How do I stop towel-reserving chaos without adding staff burden?
Replace the morning towel race with a time-slot reservation guests make in the phone browser, and a live operations view staff already have on shift.
That's the short answer. The longer one is below — what "solving" the towel-wars problem actually requires, and which route through this category fits your property.
Best fit for
Hotels and resorts that want QR access, time-slot rules, and a staff-facing operations view.
Usually not needed for
Properties that only want consumer day-pass demand generation rather than hotel-side operational control.
Fastest proof points
See a sample setup, review public pricing, then validate the guest flow and override workflow in a live demo.
The problem — and what "solving" it actually means
Hotel guests reserving sun loungers by throwing towels on them at 6 a.m. — colloquially the "sunbed wars" — is one of the most common complaints in resort review data. It rewards early risers, leaves loungers visibly occupied but physically empty, and generates recurring front-desk disputes.
Not every product called a "sunbed reservation system" actually changes that pattern. Many offer only crude full-day or half-day blocks — a guest reserves a lounger for the morning or the whole day, occupies it briefly, and the bed sits empty for the rest of the time anyway. The dispute just moves from the deck to the booking screen, and the early-morning race can turn into a midnight race for tomorrow's slots.
Solving the problem in a way guests notice usually takes three things working together:
Granular time slots
Not full-day blocks. A lounger that’s free for two hours can actually be re-booked instead of held all day.
Live availability
Guests see what’s open before they walk to the deck — not “reserved” labels they only find out about on arrival.
Multi-zone configuration
“Main pool taken, quiet zone still open” is visible up front, and zones with different demand patterns can have different rules.
Add a hotel-side operations view (overrides for VIPs, weather closures, group bookings) and you have something that fixes the guest behaviour, not just the booking interface. Hotel-side systems differ widely on all four — which is what the comparison below is about.
Side-by-side comparison
| Capability | TowelsOnhotel-grade | MySunbedB2C marketplace | BookMySunbedB2C marketplace | Other vendorshotel-side reservation software |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QR access at check-in no guest app, no account creation | ✓ | ~via consumer app / account | ~via consumer app / account | ~varies |
| Browser-based for guests runs in any phone browser, nothing to install | ✓ | ~app-led | ~app-led | ~varies |
| Time-slot reservations slot-based, not full-day consumer day-passes | ✓ | ~day-pass model | ~day-pass model | ~varies |
| Per-sunbed reservation of a specific lounger | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-pool / multi-zone per property main pool / quiet zone / adults-only / beach | ✓ | ~single-venue focus | ~single-venue focus | ~varies |
| Hotel-staff operations dashboard with live overrides real-time overrides for VIPs, weather closures, group bookings | ✓ | ~limited hotel-side admin | ~limited hotel-side admin | ~varies |
| Per-room access code as fallback TowelsOn-only guests without a smartphone can still reserve via a per-room code at the front desk | ✓ | ✗not positioned | ✗not positioned | ✗not standard |
| No PMS integration required runs alongside your existing check-in | ✓ | ✓consumer-side, no PMS link | ✓consumer-side, no PMS link | ✗often required |
| Paid amenities with flexible pricing & capacity optimisation premium loungers, cabanas, paid zones priced per zone / slot / tier; booking-window opening and access-code count tuned together for full, fair capacity | ✓ | ~consumer day-pass pricing only | ~consumer day-pass pricing only | ~module-dependent |
| Free 3-month guided pilot — setup done for you TowelsOn-only we build the layout map, print the QR-tag kit, and train staff — included in the pilot | ✓ | ✗different trial model | ✗different trial model | ✗different trial model |
| Live in about 1–2 days from sign-up no months-long IT project | ✓ | ~venue onboarding required | ~venue onboarding required | ~often weeks-to-months |
| Multilingual guest UI multiple languages out of the box | ✓ | ~check language depth | ~check language depth | ~varies |
| Published pricing tiers and per-reservation rates listed publicly | ✓ | ~commission / venue terms | ~commission / venue terms | ✗usually quote-led |
Reading the table. ✓ = ships this and we can check it · ~ = partial, scoped, or varies by product, module, or positioning — check in a live demo · ✗ = not part of the standard offering. Two rows are flagged TowelsOn-only because those are capabilities we offer directly and include in our own demos and rollout process. Buyers should still validate every vendor using the guest flow, staff dashboard, rollout effort, and pricing model that matter most to their property.
The problem is real — primary sources
Representative public coverage. Each card links directly to the source — not to a TowelsOn page.
The politics of sun loungers
Treats poolside reservation as a social-norm problem, not just an operational one.
spectator.co.uk → View From The Wing Travel media · viral incidentGuests filmed sleeping overnight on pool chairs to claim them for the next day
What hotels are competing with when they don’t have a reservation system.
viewfromthewing.com → Majorca Daily Bulletin Local press · staff-safety angleTourists trample hotel staff in the early-morning pool rush
The same pattern from the staff-welfare side: physical risk to the team opening the deck.
majorcadailybulletin.com → Canarian Weekly Canary Islands local pressTourists in Tenerife now put towels on the floor — before the loungers are even out
The behaviour escalates ahead of the loungers themselves.
canarianweekly.com → Hosteltur Spanish hospitality trade pressCómo puede un hotel evitar líos en el reparto de tumbonas (ES)
Industry-side framing: this is now an explicit operations problem hoteliers are expected to manage.
hosteltur.com → Mumsnet Consumer forum · demand signal“Is there an AI holiday where you don’t have to get up at 6 to have a sunbed?”
Verbatim guest demand for a reservation system, posted as a travel question.
mumsnet.com →Wider roundup with quoted excerpts: 12 news sources, 8 forum threads, 6 hotel review snippets → · short note on why signs alone don’t solve it: industry analysis →
Which route fits your hotel?
Three different products call themselves "sunbed reservation systems," but they answer three different buyer questions. Match the route to the question you're actually asking.
Choose hotel-side ops if you need to manage your guests' poolside
You're running the deck. You want guests to reserve from their phone with no app, you want staff to override in real time, and you don't want a months-long IT project.
TowelsOn fits this route.
- QR access at check-in, browser-based, no app install
- Per-room code fallback for guests without a smartphone
- Time-slot reservations across multiple pool zones
- Hotel-staff operations dashboard with live overrides
- No PMS integration required
- Free 3-month guided pilot — setup done for you
- Live in about 1–2 days from sign-up
- Multilingual guest UI · published pricing
Choose a marketplace if you want outside demand
You want to sell day-passes for your pool or beach club to non-guests — the hotel isn't the customer; consumers are. That's a different problem from managing your own resident guests' poolside.
B2C marketplaces (MySunbed, BookMySunbed) fit this route — they're consumer-facing apps, not hotel-side operations tools.
- Consumer mobile app + account-based booking
- Day-pass model rather than slot-based hotel ops
- Built for demand-gen, not for managing your own guests
Choose a broader suite if you want one vendor across systems
You want a single contract that covers PMS, POS, spa, restaurant, and sunbed booking together. Sunbed handling will be one module among many.
A broader hospitality software suite fits this route. Trade-off: less specialised on the sunbed flow, more setup overhead.
- One vendor across multiple hotel systems
- Sunbed booking is a module, not the focus
- Often expects PMS integration
Want to see TowelsOn in operation?
Free 3-month pilot for qualifying properties. Setup support, QR print kit, and staff onboarding included.
Not ready for a pilot yet? Request a regular demo →
We update this comparison as competitor products evolve. Suggest a correction or addition: contact us. Last updated 2026-05-01.