the meeting were outraged.  Those were our towels.  What if everyone took 12 towels upon leaving?  How about a blender and coffee pot too!

I'm glad to see a sign out, check in system.   It requires staff, but it keeps the sleazeballs from pilfering towels.  

This was the same GM who told people at the meeting that they could leave their garbage outside their doors if they didn't want to haul it to the dumpster, because that was staff's job. You can imagine what those hallways looked like with garbage deposited throughout the day.

Jolene


----------



## Beverley (Apr 11, 2009)

WOW! No kidding...  That was out and out stealing ... 

The Barony stocks each unit with 6 or 8 pool towels and there is a sign that indicates there could be a $25 charge per towel for any missing towels at check out.  

Beverley


----------



## GrayFal (Apr 11, 2009)

At Aruba Surf and Aruba Ocean, Grande Vista, Fairway Villas - your beach towels are in your room - 8 of them - and u have to have 8 there at check-out.....you can exchange them for clean ones - they do take your room number when u exchange.


----------



## applegirl (Apr 12, 2009)

Empty Nest said:


> OK, here's a true story told at an owners' meeting  by a FORMER General Manager at Shadow Ridge, NOT the current one.  I was there.  This GM said that one day loss prevention phoned and said an owner had just driven up to the pool with car loaded to return home, opened the tailgate, went to the towel bin and took a stack (a dozen maybe) pool towels, put them in the car and drove off.  Loss prevention wanted to know if he should stop them at the gate.



That's terrible!!!  How could any owner do this?  There are some real sleeze balls out there.

I don't have a real problem with the new policy, I don't plan on stealing any towels, I just hope one of my little kids doesn't misplace theirs and I have to pay $25 for a $3 towel! 

Janna


----------



## KathyPet (Apr 12, 2009)

Ocean Pointe requires that you have 8 towels in your room when you check out and they do take your room # when you get extra towels at the pool.


----------



## mamadot (Apr 12, 2009)

As an owner I think this is a great idea.  I was just at Shadow Ridge in March and wondered why they did not do this.  It appears now they are, or is it only for spring break & summer?

Every beach resort I have been to out of the country has had this policy of checking out towels, signing for them and returning them at check out.


----------



## rsackett (Apr 13, 2009)

I hope this does not lead to towel theft from other guests.

I was at Grande Ocean a couple of years ago.  When we were swimming in the pool sombodt took our towles from our chair.  We were swiming for about 45 min and returned to find our towels gone.  The towels were the only thing missing.

We were not charged for the missing towels.

Ray


----------



## NWL (Apr 13, 2009)

mamadot said:


> As an owner I think this is a great idea.  I was just at Shadow Ridge in March and wondered why they did not do this.  It appears now they are, or is it only for spring break & summer?



I was at Shadow Ridge in late January/early February and they were not checking out towels.  I was using the pool at the new Enclaves section, so I can't say what the policy was at the main pool.  I guess we'll see if it was a Spring Break policy.

Cheers!


----------



## aka Julie (Apr 13, 2009)

NWL said:


> I was at Shadow Ridge in late January/early February and they were not checking out towels.  I was using the pool at the new Enclaves section, so I can't say what the policy was at the main pool.  I guess we'll see if it was a Spring Break policy.
> 
> Cheers!



We were there 3/22-29 and they were not checking out towels at the main pool either.


----------



## doodles1 (Apr 13, 2009)

We just returned from the MKBC and they have a Towel Card.
Trade your card for 2 towels. Trade your wet for dry and when you leave the pool/beach trade your towels back for your card.
During the week it was just a trade, Fri-Sun when the locals came out you had to also give your name and room #.
Pretty painless all in all.

Jay


----------



## tiger1210 (Apr 13, 2009)

*They all should!*

I was at Newport Coast for spring break. They did not ask occupants to check out towels. But when people don't have to account for them they are sloppy and unconcerned. People would just leave their towels on all the lounges and you wouldn't know if they were taken or not. I think they should respond like Shadow Ridge and all the Hawaii Marriotts I have been to. Those who complain about having to check out a towell, just don't get it!


----------



## tahoeJoe (Apr 13, 2009)

Empty Nest said:


> OK, here's a true story told at an owners' meeting  by a FORMER General Manager at Shadow Ridge, NOT the current one.  I was there.  This GM said that one day loss prevention phoned and said an owner had just driven up to the pool with car loaded to return home, opened the tailgate, went to the towel bin and took a stack (a dozen maybe) pool towels, put them in the car and drove off.  Loss prevention wanted to know if he should stop them at the gate.
> 
> 
> Jolene



On a related note, if you don't want to pay the $25 fees, I am selling several almost new pools towels identical to the Shadow Ridge towels. I live in Palm Springs and will make you a GREAT deal. Inbox me for details. :rofl:   


-TJ


----------



## NWL (Apr 13, 2009)

aka Julie said:


> We were there 3/22-29 and they were not checking out towels at the main pool either.



That's weird.  I think Janna was there that week and she had to check out the towels.  Maybe the memo didn't get to everyone!   

I can see Janna's concern, though.  Having to keep track of your kids' towels can be a full time job!  Personally, I would not mind a towel policy if it means people will stop helping themselves to the pool towels.

On another note, did you DH find someone to use his golf coupon with?  I really wanted to help him!   

Cheers!


----------



## crjask (Apr 13, 2009)

*Towels at Grande Vista*

We just returned from Grande Vista and I was unhappy with the towel situation there.  The resort says it is going "Green" but then anyone could take and dispose of as many towels as they wanted.  There was a large bin for clean towels--take what you want-- and another for dirty towels, if you took the trouble to clean up after yourself.  Many people just left their used towels on chairs (so people thought they were occupied when they weren't) or they threw them over the fence or left them on the ground for others to pick up.

 Last year at Frenchman's cove there were 8 in the villa and you could turn them in for clean towels once a day.  Seemed reasonable to me.

The Grande Villa mess was anything but "Green" as I watched families take 3 towels/person so they could cover their chair with 2 and have the 3rd to use to dry off.  Lots of unnecessary laundry!! 

Plus, (since I am venting) Grande Vista proudly says they are recycling.   But there are only 2 recycling dumps at opposite ends of the resort.  The one nearest the entrance was 3 dumpsters that had all kinds of trash in them and it was clear that recycling was not being followed there.  The other end of the resort was a little better but that was because recyclers made the special trip there.  It was not trash but not much plastic or aluminum either.
Sad that we are so unconcerned about our energy use and our planet.


----------



## Rush (Apr 13, 2009)

They would appear to have instituted the same sign out procedure at Harbour Lake [formerly Horizon], rather than having them in your villa when you arrive.

It seemed to run rather smoothly, except for the fact that we signed ours out on Day 1, and then simply exchanged them for fresh ones at day's end all week, so by the time we returned them on Day 7, the sign in sheet from Day 1 was, of course, long gone, and so our name could not be stroked off to reflect that we had returned them.


Loss Prevention staff were their usual helpful and obliging selves when I inquired into the change in practice, explaining that they were using significant quantities to theft.

Some people...


----------



## aka Julie (Apr 13, 2009)

NWL said:


> On another note, did you DH find someone to use his golf coupon with?  I really wanted to help him!   Cheers!



No, there weren't any takers.  He's probably going to use it at the Griffingate Resort in Lexington which is not too far from Cincinnati.  It doesn't cost near as much as the Palm Desert courses, but is more doable for him and one of his buddies.


----------



## NWL (Apr 13, 2009)

aka Julie said:


> No, there weren't any takers.  He's probably going to use it at the Griffingate Resort in Lexington which is not too far from Cincinnati.  It doesn't cost near as much as the Palm Desert courses, but is more doable for him and one of his buddies.



I'm glad he'll get to use it.  I'm going to use mine in May with my BIL when I go back east for my niece's graduation.  It'll be the only time I'll be anywhere near a Marriott course before the coupon expires.  Tell your DH I said to have a great round with his buddy!


----------



## jlp879 (Apr 15, 2009)

This past spring break (March 14-21) we were at Shadow Ridge and there was nothing in place for a towel check.  We just helped ourselves and deposited them in the bins by the gates before we left.  At the Enclaves pool, the towel stack wasn't even staffed.  It was just a cart.  There were hardly any people using the Enclaves pool, which made it very relaxing.


----------



## b2bailey (Apr 17, 2009)

*Marriott Towel Policy*

We are currently at a Marriott with a towel policy. You exchange the cards for towels and keep track of them. At first it seemed a minor annoyance...and then I realized that it serves two purposes (1) keep track of the towels and (2) the staff doesn't have to walk around and pick up after careless and sloppy guests. I'm all for a 'uniform' towel policy at all MVC locations.

(That way I don't have to be 'retrained' depending on where I am staying.)


----------



## applegirl (Apr 17, 2009)

I was at Shadow Ridge for day use on April 2nd and the employee told me they had just started it that week.

I agree with bailey that it will be nice to not have people always leaving their towels everywhere and it might cut down a little on chair saving (although I doubt it!).  I wonder if they will really enforce the $25 charge?  I'm thinking they will be lenient.  I think it's mostly a deterance.

I just worry about my little ones misplacing them or other people taking mine because they lost theirs!  I guess we'll just get used to it.  No biggie.

Janna


----------



## JimC (Apr 17, 2009)

Empty Nest said:


> OK, here's a true story told at an owners' meeting  by a FORMER General Manager at Shadow Ridge, NOT the current one.  I was there.  This GM said that one day loss prevention phoned and said an owner had just driven up to the pool with car loaded to return home, opened the tailgate, went to the towel bin and took a stack (a dozen maybe) pool towels, put them in the car and drove off.  Loss prevention wanted to know if he should stop them at the gate.
> 
> The GM said, no, because they were owners, don't make a fuss! The towels cost something like $2.88 per towel....Jolene



How did either loss prevention or the GM know they were owners?  And what difference does that make anyway?  I hope that GM is working in someone else's system.


----------



## dioxide45 (Apr 17, 2009)

A towel exchange service I think is a waste of money on the resorts part. Building and maintaining a little hut along with paying a few people to run it takes money. If it costs $200 a day to run the operation, using an example from this thread if each towel costs $2.88 they would have to have 70 towels stolen without the system to make it pay off. Sure they could make an income from charging rooms for missing towels, but then you end up with upset owners and renters.

For the few who take advantage and outright steal it just isn't worth it. In many cases when we check in to a room and see a card that says "x number of towels are here for your use, you will be charged for missing towels after checkout". In many cases there are no towels at all or there are not the number they indicate. We usually call down for towels. To charge the room they would have to go and actually count those towels after checkout, that is a lot of work for housekeeping to do and log and track and report back. Having a dedicated person to go around and count costs money too. It just isn't worth it. I would rather my MF money go to more important things.

Sure a towel exchange may make some people feel better that a few people won't be able to steal the towels, but in the end it is just costing more money. Obvious situations where theft is the case should be delt with, but for a couple dozen towels a day it simply isn't worth it.


----------



## debraxh (Apr 21, 2009)

We just returned from DSV and they didn't have a check out or exchange program but I wish they did!  In addition to help preventing theft, it helps keep supply available, as well as people leaving piles of towels on chairs or just around the pool deck as already mentioned by others.  One day they were completely out of clean towels by 2pm.  Someone had started throwing dirty towels on top of the clean towels, which eventually got buried.  

A good compromise to me is providing them to each unit, according to occupancy limit, then allowing you to exchange whenever you want.  If the required number aren't in the unit at checkout, they MAY charge you but it's no different than missing bath towels or kitchen items.

And if they pay $200/day to man the towel exchange -- I want that job


----------



## dioxide45 (Apr 21, 2009)

debraxh said:


> And if they pay $200/day to man the towel exchange -- I want that job



My $200 a day takes in to account having to maintain a hut, pay staff wages and benefits. You may have to have a few people that work on shifts. Someone can't work from 9am to 11pm. 12 hours at $10 an hour would be $120 alone. Management also then has to take the time to schedule people, there is also personnel issues and people calling in. So there is time spent that costs money around maintaining the exchange.


----------



## ml855 (Apr 21, 2009)

I know this thread is talking about the Marriott system and their pool towel policy, but we were in Cancun several years back at the Royal Sands and they have a towel policy in place as well.

The guest would sign the towels out at the beginning of the week and they're your property for the entire week, you can replace them for clean towels throughout the week, but you better have the same number at the end of the week that you checked out at the beginning or you would be charged for each towel missing.

We had no problem with this policy until the end of the week, that's when guest were taking towels from other chairs in order to turn in the correct number of towels that they had checked out.  This happen to us, my two teenage sons had placed their towels on one of the chairs and when returned after their swim one of the towels was missing.  We spoke with the GM and they didn't care, just that we were going to be charged for the missing towel.  After talking with several Royal agents, they finally worked with us and told us that at the end of the week they count all towels returned and am sure the missing towel will show up, I guess it did since we never heard anything more about the missing towel or the fee for the missing towel. 

We realized after this visit that if we return to one of the Royals we will protect the towels with our life or we might be charged.  

Thought I would share, that this policy isn't just a Marriott policy,  just hope that Marriott handles each situation fairly.


----------



## TomF (Apr 22, 2009)

We were at our home resort at MountainSide in Park City in March.  In previous years, there were pool/spa towels in the rooms, usually four for each of the two bedrooms.  We would normally alternate a pair of towels every other day to make sure they were completely dry.  Housekeeping would bring new towels if you requested them.

This year there were two towel carts, one on either side of the entrance doors to the pool/spa area.  One was apparently supposed to be for new towels, the other for used towels.  We saw used towels in the new towel cart.  I don't think that kids care where they put their used towels.

I think that this also encourages people to take new towels every day which obviously increases the laundry cost, and the chance for theft with a seemingly endless supply of towels.


----------

