[2010] What is it with Pool Towels?

[DeniseM]

Hi Deigh, and welcome to TUG. Curious: what compelled you to search for and respond to a thread from 2010 about towels?

 

[tlwmkw]

Wow! This is an ancient thread that has been revived. Was shocked to see a post from timeos (RIP) until I saw the dates .

 

[Finntastic]

I am out at the cottage (camp) today and would like to start issuing my kids and their friends towel cards!! I am sick of hanging up wet towels and summer here hasn't even really started! Maybe a loonie every time I hang up a wet towel:rofl:

 

[topmom101]

I understand the towel policy and am extremely careful keeping track of them but last week, while vacationing in Aruba, 2 of our towels were stolen. When I reported the theft, I was informed by security that I would be held responsible for a $50 replacement fee. Talk about being victimized twice!!!

I pled my case to front desk management and was told the same. Finally, I went to the towel hut and spoke to the attendant. He kind of winked at me and asked that I come back at closing time. At 7pm I show up again with $10 in my hand and the guy hands me 2 towels. We never took our eyes off those damn towels again. Hate towel thieves.

 

[geekette]

<<I can assure you all that the entire reason that a hotel/resort/TS takes or does not take an approach to pool towels is to minimize the number of complaints received from guests.>>
What are your credentials that you are positioned to offer such assurances and have diagnosed that guests "do not respect the towel"?

Frankly, when I'm on vacation, I don't care if there are 1000 or 10,000 towels in inventory. When a resort says they supply towels, then, supply towels.

 

[SueDonJ]

I understand the towel policy and am extremely careful keeping track of them but last week, while vacationing in Aruba, 2 of our towels were stolen. When I reported the theft, I was informed by security that I would be held responsible for a $50 replacement fee. Talk about being victimized twice!!!

I pled my case to front desk management and was told the same. Finally, I went to the towel hut and spoke to the attendant. He kind of winked at me and asked that I come back at closing time. At 7pm I show up again with $10 in my hand and the guy hands me 2 towels. We never took our eyes off those damn towels again. Hate towel thieves.

Am I reading this right?! Are you saying that the towel hut guys are running their own for-profit scam, charging $5 a piece so that guests don't have to pay the $50 fee to replace towels?! What a racket! And why hasn't anybody reported it to the GM?!

I like that they institute a fee which "encourages" folks to keep track of and not walk off with the towels, because every towel that has to be replaced costs the ownership money. There has to be a way for the resort to implement it that makes allowances for stolen towels though - and that shouldn't be a scam run by the guys at the towel hut. Good gravy!

 

[dioxide45]

I understand the towel policy and am extremely careful keeping track of them but last week, while vacationing in Aruba, 2 of our towels were stolen. When I reported the theft, I was informed by security that I would be held responsible for a $50 replacement fee. Talk about being victimized twice!!!

I pled my case to front desk management and was told the same. Finally, I went to the towel hut and spoke to the attendant. He kind of winked at me and asked that I come back at closing time. At 7pm I show up again with $10 in my hand and the guy hands me 2 towels. We never took our eyes off those damn towels again. Hate towel thieves.

Am I reading this right?! Are you saying that the towel hut guys are running their own for-profit scam, charging $5 a piece so that guests don't have to pay the $50 fee to replace towels?! What a racket! And why hasn't anybody reported it to the GM?!

I like that they institute a fee which "encourages" folks to keep track of and not walk off with the towels, because every towel that has to be replaced costs the ownership money. There has to be a way for the resort to implement it that makes allowances for stolen towels though - and that shouldn't be a scam run by the guys at the towel hut. Good gravy!

The problem is that high "lost towel" fees cause theft among guests. Someone loses their towels, they just swipe some from someone else. In the end, the resort probably isn't short those towels. They are still in the mix, someone just turned in four at the end of their stay instead of two. But the person turning in zero towels still gets charged $50 when the resort is still whole? It doesn't sit well with me. Neither does the towel hut people getting a kickback for giving out a towel to cover the guest who had their swiped. What about all those towels you see them picking up at the end of the day around the pool and on the beach. Is each equal to a $20 bill for the property? Do they use those to offset those that are considered lost?

I think better solutions are available. Just the premise of some type of towel inventory system has people taking better care of their towels. Kind of like security theater. If I think the resort will be checking at the end, then I am more careful. In the end, does the housekeeping staff really count the number of wet pool towels left in the heap in my villa bathtub?

 

[rebels]

I also do not like "checking out" towels. We own HGVC and Wyndham and go to MC via II getaways. Wyndham uses a sign out system which works but is a pain. We have stayed at three MCs in Orlando and they all put pool towels in your room and that works good. This is the same at HGVC resorts on Marco Island. But the best system is the HGVC resorts in Orlando. They have large covered huts at the pools and you just take the towel(s) you need and then drop them off when you leave. Also you can wrap yourself in them and go to your room. You can them leave them in room. The huts are always full and never run out.