Occupying deck chairs

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Beach chairs covered with towels in a hotel complex on Fuerteventura

The occupation of deckchairs is a case study considered in sociology of how a new system of order arises in a space that appears to be free of law. Thereby , deckchairs that are typically close to the pool , the number of which is limited, are marked by placing bath towels so that they can be recognized as occupied by newcomers. There are some variants of this case study, for example that new arrivals on a cruise ship can change the order system. This social dilemma is also considered in game theory ; the usual variants are a prisoner's dilemma with more than two people.

This procedure of deck chair allocation gained a lot of fame as a clichéd, intercultural conflict between British and Germans on vacation on Mallorca . It is assumed that Germans find it less difficult to get up early on vacation than Englishmen and that they take advantage of this time advantage to reserve the best loungers by the pool for themselves in the morning before breakfast by placing bath towels. This led to headlines such as “Sunbed Wars” or “Towel War” in the tabloids of both countries.

problem

In a recreation or leisure facility, deck chairs are available for guests. These are used by guests from time to time, typically in alternation with other activities such as swimming or having a sauna. There are fewer deck chairs than guests due to a lack of space or for economic reasons. Usually the number of loungers is designed so that they would be sufficient for all guests based on the average duration of use. In some cases, there are also more desirable and less popular berths, for example due to different good locations or different levels of comfort.

The problem is that the availability of free lounge chairs may not be sufficient when guests move to optimize personal availability by marking the lounge chairs as occupied before use or during breaks in use, typically by spreading a towel on the lounge chair. The towel is often put down in the same way as when the bed is actually used. In some cases, a book or magazine is placed on the bed in addition to or in its place of the towel, also in an open form, possibly to suggest a short period of absence.

Sociological consideration

The Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman (1922–1982) assumed that people tend to create “territories of the self” in public space by marking a certain area. This would not create a claim to ownership, the primary aim would be to keep others at a distance. To establish the claim to such a territory, “markers” are used, which can also be done with sunglasses, sunscreen or a wallet.

The sociologist Ronald Staples suspects that people as consumers would not be willing to cooperate with one another on complicated tactical levels during leisure time, in contrast to everyday working life. For example, paying for your vacation would automatically, albeit subconsciously, associate a claim to a deck chair and you would not be willing to give it back once you have conquered it.

A case study by the sociologist Heinrich Popitz (1925–2002) is well known in this context . He describes the situation on a cruise ship, where the limited number of deckchairs is initially sufficient because a pure right of use is practiced without permanent claims. Only when new passengers board at a port does a new order arise, since the new passengers assert their claim to ownership even when they are not present. In Popitz's case study, occupancy symbols alone are not enough to establish the new order; this is only possible through the cohesion of the owners. On the question of how a minority can succeed in asserting their claim to property against the majority, Popitz gives two explanations: firstly, the deckchair owners would convey a superior organizational ability and secondly, the lack of resistance from the others would strengthen the owners' feeling of being right .

One reason why occupancy symbols work is certainly that there is a certain respect for personal property in our society. It takes more effort to remove personal belongings, even if one could rely on posted notice boards requesting that couches not be permanently occupied.

Legal position

Guests must share the generally accessible facilities of a leisure or holiday facility with others. This also includes deck chairs set up in the facility, unless they are explicitly assigned to a guest. A discarded towel or other personal items deposited on a deck chair do not justify any claim of ownership. For example, under German law, a so-called short possession created by a towel , which does not represent a legal position worthy of protection. Under Spanish law, Art. 460 Código Civil makes a similar provision. Objects left on deck chairs can be removed; however, it must be ensured that the owner gets them back. Since the operator of a leisure facility has house rights for his facility, he can make other arrangements, for example a reservation system for a fee.

In 2016, headlines hit the news that near the Italian city of Livorno, police had confiscated deckchairs, umbrellas, towels and swimwear. These items had been brought to the beach the previous evening to reserve a place for the next day. The police returned the items on payment of a fine. The violation of a municipal ordinance prohibiting the bringing of bathing and camping utensils to the public beach before 8:30 a.m. was sanctioned. Similar measures have also been taken in Spain.

Game theory

From a game theory point of view, the occupancy of deck chairs corresponds to the prisoner's dilemma with several people. In the original dilemma, two prisoners who have committed a crime together are the actors. They will be interrogated separately and it would be optimal for both of them to remain silent. In the event of a confession, however, an even more favorable offer is made to each individual, but this is at the expense of the accomplice, who then receives a significantly higher penalty. But if both confess, it doesn't help either.

Similarly, when loungers are occupied, the greatest common benefit would be not to use any occupancy symbols. Then the probability would be greatest for everyone to find a free lounger if necessary. If some people go over to reserving loungers in advance using a towel, it ensures availability for those making the reservation, but for everyone else the probability of finding a free berth decreases.

A generalization of the prisoner's dilemma with several people is the public goods game , the best-known variant of which is the tragedy of the commons . In this case, a village community has communal pasture land and a cooperation would consist in using this for their own cattle within an appropriate framework. If individual villagers fail to do so, overgrazing will result, which is a disadvantage for everyone. When loungers are occupied, the use of occupancy symbols instead of overuse results in an inefficient use of the communal resource.

In all of these games, defection rather than cooperation is a dominant strategy and the only Nash equilibrium is that all guests use occupancy symbols. In any case, this applies to a finite game, and this is usually the case with the couchette occupancy due to the change of guests, which is why reputation often cannot have a decisive influence.

Cultural differences

As guests of a hotel complex or a cruise ship, Germans have a reputation for reserving their deck chairs with a bath towel early in the morning. With the advent of mass tourism , a corresponding cultural myth arose, especially in England, in which the Germans are referred to as the Beach Towel Brigade . The action took place mostly in hotel complexes in Spain, where for example in 1991 around 35% of the guests came from Germany and 26% from England. Such a planned and strategic approach in leisure time is perceived as contradicting the English way of life, and also as a violation of fairness. The popularity of this cultural cliché can be seen, for example, in the fact that an English television reporter commented on the German team's entry into the finals at the 2002 World Cup with the following metaphor : “ The Germans have got their towels down for the final already. ”(German:“ The Germans have already laid down their towels for the finals. ”) This cliché is also played by an advertising spot for the Carling brewery from 1994: Germans want to reserve deck chairs early in the morning in a hotel complex. A British guy beats them, however, by wrapping a can of Carling Black Label in his towel and bouncing it over the water of the swimming pool like a roll bomb so that the towel lands exactly on the last free lounger. The theme melody of the film The Dam Busters also plays . The spot was later criticized as "anti-German".

It is controversial how much truth there is in the myth. A study that the Munich psychologist Till Roenneberg carried out together with the University of Oxford comes to the conclusion that Germans and British get up at about the same time when they are on vacation and therefore have at least no time advantage when occupying the pool chairs. A research published in 2019 suggests that guests of other nationalities, like Germans, tend to block lounge chairs. In addition, the prejudice-free perception is impaired by the presence of the topic in the media. Guests would be welcomed if a tourist facility took countermeasures to avoid permanent blockage, for example by having the staff periodically clear away items left on the loungers, with a note indicating where the items are to be picked up.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Stephanie Boecker, Alexis Papathanassis: 'Sunbed wars': A Holiday Nuisance and Its Impact on Holiday Satisfaction. In: Alexis Papathanassis, Stavros Katsios, Nicoleta Ramona Dinu (eds.): Yellow Tourism: Crime and Corruption in the Holiday Sector. Springer, Cham 2019, ISBN 978-3-319-94663-4 , pp. 167-189 ( Google books ).
  2. ^ Johannes Leithäuser: German-British relationship: The towel war is on! In: FAZ.net updated on July 15, 2011, accessed on February 17, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Claudia Füßler: The fight for the loungers at the pool. An everyday phenomenon scientifically considered. In: General-Anzeiger Bonn. March 31, 2018, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Why the towel fight begins on vacation. Animal behavior. In: Merkur.de . July 24, 2015, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  5. ^ Erving Goffman: Relations in Public. Basic Books, New York 1971, ISBN 978-1-4128-1006-7 , p. 41 ( Google books ).
  6. ↑ Heinrich Popitz: Processes of power building . In: Law and State in Past and Present . 3. Edition. No. 362/363 . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1968, ISBN 3-16-538071-6 , p. 7–14 ( online [PDF; 5.5 MB ]).
  7. ↑ a b Gabriela Baumgartner: Is that allowed? - Can you "board" loungers by the pool? In: Kassensturz Espresso. SRF , June 25, 2013, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b Ralf Höcker: Objection !: The great book of legal errors. Ullstein, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-548-37346-1 , pp. 145f ( Google books ).
  9. ↑ Florian Flaig: You can reserve deckchairs. In: Focus Online . January 17, 2008, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Harald Martenstein: Towel war at the pool: Lie and let lie. In: Tagesspiegel . June 7, 2018, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  11. ↑ a b Towel on the beach - fine ?: Fines: Towel trouble on the beach. Bayerischer Rundfunk , August 22, 2016, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Simone Lanari: Cecina, diventa un caso internazionale la guerra delle sdraio. In: Corriere Fiorentino. August 12, 2016, accessed February 17, 2020 (Italian).
  13. ↑ a b c d Self-Organizing Network Systems: Prisoner's Dilemma at the swimming pool. August 31, 2010 ( online ).
  14. ↑ a b Gernot Sieg: Game Theory. 3rd edition, Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-59657-1 , p. 7f.
  15. ↑ a b Andreas Diekmann: Game theory. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-55701-9 , pp. 29–31, p. 120.
  16. ^ A b Manfred A. Nowak, Roger Highfield: Cooperative Intelligence. The secret of success of evolution. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-65547-0 , pp. 225–246.
  17. ^ A b Garry Whannel: Culture, Politics and Sport: Blowing the Whistle, Revisited. Routledge, London / New York 2008, ISBN 0-415-41706-6 , pp. 177-181 ( Google books ).
  18. ↑ Dambuster beer advert leaves a bad taste. In: The Independent. February 18, 1994, accessed February 17, 2020.
  19. ↑ Christoph Driessen: Why Germans put the towel on the couch. In: The world . August 1, 2014, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Andreas Lukoschik: Do the staff sleep on board too ?: An ABC of cruises. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-462-04506-2 , pp. 157-160 ( Google books ).

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