I found this little story interesting so I wanted to share it with you.

An old friend of mine is staying at Club O. She set up her chair, towel, sunscreen & she went for a walk. When she returned, her towel & sunscreen were gone.

She went to the office, explained what had taken place, they stated she owed them 20 euros. Very firmly stated she owned them 20 euros, they even went as far as saying that this never happens. Sadly it did happen.

She is a mild mannered woman, she is so disappointed by the way she has been treated.

She has dined at the restaurant, had a manicure, massage on the property
as well.

Has anyone else left their towel, on their lounge chair and then gone to take a walk?


Lyn

Never had an issue but always use chair clips to hold the towels in place... might make someone think twice when tempted to take towels. Seems kind of heavy handed to charge a guest after one incident.

When I picked my friend up by the office last evening she told me what had happened, I was quite surprised at the attitude as it seemed rude, she actually checks out this morning.

I personally know two owners & funny enough my friend will be having dinner with one next week in Manhattan. I asked her why don't you call
C... & explain what happened. She feels uncomfortable bringing our friend
into the situation.

Truly unbelievable & the funny thing is, I asked her didn't you ask anyone sitting near you if they saw anything, she then told me there were different
people sitting there when she returned after her walk. I was wondering if someone not staying at the Club may have walked off with her belongings, I still feel Club O did not handle the situation well.

Lyn

Was she staying at Club O?

Uhmn, yes. Please re-read the posts.

Yes, she is, checking out today & she is a returning guest.

She is alone, so sweet, quiet & I have known Sarah for 30 + years.

Lyn--that is unfortunate. I have actually never heard of a Club O towel being taken off a chair before, although I'm sure it must have happened before. I would say most people who stay at Club O and those who like us only visit for the day often leave our stuff there and take a walk or go to lunch. I assume that is a hard and fast policy with them, that the office staff has been instructed not to deviate from.

Carol, I understand, this is a returning guest, she took a short walk as she has hip issues, it was a Club O towel.

I 'me not trying to stir the pot but I find the attitude from Club O to be short, curt & to the the point.

She will pay the 20 euros, it is what is.

Lyn

There must be a rule about "saving" a chair with a towel. Of all the years we have visited, I have never seen a shortage of beach chairs, but maybe with the beach being smaller now this has changed.

Not saying you're stirring the pot at all, but I expect this is just a hard and fast rule.

I understand but even in our business, dealing with thousands of tourists a month, they have been exceptions to our strict polices. That is what is considered excellent customer service, especially to a returning guest that took a walk & left her Club O towel on a Club O lounge chair.
Security?

It doesn't sound like she's the type to rock the boat, but I might have tried to talk to the manager about it.

I've been meaning to ask a question about this topic. From the conversation here, it is assumed that Club O provides beach towels. Where and how do Club O "residents", ie, those staying at Club O for the week, get them?
Thank you.

I think she plans to Carol,when she checks out-but unfortunately for her, it is probably too late.
She also told me last evening, now in the morning when she sets up her chair, towel, sunscreen & later in the day when she wants to take a walk, she will need to return her towel to her room or carry the towel with her on her walk.
Sounds like a silly thing to have to do when you are on vacation, when there is security.
And if it never happens as she was told, then maybe they didn't believe a returning guest? I guess so.
Done here.

I am visiting in a few weeks and staying at a villa in Orient Village. I would like to use the villa's umbrellas and chairs on the clothing optional part of Orient Beach. Is this practical/possible OR does Club O control all the umbrellas, chairs, and towels? Thanks

Ok so this is a Club O policy regarding their own towels? I just want to clarify since we will be coming for day visits and will bring our own towels.

To answer a couple of questions in one go:

Yes, Club O provides towels, both beach and bath, to guests. Guests can bring back the beach towels to the main office to have them replaced as they get dirty or sandy. They are very nice towels, and I understand they had a habit of (ahem) disappearing (no doubt to be souvenirs), thus no doubt the policy of charging for them.

Club O guests also get chairs as part of the service, so no, none of the staff would have taken the towel.

Unfortunately it was probably a non-guest who swiped it ("Uhur, uhur, lookit this towel I stole for the nudie place! Uhur, uhur!"), and Lreserve's friend got stuck between a needed policy and sticky fingers. If she'd had the same neighbors who could attest to the fact that someone walking buy had taken the towel, I imagine the story would have been different.

I too have never heard of a towel vanishing in such a way, but I believe it is possible.

Yes. This was a Club O towel stolen off a Club O lounge chair.

If that's the case than it is really her loss and if it happened to me I would expect to be charged for it. Unfortunate it happened but since it did she should be expected to pay for the replacement.

If I remember correctly, when you check in to Club O the staff informs you of the charges for a lost key and non-returned towels. Frankly I had thought the charge would be applied if you wanted to take one home.
Also, when we returned towels no one ever counted the number returned, we just placed them in a large rolling container and told the desk staff the number of towels we wanted as replacements. Granted we didn't lose any, nor have I ever heard of any thefts.

You can bring your own chairs, umbrellas and towels to Club O beach, yes. You will just need to set up BEHIND the Club O chairs. Not sure how wide the beach is these days, as to whether there is a lot of room behind their chairs or not.

I agree resorts should be more tolerant for returning guests, but all resorts charge for missing towels and seem to follow the same policy. In fact at check-in at most resorts the papers state that guests will be charged $25 for each beach towel that is not returned at check-out.It is an unfortunate situation, but the towel could have easily been stolen by another Club O guest who had their towel missing and wanted to replace it.Sometimes the ones you least suspect are the guilty ones! Fortunately we have never had towels stolen from beach chairs anywhere. When we go for walks or lunch we always leave towels and other things on our chairs, but never electronics or anything of value. We always secure the towels with clips, but perhaps we need to place a large sign there saying"DO NOT REMOVE!"

Grabbing things that don't belong to you seems to be a right amongst some, such a shame.

No one staying at Club O saves a chair with a towel. The chairs are tagged for those guests for the length of their stay and remain theirs whether there is a towel on them or not. The same holds true for 'day guests'. They pay the fee for the chairs and umbrella, their chairs get tagged, and are theirs for the entire day, towel or no towel. Tags are only removed by staff at the end of the day (for day visitors) or at the end of the Club O guest's stay.

I personally have never had this happen to me while on the Club O beach, as a guest or day visitor. But I'm sure it happens from time to time. I do understand their hard and fast rule -- I'm sure some would take advantage of it otherwise. With that being said, I do have to say we had a somewhat similar thing happen earlier this month while staying at Royal Palm. There were 5 beach towels placed in our unit prior to check-in, with a welcome letter that explained that each unit is supplied with SIX beach towels, the towel exchange policy, and the charge for missing towels. Unfortunately, I didn't see read that welcome letter until a few days after we checked in (because I was sick, but still my mistake). However, when I DID read it, and realized we should have had 6 towels and not 5, I immediately went down to the desk and explained the situation. The desk person couldn't have been nicer. She looked up our room #, made a note, and told us all was well and not to worry about it. They never charged our credit card for it. Sometimes a little customer service goes a long way. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for all of the clarification. Seems logical now. I guess I would ask my neighbors to watch my towel or take it with me.

We also take our own colorful beach towels, which we place over the Club O light colored ones. This makes our chairs more identifiable from the water, as the current tends to move one toward the rocks from where they entered. It also provides an extra layer of comfort from the chair straps, and would make it more difficult for someone wanting a souvenir Club O towel. We've had our chair tags taken, haven't lost a towel yet, but probably most places have a similar policy. You would also be charged if you lost your room key or parking pass.

Not done yet...lol

She didn't take the towel to a outside restaurant or on her walk, in her car or leave it somewhere outside of Club O.

It was stolen from a Club O lounge chair. She was a guest. Considering it was an unusual situation & that Club O stated to her that it NEVER happens, you'd think they would have been more understanding.

So, lesson learned, for those of you who choose to take a walk, leave your Club O towels on Club O lounge chair, you may come back to see your towels missing, although it never seems to happen, it did this past weekend.

Just a heads up to anyone that would like to know....

usually guests staying at Club O have a permanent tag on their chairs with their room # and date of departure on them so they are easily identified.

No one in reception should have told her that "this never happens" - that is something that I hope Stephen (if he still is there) will pick up on and have some appropriate conversation. Even if you need to charge her for the lost towel, you do not insult her with such a statement.

Hopefully, this is just a one time aberration as people (including us) will leave towels and stuff on chairs all the time to take a walk, go in the water, or have lunch. Usually, in my experience, people do not specifically ask others to watch their stuff if all it is is a towel and some miscellaneous stuff of no particular value. Peopple do keep their eyes open generally for each other, I think. Some folks go out early and put their towels on their chairs and then go for a walk to the other end of the beach - never giving it a thought that someone is going to steal a towel.

Bear in mind we don't know what the tone of the comment was. There is a big difference between "(Gasp!) That never happens around here.(I'm horrified that someone stole a towel)" and "(Sigh)That never happens around here. (You must be making it up)"

When we stayed at Club O in August 2009, we came from the beach and put our damp CLub O towels on the chair in front of our room (#19) to dry out while we went inside for lunch. We came out about 45 minutes later, and both towels were gone. We looked around thinking maybe the cleaning ladies might have picked them up, but saw no one anywhere around. We went directly to the front office to report the missing towels. They charge us the $30.00 US per towel, and gave us two more towels. Back then, the towels were really nice and plush, and a bright yellow but certainly not worth $30.00 each. The ones they gave us in October 2014 were well worn, and a faded yellow. They were not worth even $10.00. I wonder how Club O arrives at that price for the towels??

So now we know you can't leave your Club O towels on your Club O lounge chairs or outside Club O villa to dry.

I think my friend Sarah deserves an apology from the front office for their unprofessional behavior, rude comment regarding this situation.

That's really unfortunate. The type of inconvenience one really doesn't need while on vacation. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

She really should email management to share her experience. It's hard to correct (or even investigate!) a problem when one doesn't know about it.

One day we went to the office to exchange our towels and one lady behind the desk rudely blurted out something to make sure we showed her we had two dirty towels going into the bin to correspond to our two fresh ones.
real snarky <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

This is a key sentence in this story... Did she look at the wristbands afixed to the frame of the lounger and see if she was at the correct chairs? If she REALLY was a overnight Club O guest (and you have to be staying at the resort in order to get Club O towels issued to you) then the beach boys would have fastened their two "wristbands" with the first 3 or 4 letters of their last names to the frame of the lounger for the duration of their stay.

The part of the story that the people on the nearby chairs were different when she returned just doesn't ring true...unless she (they?) got confused and went to the wrong chairs! Since the wrist bands are firmly affixed to the chairs for the duration of your stay, you tend to have the same neighbors every day!


Something does not quite ring true with this story.....IMHO...

Bill, we have always tagged our own chairs in the afternoon after we check in. Have never had the beach boys tag our chairs except when we were day guests.
Sorry to hear about the lady's bad experience. The reception/office staff are some of the most cheerful and helpful of all the cheerful and helpful Club O employees which is saying a lot.
However if I lost a towel or a key I would pay for them.

All this discussion about a missing beach towel. WOW.

One does have to wonder how often towels go missing from other parts of the beach, yes...

Bill, I'm not going to argue with you whether my friend stayed at Club O or not, that is ridiculous.

You can believe & say what you want to say, her Club O towel was taken from her Club O lounge tagged chair. She was a guest at Club Orient for 5 evenings.

Our friend is not a detective, nor should she have to be while on vacation.

Lyn

Update:

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 22, 2015, at 8:29 AM,


From: sarahge
Date: January 22, 2015 at 7:00:33 AM AST
To: L<la
Subject: Re: Towel

Hi Lyn,

They did not charge me for the towel. I think calling to report it as a theft may have helped.

Thanks again for getting me out on the town the other night! I had a great time. If you come up in May let's compare schedules we could probably arrange an overnight for you at my house at the beach if you want.

xo,

Sarah


* So I thinking she made a telephone call to management. Case solved.

* And perhaps when she returned to her tagged ClubO chair that afternoon, after her walk,the guests or non- guests must have left for the day, another couple, non-guest or guests sat next to her. She was alone. So to expect her to notice everyone sitting around her is rather silly, as mentioned she is quiet & was looking for 5 days of relaxation.



Sent from my iPad