# BeachPlace permits people to reserve prime lounges



## pwrshift (Feb 19, 2014)

The weather at BeachPlace is great...about 80 degrees expected for this week...compared to below zero with snow and ice at home this is heaven.

However, at 7 a.m. all the best pool lounges were already taken...people had placed towels on them real early and I'm surprised that management does nothing about it...at 8:30 a.m. none of the towels were removed.


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## pedro47 (Feb 19, 2014)

Where is the towel person that is suppose to be managing this problem?


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## Saintsfanfl (Feb 19, 2014)

Set the towels aside. Who owns the towels? When the resort isn't doing their job I casually look around and then move some towels.


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## Fasttr (Feb 19, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> Set the towels aside. Who owns the towels? When the resort isn't doing their job I casually look around and then move some towels.



I knew it was you!!!!


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## Saintsfanfl (Feb 19, 2014)

Fasttr said:


> I knew it was you!!!!





The problem is that when people leave towels only and no personal items they have no reason to ever return. They may, or they may not. People will try and reserve and then show up whenever it suits them. They should at least leave personal items so it looks like someone is present although some resorts will move these items as well.


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## pedro47 (Feb 19, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> The problem is that when people leave towels only and no personal items they have no reason to ever return. They may, or they may not. People will try and reserve and then show up whenever it suits them. They should at least leave personal items so it looks like someone is present although some resorts will move these items as well.



We were at Ocean Watch last year and the pool person did not allow guests to leave beach towels unattended on chairs for more than 30 minutes.


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## pedro47 (Feb 19, 2014)

This was at the main pool over looking the ocean and the three ocean front buildings.


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## vacationhopeful (Feb 19, 2014)

Okay, if the resort assigns an employee to remove to USED towel bin, all those towels -- the offenders will most likely REDO their "claiming of chairs" again and again. 

And the assigned employee will mostly likely be verbally TOLD OFF by the offenders, they as "were only gone for 5 minutes".

If another guest removes the towels, a verbal backlashing by the offenders will mostly also occur.

If management supports the employee, the guest will generated several emails about RUDE EMPLOYEES and the RUDE & condescending managers (and most likely by name).

So, the resort saves lots of costs - extra towel service fees, no employee on chair duty, no a$$-ki$$ing to the offenders, no "on the carpet" appearances up their chain of command, etc. 

WHO WINS? The rudest person on the block. 

WHAT should the resort do? Hire a person who tags the lounge chairs and get's signatures to pay for their RENTAL. $2 per 30 minutes. ONLY chairs can be set up by this employee and tag with the unit number & signature. With a chair, you get a different color towel for the day. AND until the TAG is returned, the room continues to pay for the chairs' usage. Problem solved.


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## jont (Feb 19, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> Set the towels aside. Who owns the towels? When the resort isn't doing their job I casually look around and then move some towels.


this type of behavior infuriates me! 
I agree with saintsfan. Go and move the towels or contact the manager and have them move them. If they want to reserve spots at least they should have someone there "guarding" their turf, otherwise a towel does not ensure anything.


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## wisbadgerm (Feb 19, 2014)

*Towels*

I do not remember if BeachPlace does this but at some Marriotts  they put 8 different style pool towels in the room and charge if any are missing after checkout just like they do with regular room towels.  Think it helps with lost towels.  So at least the person has to eventually take the towel back to their room if they don't want to be charged.

I do not like the idea of having to pay for the pool towel or chair since the maintenance fees are already high enough and dinging the customers for small charges is just annoying and cheap.

I would say to complain to the manager and have them come out to take care of the situation when it occurs.  I would hope they have the interpersonal skills (and are paid to fix problems) to handle the situation without significant bruised feelings. Also I would assume they would prefer to know that a guest is not happy with the situation before they fill out the survey after the stay.


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## EducatedConsumer (Feb 19, 2014)

The HOA needs to combat this by hiring a Sniper and positioning them in one of the oceanside villa balconies. I'd imagine it should be pretty easy to recruit one from their shoplifting soiree at the BeachPlace Towers Mall. They probably are wearing shorts with a waistband that is around their knees.


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## EducatedConsumer (Feb 19, 2014)

jont said:


> this type of behavior infuriates me!
> I agree with saintsfan. Go and move the towels or contact the manager and have them move them. If they want to reserve spots at least they should have someone there "guarding" their turf, otherwise a towel does not ensure anything.



Sprinkle "Itching Powder" on all of the towels, and just watch. The recipe for Itching Powder is on the Internet.


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## EducatedConsumer (Feb 19, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> The weather at BeachPlace is great...about 80 degrees expected for this week...compared to below zero with snow and ice at home this is heaven.
> 
> However, at 7 a.m. all the best pool lounges were already taken...people had placed towels on them real early and I'm surprised that management does nothing about it...at 8:30 a.m. none of the towels were removed.



The General Manager of BeachPlace Towers needs to be held accountable for this by Marriott and the HOA Board. Complain to Marriott and send an email to the HOA (which is carefully filtered by Marriott, so who knows what actually makes it to the HOA). Be sure to give the property all negative scores on your check-out survey, as that hits the GM's pocket. Yes, this is an inmate issue, but it's the Warden's job to do something about it.


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## EducatedConsumer (Feb 19, 2014)

_[Deleted.]

EC, please, let's not bring that topic where it's not necessary.  Thanks._


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## Fairwinds (Feb 19, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> Set the towels aside. Who owns the towels? When the resort isn't doing their job I casually look around and then move some towels.




Agreed. Reserving chairs this way really gets me. I move them without hesitation. You see this at many resorts. No one has said anything to me yet but when they do I'm going to just politely explain that I had "called it" last night and I guess the didn't hear me. (It's the mature adult in me coming out)


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## dioxide45 (Feb 19, 2014)

Hey, there is still one lounger left there for you Brian. What are you complaining about.


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## pedro47 (Feb 19, 2014)

We have been traveling to Oecan Watch for the past four years and I have never seen anything like those photos at Ocean Watch.


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## Fairwinds (Feb 19, 2014)

dioxide45 said:


> Hey, there is still one lounger left there for you Brian. What are you complaining about.



And 3 chairs


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## VegasBella (Feb 19, 2014)

If it were me I'd probably just move towels too. I might move the chair too, so they couldn't tell who did it. If someone complained I'd just shrug/ignore/feign ignorance. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## dioxide45 (Feb 19, 2014)

Fairwinds said:


> And 3 chairs



Actually, it looks like five. There are two on their own and a stack of three. Lots of room still...


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## dougp26364 (Feb 19, 2014)

This is a never ending problem. You have to admire someone so desprate of a certain spot that they'll get up at the crack of dawn while on vacation, just to throw a towel on a chair and hope no one removes it.


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## PassionForTravel (Feb 19, 2014)

Cruise lines face the same issue. Carnival did a pilot on one ship where towels and personnel belongings were removed after 30 minutes. The results were so positive that they expanded it to their whole fleet ahead of schedule.

Ian


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## normab (Feb 20, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> Set the towels aside. Who owns the towels? When the resort isn't doing their job I casually look around and then move some towels.



Me too.  It's sad that I have to make executive decisions like this when I'm on vacation, but I do!


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## thinze3 (Feb 20, 2014)

Brian, I just checked the webcam and there were tons of open places. 

The only time I ever go to the pool area is to get a cold beverage.


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## jont (Feb 20, 2014)

EducatedConsumer said:


> Sprinkle "Itching Powder" on all of the towels, and just watch. The recipe for Itching Powder is on the Internet.



I like it! I like it a lot!


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## pwrshift (Mar 3, 2014)

*It's still happening ... every morning*



dougp26364 said:


> This is a never ending problem. You have to admire someone so desprate of a certain spot that they'll get up at the crack of dawn while on vacation, just to throw a towel on a chair and hope no one removes it.


 
 Here's a video of people caught in the act...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0


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## pwrshift (Mar 3, 2014)

VegasBella said:


> If it were me I'd probably just move towels too.* I might move the chair too, so they couldn't tell who did it. If someone complained I'd just shrug/ignore/feign ignorance*.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



That is probably a 'safer' solution.


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## TheTimeTraveler (Mar 3, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> Here's a video of people caught in the act...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0





So they tied up all the chairs around 7:15 am.  What time did they finally plant themselves into the chairs?  By noon?





.


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## Fasttr (Mar 3, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> Here's a video of people caught in the act...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0



I'm thinking if you bring a large stack of towels up to your room each night, then each morning around 6:45am you can dangle them over your balcony and float them down to the pool deck area.  I'm guessing if you drop 10, perhaps 2 should land on lounges and you will be all set for your chairs for the day.  In fact, get your neighbors on your floor to join in the fun. If the resort asks you what the hell you are doing, tell them its such a hassle to have to go downstairs to reserve a chair early each morning, so you devised an even better approach.  Perhaps after a few days of the resort picking up the stray towels that missed their marks, they might seek a new strategy for managing the chair issue!!!


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## dougp26364 (Mar 3, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> Here's a video of people caught in the act...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0



I think I'll start buying cheap purses, flip flops and paperbacks novels at the thrift stores or outlets and take them with us on vacation. I'm an early riser most days anyway so, at resorts were this is an issue, I'll see what time people are "reserving" chairs and get down to the pool before them. Then I'll set the cheap purses, flip flops, book and towels on the prime chairs they've been reserving, sit there and wait. If they say something to me I'll just tell them I'm with a very large group of older people who are early risers. They'll be right back and those are their chairs. If they complain, maybe I'll have a video of their escapades the day before to show security.


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## Fairwinds (Mar 3, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> I think I'll start buying cheap purses, flip flops and paperbacks novels at the thrift stores or outlets and take them with us on vacation. I'm an early riser most days anyway so, at resorts were this is an issue, I'll see what time people are "reserving" chairs and get down to the pool before them. Then I'll set the cheap purses, flip flops, book and towels on the prime chairs they've been reserving, sit there and wait. If they say something to me I'll just tell them I'm with a very large group of older people who are early risers. They'll be right back and those are their chairs. If they complain, maybe I'll have a video of their escapades the day before to show security.



I like the way you guys think. Now if only we could direct your genius toward world peace or hunger.


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## KathyPet (Mar 3, 2014)

Some of the cruise lines have started attaching tags to the lounge chairs with the date and time that the tag was placed on the chair.  When you retune to your chair within the allowed time you simply remove the tag.  The pool staff walk around and look at the times on the tags.  if the allotted time has expired they remove whatever is on the loungers.  this policy is clearly stated on signs and the daily activity guides so no one can say they didn't know about the policy.  MVCI needs to implement this system.


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## SueDonJ (Mar 3, 2014)

KathyPet said:


> Some of the cruise lines have started attaching tags to the lounge chairs with the date and time that the tag was placed on the chair.  When you retune to your chair within the allowed time you simply remove the tag.  The pool staff walk around and look at the times on the tags.  if the allotted time has expired they remove whatever is on the loungers.  this policy is clearly stated on signs and the daily activity guides so no one can say they didn't know about the policy.  MVCI needs to implement this system.



I can't remember which one but I think somebody posted to TUG that a tag system is now being used at one resort?  I agree with you, there's no reason why all of them can't do something about this racket, even if it's just making sure that resort personnel are wandering around the pool areas first thing in the morning to discourage it.

Brian, I want to know what else you're doing with these pics/videos.  TUG is great, youtube is great, but unless the GM is told to look on TUG or youtube then they're both fairly useless.  What has s/he said when you've shown her all this evidence??


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## Mamianka (Mar 3, 2014)

So I still do not get WHY they were reserving so many chairs!  There were only 2 of them - were they there with a big family reunion?  Or is this like that outfit that takes over Aruba with what is essentially their own *travel business*?  To have anyone - let alone 2 folks - reserving chairs by the dozen is unbelievable.  The poster of the video must know on what day it was taken -cannot this be then sent along to the management at BPT, as proof of what went on?  How can people get away with this?  And what is the REASON given by Marriott, that they do not enforce any uniform cross-property policy about this?  Do these people also place napkins, or tip the chairs forward, at every seat in a resort restaurant?  Take the entire stack of coffee cups, or all the sweeteners, at the Starbucks in the Marketplace?  Amazing . . .

I still like the story about the group that came with Russian girls as translators and general facilitators.  NO FOOLING with chair reservations!  Nyet!


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## dioxide45 (Mar 3, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> Here's a video of people caught in the act...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0



Interesting, so that one guy putting towels on loungers that already had towels and other items on them, was he just stealing someone elses already "taken" chairs?



SueDonJ said:


> I can't remember which one but I think somebody posted to TUG that a tag system is now being used at one resort?



That tag system is being used at the Aruba Surf Club. They give out the number of tags for the number of people you have in the unit. The problem is that it doesn't prevent these shenanigans. It does prevent people from reserving a longer at both the beach and the pool though.


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## MabelP (Mar 3, 2014)

I watched the you tube video. How sad.

Was at Koolina over presidents week. same thing at the pools. I'm happy I'm a beach person!!


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## Superchief (Mar 3, 2014)

This is another common illustration regarding how many people today are oblivious to others and only care about themselves. The challenge is that you have to fend for yourself to be able to enjoy your vacation. If you want a chair and some people are getting up at 7:15 to take all the chairs, you have to join the fray or go without a chair. What annoys me even more are the families who 'reserve' six chairs for 2  adults and 4 children, and the children never even use the chairs.

I usually go to the pool fairly early (around 8:30) and enjoy a cup of coffee and read the paper. I can almost always get two chairs at that time, but I stay there. If all of the well located chairs have towels, I find some without towels and move them to the 'prime locations' and shove the others out of the way. (Therefore, I don't 'take' their chairs.) Most of these people never show up until after noon. 

I think we can all help each other by telling others which chairs are truly unoccupied. If nobody has been there for over an hour, it becomes fair game. I find that the MVC employees aren't willing to confront the offending 'guests'. I learned this the hard way when I tried to get the Mountainside employees to keep small unsupervised children out of the fitness center. 

I can't believe these people who put their towels on 6 or more chairs and don't show up for several hours. At some point, we will likely have to sign up for a couple hours per day because most resorts don't have enough lounges for everyone.


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 3, 2014)

Deleted xxxx


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 3, 2014)

That's a long stogie for a "no smoking" zone.


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## KathyPet (Mar 3, 2014)

The problem is that there are no "commonly accepted practices" or procedures at any of the MVCI properties.  Each resort is out there doing their own thing.  I have never understood this as this is not normally the case at the marriott hotel properties.  They pretty much all follow a common set of operational procedures so why can't they do this at the MVCI's??


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## pwrshift (Mar 3, 2014)

SueDonJ said:


> Brian, I want to know what else you're doing with these pics/videos.  TUG is great, youtube is great, but unless the GM is told to look on TUG or youtube then they're both fairly useless.  What has s/he said when you've shown her all this evidence??



It's very interesting, Sue...when I posted the first pictures (post 1) on TUG and on Marriott Insiders, I got a phone call from a Marriott customer relations mgr in a 407 area code to say the resort has a 45 minute waiting period and then you can complain that you should have their lounges.  I was surprised he knew my home cell phone to call me.  He said it doesn't happen every day and that the 45 minute rule is followed by the resort, but doubt he has been here to see that it does happen every day and nothing is done about it.  

So the next day I was having an early coffee on the balcony and saw people coming in several times with piles of towels, magazines, flip flops, etc., to put on the lounges and chairs to make it look like they were actively occupied.  The third person's lounges in the video weren't occupied until about 10:30 a.m. -- unoccupied since 7 a.m.  The other areas had one person 'on guard'.  But, I saw other people coming down and not taking these prime positions as they felt they were already occupied...so went elsewhere rather than pick a fight.

So when I posted the *video* on TUG I got a call today from the BPT Front Desk Mgr.  She was very polite and professional.  The video was not posted on Marriott Insiders.  I think the video showed clearly that some people do take advantage of freedom and abuse it.  I'll be interested to see if any change is made tomorrow.

The most interesting part is that *Marriott and BPT management read TUG.*..even though they don't (or can't) comment on TUG.  I still say this is why Marriott voted Eric out of office as President of the HOA...they don't want elected HOA members online, especially with TUG.  Do you know of any other HOA president that comments on TUG?


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## IngridN (Mar 3, 2014)

dioxide45 said:


> ... ...
> That tag system is being used at the Aruba Surf Club. They give out the number of tags for the number of people you have in the unit. The problem is that it doesn't prevent these shenanigans. It does prevent people from reserving a longer at both the beach and the pool though.



Unfortunately, the time limit isn't enforced; not during shoulder season anyway.

Ingrid


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 4, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> It's very interesting, Sue...when I posted the first pictures (post 1) on TUG and on Marriott Insiders, I got a phone call from a Marriott customer relations mgr in a 407 area code to say the resort has a 45 minute waiting period and then you can complain that you should have their lounges.  I was surprised he knew my home cell phone to call me.  He said it doesn't happen every day and that the 45 minute rule is followed by the resort, but doubt he has been here to see that it does happen every day and nothing is done about it.
> 
> So the next day I was having an early coffee on the balcony and saw people coming in several times with piles of towels, magazines, flip flops, etc., to put on the lounges and chairs to make it look like they were actively occupied.  The third person's lounges in the video weren't occupied until about 10:30 a.m. -- unoccupied since 7 a.m.  The other areas had one person 'on guard'.  But, I saw other people coming down and not taking these prime positions as they felt they were already occupied...so went elsewhere rather than pick a fight.
> 
> ...



Marriott is as guilty of doing a bad job managing this situation as the day is long. It would be nice if Marriott exercised the same or more effort being pro-active that they do being defensive. Brian's video is an enlightening, objective account of the lunacy that goes on at BeachPlace Towers, and Lord knows how many other Marriott Vacation Club resorts. Perhaps this will be a wake up call for Marriott to get their act together. Maybe Marriott will address Hell Week in Aruba at the same time.


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## SueDonJ (Mar 4, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> It's very interesting, Sue...when I posted the first pictures (post 1) on TUG and on Marriott Insiders, I got a phone call from a Marriott customer relations mgr in a 407 area code to say the resort has a 45 minute waiting period and then you can complain that you should have their lounges.  I was surprised he knew my home cell phone to call me.  He said it doesn't happen every day and that the 45 minute rule is followed by the resort, but doubt he has been here to see that it does happen every day and nothing is done about it.
> 
> So the next day I was having an early coffee on the balcony and saw people coming in several times with piles of towels, magazines, flip flops, etc., to put on the lounges and chairs to make it look like they were actively occupied.  The third person's lounges in the video weren't occupied until about 10:30 a.m. -- unoccupied since 7 a.m.  The other areas had one person 'on guard'.  But, I saw other people coming down and not taking these prime positions as they felt they were already occupied...so went elsewhere rather than pick a fight.
> 
> ...



I've been convinced for years that Marriott reps read TUG even if it's only to monitor bad publicity, but I'm still surprised by how quickly they responded to your posts.  Hopefully it'll spur them on to do something about this at all the resorts but I wouldn't bet on it.  If negative reports on the web were all it took for them to make changes, this whole towel mess - and a host of other problems - would have been cleaned up years ago!

As for Minoter and his BPT board situation, I still don't understand what happened there.  Board members/officers can have term limits depending on how the governing docs are written, and they can lose re-election bids based on others being voted in.  I know you've posted to TUG that Marriott "removed" Eric but you never shared the particulars.  I'd like to know them before crucifying Marriott over it, because there's a history on TUG of owners accusing Marriott of unfairly ousting at least one other board member at another resort but it turned out that he'd served out his term as an officer and then lost a re-election bid as a member.  Even if Minoter was up for re-election and lost to another candidate because Marriott threw their votes to the other guy, I wouldn't criticize Marriott for voting their interests.  In that case they'd be doing what I expect all owners to do, and Marriott is an owner at all of the resorts!  There's no such thing as a resort where every single Week is owned by someone other than Marriott but even if there were, Marriott still owns common-area interests - and thus, voting rights - at every resort.

Quite honestly, I never saw anything posted by Minoter that put Marriott in a bad light.  He wrote openly and honestly about the different roles that Marriott (as developer and manager) and the board members play, he was able to explain the legalese in terms that owners could understand and accept, and he didn't IMO overstep his position in such a way that his words could be misconstrued to apply to any situations other than the specific ones on which he commented.  It'd be very surprising to learn that his participation on TUG put his board member position in jeopardy.  I could understand Marriott making an effort to remove a board member who didn't take the position seriously and put Marriott's interests and reputation at risk publicly, but AFAIK Minoter never did that.

So like I said, I'd have to know more about his situation before automatically crucifying Marriott for the fact that he's no longer on the BPT board.    But you're right - it appears to be a big loss for BPT and TUG.


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 4, 2014)

Brian,

I am going to nominate your movie for an Emmy in 2015.


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## pwrshift (Mar 4, 2014)

EducatedConsumer said:


> Brian,
> 
> I am going to nominate your movie for an Emmy in 2015.



Thanks EC...but why did you delete some of your posts from yesterday?


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## pwrshift (Mar 4, 2014)

I'm pleased to report that the lounge problem was much less today after the posting of the video clearly showed abuse of the system in place ... instead of just towels there were people in the lounges!  

 I'm going to assume that BP management put a new process to work.


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## Fasttr (Mar 4, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> I'm pleased to report that the lounge problem was much less today after the posting of the video clearly showed abuse of the system in place ... instead of just towels there were people in the lounges!
> 
> I'm going to assume that BP management put a new process to work.



Kudos to you....and for BPT Mgt.


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## minoter (Mar 4, 2014)

Yesterday I sent the video to a Board member that supports the owners' interest in BeachPlace. The word did out to Marriott.

By the way SueDon, if I were Marriott, I would have voted me off the Board also.

Eric


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## SueDonJ (Mar 4, 2014)

minoter said:


> Yesterday I sent the video to a Board member that supports the owners' interest in BeachPlace. The word did out to Marriott.
> 
> By the way SueDon, if I were Marriott, I would have voted me off the Board also.
> 
> Eric



  I appreciate your comment, Eric, and am glad to see you on TUG.  What I hope, though, is that it wasn't only your participation on TUG that swayed Marriott's decision.  It would be very disconcerting to learn that Marriott has a problem with board members participating in public discourse regardless of whether their interests align with Marriott's or not.


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## dougp26364 (Mar 4, 2014)

The really sad part, at least in my experience, is that it's typically a very small number of guests that "reserve" lounge chairs. I guess they're such jerks about it when confronted by Marriott that Marriott just doesn't want to do anything about it. It's amazing that Marriott would rather not face a very small number of inconsiderate guests and would prefer to let the majority of guests just be ticked off at Marriott.


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## answeeney (Mar 4, 2014)

Fasttr said:


> Kudos to you....and for BPT Mgt.



Seconded.

This thread is both depressing and uplifting.

Depressing because it is such a pity that people resort to, such behaviour and seldom get challenged.

Uplifting because this might be a real case of making a difference, so well done  pwrshift. Let's hope that this doesn't just have a temporary effect but that it puts pressure on other resorts to introduce policies to combat these vacation spoilers.


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## vacationhopeful (Mar 4, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> ... It's amazing that Marriott would rather not face a very small number of inconsiderate guests and would prefer to let the majority of guests just be ticked off at Marriott.



He who complains the loudest, WINs. 
Rude always beats polite, like every time.
Lazy employees just want to hide and do as little as possible - else they would have found a better job by now.
No employee likes to be called names; it is a job, a low paying job with little future. Why would any of us want to be screamed at by someone who actually might hit us?


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## pwrshift (Mar 5, 2014)

SueDonJ said:


> ...It would be very disconcerting to learn that Marriott has a problem with board members participating in public discourse regardless of whether their interests align with Marriott's or not.


 
 Sue...if Marriott permitted open discourse, don't you think over all these years that there would be other HOA members actively and openly participating on TUG?  Unless we were a member of a board we'll never know...but there has to be a reason none of the members, other than Eric, have been on TUG for the people they represented.  They and MVCI are lurkers no doubt.  In addition...you can't even write to a board member unless it goes through Marriott.  It's a closed shop where the customers are the enemy.


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## SueDonJ (Mar 5, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> Sue...if Marriott permitted open discourse, don't you think over all these years that there would be other HOA members actively and openly participating on TUG?  Unless we were a member of a board we'll never know...but there has to be a reason none of the members, other than Eric, have been on TUG for the people they represented.  They and MVCI are lurkers no doubt.  In addition...you can't even write to a board member unless it goes through Marriott.  It's a closed shop where the customers are the enemy.



TUG represents only a very small percentage of Marriott owners/members, and we're not the norm.  Actually, I think it's more likely that board members would prefer even without Marriott influence to stay away from TUG and other online sites - they're serving volunteer positions and the exposure could easily become more aggravation than it's worth.  We see it all the time, that folks are much more likely to complain than praise when under cover of online anonymity.

I can understand why Marriott wouldn't want board members to discuss board-related issues on a public site like TUG - Marriott certainly doesn't want any "official" business released by someone who wouldn't be legally responsible within the company for any fallout.  But still, I hope Marriott doesn't issue directives to board members that they can't participate at all in non-board issue discussions, if it's something they want to do.  That's where I thought Eric excelled in that he was able to discuss matters generically without putting Marriott in jeopardy.  (Or so I thought … his comment about understanding why Marriott's votes didn't go his way in his re-election bid now makes me wonder if I missed something along the way.)

As far as all of the resorts switching to an official email address for owners to use to contact board members, rather than the old way of publishing private email addresses for the individual members?  After watching the lengthy and very public anti-Marriott campaign that from all appearances was spearheaded by a former board officer/member at a resort a few years ago, I completely understand why that change was made.  Plus, it seems each resort board responds differently to owner comments/concerns - my two resort boards are receptive to reasonable queries submitted through that contact.  If Marriott has issued a directive like the one you're insinuating, why aren't all resorts following it?

Probably this is going to open the floodgates for folks to call me a Marriott apologist, again.  It gets tiresome!  One thing Eric is always correct about is that owners must participate in the voting process if there's any hope of a good relationship between Marriott as developer/manager and the ownership group.  It can happen despite the fact that Marriott has and always will have more control than some owners will ever be comfortable with.  But it sure seems like the resorts that have the most unsatisfied owners are those which don't have good owner participation - and that's not Marriott's fault.


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## m61376 (Mar 5, 2014)

Since Marriott appears to be reading this thread- I'd implore them to look at the lounge hogging at other resorts, since what Brian videoed at BP is repeated at many of the other locales. At the Surf Club, the chair tag situation did help with the problem of reserving both at the beach and at the pool, but the little mice invade the pool area before 7AM, wait till 7 and then disappear for hours. Early-afternoon when I  looked for a single chair to put our stuff on while we went in the pool, three-quarters of the chairs were unoccupied but had tags on them; I was always able to find a single chaise, but if I was a family looking to lie by the pool in the afternoon finding two together would have been a challenge. Lovely to see towels enjoying the shade of an umbrella or bimini chaise. There is a 2 hour rule, but it would be nice to see it enforced. In reality, the only way to do it is to use a time stamp type solution, like you mentioned one of the cruise ships is doing. Have time stamp meters around, where if people leave their chaise they can get a quick ticket and place it in a plastic holder on the chaise. Have security actually patrol and remove unattended items. Would it be relegating guests to childlike status- certainly; I'd find it annoying and a little insulting, but then again I'm not the guest that it's designed to deter. After a short period people would get the message and hopefully the nonsense would stop.

I hope Brian reports back as the days progress as to whether the situation remains improved. Memories are short, and of course as new guests arrive, they will have to be re-educated. Hopefully the pool security will continue to be on top of the situation.


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## pwrshift (Mar 5, 2014)

m61376 said:


> I hope Brian reports back as the days progress as to whether the situation remains improved. Memories are short, and of course as new guests arrive, they will have to be re-educated. Hopefully the pool security will continue to be on top of the situation.



It does seem much better, *except* for the 'cigar man' near the end of the video...he's there before 7 each morning to grab his same spot and they rarely come down before noon. Looks like he reads Nora Roberts...or at least that's the book he leaves to 'keep' his seats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0


You are right about the new people checking in next week and thereafter. Unless MBP supervises this, the problem will repeat again and again.


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## tender (Mar 5, 2014)

This was at the main pool over looking the ocean and the three ocean front buildings.


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 5, 2014)

pwrshift said:


> It does seem much better, *except* for the 'cigar man' near the end of the video...he's there before 7 each morning to grab his same spot and they rarely come down before noon. Looks like he reads Nora Roberts...or at least that's the book he leaves to 'keep' his seats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0
> 
> 
> You are right about the new people checking in next week and thereafter. Unless MBP supervises this, the problem will repeat again and again.



This situation represents a repeated failure of BeachPlace Towers management (and Board, to whom the management company represents). The General Manager of BeachPlace Towers should be the first to be assigned responsibility for this failure, and held accountable for it.


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## Superchief (Mar 5, 2014)

*Domino Effect*



dougp26364 said:


> The really sad part, at least in my experience, is that it's typically a very small number of guests that "reserve" lounge chairs. I guess they're such jerks about it when confronted by Marriott that Marriott just doesn't want to do anything about it. It's amazing that Marriott would rather not face a very small number of inconsiderate guests and would prefer to let the majority of guests just be ticked off at Marriott.



I agree it is usually a small number initially, but there is a domino effect as other guests realize the only way they will have a lounge chair is if they put their towel out early. I noticed this at Oceana Palms last fall. The resort was full every day, and there were several open lounge chairs in the sunny areas until early or mid-afternoon. At mid-week, a group of about 8 people (4 adults and four 5-10 yr old kids) 'reserved' 8 lounge chairs in the prime area prior to 9am (when I arrived). By 10:30am all of the prime locations were taken. For the rest of the week, towels were on all prime chairs by 10am, although most weren't actually occupied until noon or later. 

The group that started it didn't show up until after noon. The four adults used their chairs but the children spent their time in the pool or on beach and never even sat down, so their lounges sat empty for the full day. This one selfish group ruined it for everyone for the remainder of the week, although a few of us helped their towels 'blow away' by the third day. (There are some advantages to the windy conditions)


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## Fasttr (Mar 5, 2014)

Superchief said:


> I agree it is usually a small number initially, but there is a domino effect as other guests realize the only way they will have a lounge chair is if they put their towel out early. I noticed this at Oceana Palms last fall. The resort was full every day, and there were several open lounge chairs in the sunny areas until early or mid-afternoon. At mid-week, a group of about 8 people (4 adults and four 5-10 yr old kids) 'reserved' 8 lounge chairs in the prime area prior to 9am (when I arrived). By 10:30am all of the prime locations were taken. For the rest of the week, towels were on all prime chairs by 10am, although most weren't actually occupied until noon or later.



I agree....it becomes the arms race of chair saving.  The mentality becomes "I'm doing it cuz they're doing it."


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## pedro47 (Mar 5, 2014)

At MOW security monitor the pool area looking for the correct colored waist band for the week.


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## MALC9990 (Mar 6, 2014)

*A small success story.*

I would like to report a small story of success on this topic from another Marriott Resort. 

We recently returned from a 4 week stay at Phuket Bech Club. This resort is fully integrated with the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa Hotel and all facilities are shared. There are three pools. One has a children's pool and also is the largest of the three while another has a swim up bar, clearly intended for adults and is quite lively in the afternoon for fairly obvious reasons and the third is intended as a tranquil area with noise and lots of activity discouraged.

For the frst 3 weeks of our stay, we had no problems as far as loungers by the pool were concerned. On vacation, I am not an early riser and also visit the fitness facility each morning before breakfast, so we were getting to the pool about 10am and had no prblem with geting a preferred spot by the pool with some shade. Week four was totally different. Talk around the pool was that guests were reserving loungers before 5 am and one story was of loungers reserved at 01:30 am when someone was returning from a late night out and passed through the pool area on their way to bed.

The Hotel manages the pools and issues pool towel cards to all guests. These are supposed to be exchanged for two pool towels each day and returned at the end of the day. However after a few days it was clear that the pool staff were not insisting on the cards being used. Initially this was not a problem. Each card had the pool rules printed on each side - one in English and the other in Russian.

One of the rules is that loungers may not be reserved and that if left unattended for 45 minutes then the staff would remove personal items and towels for safe keeping and the loungers would be released for other guests.. This rule was not being enforced but in the first 3 weeks this was not a problem, even during Chinese New Year week when the resort normally would be extremely busy. This year it was strangely quiet, probably due to the reports of all the troubles in Bangkok and the impact that is having on tourism in Thailand. 

The rule was not really  enforceabe and the member of staff from the hotel charged with this task was open about the challenges that he faced. However after some dicussions and exchanges of email with resort management (I am always one to get to the top to address issues like this), a new "zero tolerance" approach was implemented just as we were leaving.

Pool staff arriving for work at 6am, would remove all items on loungers at that time. At 7am the staff member responsible for the rules implememtation would now also tour each pool and remove anything he then found. Before 10am the 45 minute rule was enforced with zero tolerance. After 10 am a degree of flexibility was now allowed so that guests with loungers in use could visit one of the various food outlets for lunch or whatever. 

After two days, friends still at the resort reported that the problem was fixed. No loungers were being reserved before 10 am and at midday one could still find a lounger around the pool. 

This is how it should be done and it should be an example to all resorts in the chain. I am sure that there were some problems to start with but with the support of management, it is possible to do this and make it work.


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## pwrshift (Mar 11, 2014)

*Positive changes on the pool deck at BeachPlace*

New week...new people...new attitudes.

I'm pleased to report that has been a major and positive change this week...even though it's probably the biggest week of the year here with kids everywhere.  

Other than a couple of people reserving 1 or 2 lounges this week I haven't seen one case of someone taking dozens of towels like last week at  6:45 a.m. to block off lounges for friends who didn't show up until mid morning....as the video shows:  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjwH0-bDH0

The management at the pool took charge of pool management or this week's guests had more respect for the rights of other guests.  Either way this is a very pleasant week ... and the weather has been wonderful for all 4 weeks of my stay.  

Mardi Gras was great fun...the management had a wonderful band play New Orleans music around the pool and several servers taking free food and treats around on the pool deck.  Great fun.

Now I hear that my hometown will have 15cm of snow tomorrow.


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## pwrshift (Mar 12, 2014)

The difference a week makes...9 a.m. today ... hot and sunny all day ... 80 degrees!!


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## pwrshift (Mar 12, 2014)




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## thinze3 (Mar 12, 2014)

Great to see the success.

Just a thought.
This week probably has more college kids and less snow birds, and college kids want the beach, not the pool.  This is the biggest Spring Break week of the year for colleges.  Next year it will be March 14-19 that is the big week.


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## EducatedConsumer (Mar 12, 2014)

The Himmelfarb's are back in Mount Kisco, New York.


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