Romanza Hotel

[Rod]

The wife and I returned on Friday just gone and what a wonderful time spent at the Romanza Hotel.  I was a little concerned about the hill as I have a "knackered knee" but I managed it quite well and it became easier as the holiday progressed.

The food was very good in the Romanza and the staff were perfect.  Thanks Katerina, Dimitris, Andreas, Speros, Eleni and Stella.

My only moan was not regarding the Romanza itself but the actions of some of the guests.  Let me explain.  I must stress the issue I am about to expand on was more irritating than a full blown problem to me and my wife.  There was a small party of five people who "booked" the same sunbeds for the whole of the two week stay.  I kid you not, the same five sunbeds!  We were going for breakfast at roughly 8:30 am and there were the "booked" sunbeds.  What then occurred was a domino effect where other guests started "booking" their sunbeds.  It was not unusual for anywhere between 12 and 20 sunbeds to be draped in  various coloured towels and not one single person present around the pool.  This has to be the most SELFISH act anyone can do on holiday in my opinion.  Even more annoying was the fact sometimes these beds were not being occupied until approx 11:00 and sometimes left unoccupied for most of the day.  Sometimes "owners" of the sunbeds would make a brief appearance and then bugger off to another pool down the village because they deemed it too windy around the Romanza pool.  UNBELIEVABLE!  It did not bother the wife and I too much (honestly) as we like to wander around anyway.  It would be a shame though if an infirm person was not able to sit or lie around the pool due to these SELFISH people.  Totally out of order!

[Jules]

Agree Rod. It is something we wouldn't wish to see every day by the pool at Tereza. After all there is plenty of room for everyone.

[teambunny]

I've never seen that before in San Stef. Its one of the things that make it such a nice place. We stay at Terezas and have never had a problem getting a sunbed at any time.

[Gavlah1973]

Must admit I was always up early at the Romanza to put our towels down when we stayed there however we never ever left it for more than an hour around lunchtime. 
The Tsaros this year often had no beds reserved before 10am.
Occasionally I was the first around 10.30am. Bliss

[Jaxbubbles]

I agree Rod, one of the reasons we love San Stef is there is none of that up at the crack of dawn to get a sunbed. Everywhere we have stayed has been so laid back with no stress. I would have thought the management should have had a word with them. I would have been mad if I had no where to sunbath and people had reserved beds and didn't use them.

[laurenandsam]

Perhaps when the wind picks up the towels can be accidentally blown into the pool!

[Waspman]

I stayed at The Romanza the same time as Rod, and yes, five sun beds were reserved very early in the morning, and yes, the majority were not occupied until later in the morning, but I cannot remember a time where there were no sun beds available but probably not in the prime positions.

I am an early riser and I used to, either lie on the sun bed or have a coffee in close vicinity to it.

It would be difficult for management to impose strict rules as the "five in question" have been regulars for many years, but in principle I do agree with Rod.

By far the best "towels on sun beds" policy I have ever seen is in an hotel in Playa De Las Americas, if towels are left on unoccupied sun beds before 10.00am they and any other personal possessions are removed by the pool staff and the sun beds made available to other guests, great fun to watch!!

[Gavlah1973]

Agree Waspy....

Same in Halkidiki....... you could put your towels out at 6am if you wanted but had to remain with them. If you put them out and they remained unoccupied any time up to 10am they were removed.

[Rod]

I am pleased but not surprised at the support and agreement from you all.  Most on here come across as fair minded nice people.  I thank you all.

I must stress that the bed booking irritated me just a little and we refused to get drawn into any controversy or "tit fot tat".  Some of our friends in the village suggested rising early and doing similar and some even hinted at accidently throwing them into the pool, if that is at all possible.  But we refused and had some great days around other pools and twice on the beach (due to wind, no not me or the wife, the windy weather).  I must say there was no such carry on at the other places we spent our days at.

[YANNIS26]

This is beginning to read more like an Enid Blyton Famous Five adventure.I will solve the mystery for you all, it was I.Yes it was Yiannis who put the five towels out early in the morning.I cannot understand how it slipped Rods & Waspmans memory.Even more so when I was sat on one of the beds reading when they both came down.If not I was having a coffee at the pool bar.Contrary to popular opinion I was not the first with the towels,  four people beat me on a regular basis.The reason Rod noticed a lot of towels on the beds at 0830hrs and only me & Waspman on them is as follows.The breakfast commences at 0730 hrs & people have to pass through the pool area to get there so what is more logical than to drop your towels off on the way.Next question why did I do it,surely it is obvious we are five friends who like to sit together & I am up every morning at 0730hrs, not to put put the towels but because I always get up at this time.Before anyone mentions it I do not go back to bed.Regarding the times these beds are occupied,four of them are among the first occupied  but I must  admit one of them may be as Rod says at 1100hrs.As has been mentioned in previous posts all the beds were not occupied if they had been I would have let this one go.
Now lets get to the crux of the matter.We as a five  spent all day on these beds only leaving them to have lunch or a swim.On on occasion we went down to the Kapetonias because of the wind but all towels were removed.Surely the main culprits are not us but the people who reserve beds and do not use them.Or the ones who disappear for 3-4 hrs in the middle of the day & leave their towels on.These are the ones you should be getting at and not us five.
Yammas
Yiannis

[debra]

Oh No.  Why would anyone need to grab beds?  That would completely put me off and totally at odds with my experience of this lovely village.  Why not just take a bed when you want to sit on it and leave it free when you don't?

[Jimbo]

God - It's the kumquat marmalade wars all over again!

[Gavlah1973]

I've not an issue with anyone reserving em as long as they use them.
By the way the hotel in Halkidiki would have taken some of yours Yiannis..... they had a two towel per one person rule!!!

We sometimes took the little man for a long walk/lunch round the village and if the Tsaros pool looked busy we would take our towels off..... fortunately  there was never anyone round it!!

When we stayed at thw Romanza it was also a bit of an issue. ..... two groups who knew each other would reserve about 12 beds between them. They tended to arrive around 10ish then bathe till circa 2. They would then go to the bar and often not return to their beds.
My opinion was they should have removed em if they had no intention of going back!!

[BAJ]

Now we love the Romanza, we are returning for our fourth consecutive visit at the end of the month.
HOWEVER, we have now visited over all the six weeks of the school hols and everytime the sun bed booking has been present. It is exacerbated by groups who always go the same weeks and meet up every year, block booking beds. Usually sending one early riser down to put numerous towels down, but then not using them til near enough lunch time.
Rod is correct this causes a domino effect, if we are planning a day at the pool we take our towels down and put them on a bed on the way to breakfast. We do go straight to the beds after breakfast though.
Now for the devils advocate bit; I can understand this bed booking because of the 'use any pool policy' in the village. Quite simply for my family to spend 2 weeks there is quite expensive, we are paying for two rooms and four persons at full price, irrelevant these days that two are children. So I would be really peeved if on a day we had planned to spend at the hotel pool, we were paying to stay at, there were no beds because visitors were on them. I appreciate there may not be an issue with bed availability most of the year, but in the six weeks school hols there is rarely any spare beds and guests from nearby apartments do use the pool. To that end I can see the towels going down on the way to breakfast again!

[Rod]

Oh No.  Why would anyone need to grab beds?  That would completely put me off and totally at odds with my experience of this lovely village.  Why not just take a bed when you want to sit on it and leave it free when you don't?

Debra, that would be far too simple.