contents
If you reserve your deckchair in the morning, you won’t make any friends. But not only that: The pool occupiers even promote corruption and system failure.
Colorful bath towels as far as the eye can see. But no trace of their owners. They’re probably dusting off the last pancake at the breakfast buffet. Who doesn’t know the frustration with reserved sun loungers at the hotel pool?
System failure due to bath towels
The phenomenon is not only of interest to us, but also to game theorists, microeconomists and tourism researchers. One of them, Alexis Papathanassis, finds clear words: “It’s about corruption,” says the professor of tourism at Bremerhaven University.
However, it depends on how you define corruption, adds Alexis Papathanassis. He sees corruption where negative effects arise because systems don’t work as they should – be it on purpose or because of incompetence. With regard to the “lounger gate” on vacation, this means: “It is a failure of capacity planning and control.”
Legend:
Done Holiday idyll: The bath towel squatters quickly make the guests feel scarce.
Getty Images / Peter Cade
Imaginary sense of scarcity
There would actually be enough deck chairs if everyone only occupied a deck chair when they actually needed it. However, because so many bathers reserve their spots with bath towels in advance – sometimes hours before they actually lie in the sun – there is a sense of shortage. Who wants to miss out on a well-deserved vacation?
“It’s a perceived risk that isn’t always there. This thinking influences people’s behavior, which creates a sense of scarcity where there isn’t actually a scarcity,” says Papathanassis.
Gone man, cloth gone
What now? Putting more sun loungers doesn’t do much. Because then the scramble does not begin for one, but for the best place in the sun.
A solution would be concrete measures. If a deckchair remains unused for two or three hours, a supervisor removes the towels. Most of those surveyed found such measures good, which surprised Alexis Papathanassis: “The majority think it’s okay if it’s done this way for everyone. In other words, when everyone has the same chances and no one misses out.”
The German bath towel discipline
It is therefore up to the hotel operators to ensure that the feeling of scarcity does not arise in the first place. One question remains to be clarified: Is the impression correct that tourists from Germany and England in particular are already marking their territory with bath towels in the early hours of the morning?
This impression has not been scientifically proven, says Alexis Papathanassis. Perhaps it is due to certain stereotypes that are attributed to these nationalities: “You have to have a certain tenacity and discipline to go through this strenuous procedure: lay down your cloth, check it regularly and always make sure that it is not taken away.”
Hopefully we all have more relaxing poolside vacations away from lounge chair corruption.