San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu
Welcome to San Stefanos (NW Corfu) => Where to stay => Topic started by: Rod on July 08, 2013, 06:46:15 PM
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Perhaps when the wind picks up the towels can be accidentally blown into the pool!
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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!!
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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God - It's the kumquat marmalade wars all over again!
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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!!
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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!
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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.
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Imagine the Romanza PR Function being flagrantly caught reserving loungers German-style!!
I agree with Jaxbubbles, one of the things we loved about San Stef ( 4 years at Olgas) is we never experienced any of the sun bed 'land grab' behaviour described on this post. Well done Rod for exposing this.
But, my oh my, ........by the hotel's head of PR. Abuse of position I'd say.....even allowing for the 'mea culpa' ;)
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Imagine the Romanza PR Function being flagrantly caught reserving loungers German-style!!
I agree with Jaxbubbles, one of the things we loved about San Stef ( 4 years at Olgas) is we never experienced any of the sun bed 'land grab' behaviour described on this post. Well done Rod for exposing this.
But, my oh my, ........by the hotel's head of PR. Abuse of position I'd say.....even allowing for the 'mea culpa' ;)
Good one Lofty but do you not realise that this only goes to prove that the Romanza pool is by far the most popular in the village.Another resounding success for the Romanza PR Dept.
To quote Brendan Behan
There is no bad publicity except your obituary.
This part of the posting is not to be taken seriousely but the following is.
I have tendered my resignation from the forum with immediate effect.Believe me it has nothing to do with the sunbeds, or shall we be honest & say it may have been the straw that broke the camels back.I joined to exchange views with like minded people to support the wonderful village of San Stefanos.This over the years has become more & more difficult to do.I continuousely find myself at odds with certain members & to have a reasoned debate was becoming extremely difficult.I do not intend to name names it could even be my fault.One thing is certain I may have left the forum but hopefully I will return to this wonderful village for many years to come.
One final word of advice to you all.Get back to basics & post relevant info in the main pages of the forum.Use the members only section for general chitchat that is of no interest whatsover to none members.My final words of advice are for all members to support each other & not to be thinking where can I score the next Brownie point at a fellow members expense.
Goodbye to you all, despite everything there has been some good times .
Yammas
Yiannis
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Yiannis
Please dont leave the forum you have been more than helpful to me, I feel that these people are trying to wind you up
when they should be promoting the good things about San Stefanos.
Like you I will put my towel on a sunbed when I visit in August as I will no doubt be the first to go to breakfast as I am an
early riser too.
I would not like to think I had to walk up and down the hill to visit someone elses pool while visitors have their bums on
sunbeds that should be given to the people staying at the Romanza.
Please dont leave I thoroughly enjoy your postings
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Unnecessary, unjustified and racist comments Lofty, WIND YER NECK IN
This forum needs members like Yiannis, others???
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The Romanza is a bit different from other places due to the location. This makes it more of a pool based hol than other hotels meaning the sunbeds will be in high demand!!
This year at the Tsaros most folk definitely headed off to the beach. Id say a much higher % than when we stayed at the Romanza last time
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Yiannis
Please dont leave the forum you have been more than helpful to me, I feel that these people are trying to wind you up
when they should be promoting the good things about San Stefanos.
Like you I will put my towel on a sunbed when I visit in August as I will no doubt be the first to go to breakfast as I am an
early riser too.
I would not like to think I had to walk up and down the hill to visit someone elses pool while visitors have their bums on
sunbeds that should be given to the people staying at the Romanza.
Please dont leave I thoroughly enjoy your postings
Hi Julie
Thanks for your support.As I have said before I was only too happy to help.Have a great time at the Romanza.
I have just confirmed my resignation with Cerys so this in all probability will be my last post.
Yammas
Yiannis
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Bye Yiannis.
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I've found a lot of your posts very helpful Yiannis, it's a real shame you've felt a bit pushed out. It's such a lovely forum after all...heated discussions about sunbed saving seems so unnecessary!
I bet poor Rod wishes he never mentioned it!!
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Unfortunately it's something that upsets a lot of people have to say never had a problem in San Stefanos with it.Had it in Zante where 3 large families did it and left poor Granny minding the empty beds until after lunch most days.
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I've found a lot of your posts very helpful Yiannis, it's a real shame you've felt a bit pushed out. It's such a lovely forum after all...heated discussions about sunbed saving seems so unnecessary!
I bet poor Rod wishes he never mentioned it!!
Georgie, quite the opposite. It was something I had to get off my chest and an issue that needed raising, warning future guests about the possibility of not being able to have a relaxing holiday by the pool had to be said. I may have just been unlucky, being that time of the year or whatever. For the record, I thought Yiannis contributed some good stuff on this board. The wife and I also spoke to Yiannis on holiday and expressed our feelings regarding the sunbeds. It was all quite amicable actually. This is certainly not a witch hunt.
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It's getting even better than the kumquat wars!
Ian has taken his towel and left the forum. George has accused David of racism.
Romanza is obviously heading for being the next Benidorm series.
My personal view is that poaching free sunbeds is antisocial: we pay for our sunbeds on the beach and consequently have a right to them. Free sunbeds should not be available for long term claim. It's arrogant and selfish behaviour.
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Georgie, quite the opposite. It was something I had to get off my chest and an issue that needed raising, warning future guests about the possibility of not being able to have a relaxing holiday by the pool had to be said. I may have just been unlucky, being that time of the year or whatever. For the record, I thought Yiannis contributed some good stuff on this board. The wife and I also spoke to Yiannis on holiday and expressed our feelings regarding the sunbeds. It was all quite amicable actually. This is certainly not a witch hunt.
Don't get me wrong, Rod, I wasn't saying your post was unnecessary, was just a shame the conversation had to turn sour that was all.
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Georgie, quite the opposite. It was something I had to get off my chest and an issue that needed raising, warning future guests about the possibility of not being able to have a relaxing holiday by the pool had to be said. I may have just been unlucky, being that time of the year or whatever. For the record, I thought Yiannis contributed some good stuff on this board. The wife and I also spoke to Yiannis on holiday and expressed our feelings regarding the sunbeds. It was all quite amicable actually. This is certainly not a witch hunt.
Hi Rod
As my membership has not yet been cancelled I guess I should take this oppourtunity to clarify one minor detail of our discuussion.It took place very early in the holiday & was the only one.Yes it was amicable but I strongly disagree that any reference was made to sunbeds.Do you honestly believe I am the sort of person that once made aware of your concerns would have blatently ignored them.Also why did you not mention this discussion in your original posting.
Yammas
Yiannis
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Hi Rod
As my membership has not yet been cancelled I guess I should take this oppourtunity to clarify one minor detail of our discuussion.I agree it was amicable but I strongly disagree that any reference was made to sunbeds.Do you honestly believe I am the sort of person that once made aware of your concerns would have blatently ignored them.
Yammas
Yiannis
Yiannis, your memory is going. You could'nt wait to tell the rest of your gang about our confidential little chat. Your EXACT words were "they (me and wifey) dont like me putting towels on beds". You also excused your sunbed booking exploits due to the fact that that you were sitting on or nearby the aforementioned sunbeds. We also discussed your frustrations and apathy towards the San Stef forum and the wife taking the mickey out of your name (she still refers to you as Ian). Honestly, we still remember. I have no idea as to what kind of personanality you have by the way and this is not a personal attack. However, I do know that you are the kind of person who books sunbeds en masse. (Did I really type that last sentence)?
You do realise Jimbo is getting great material for his new book/tv programme from these ramblings dont you?
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Good on you for being a man and bringing up the subject face to face Rod! Even if a satisfactory solution wasn't reached, atleast you tried!
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Ian has taken his towel and left the forum. George has accused Gavin of racism.
Think you need to revise the Gavin bit here Jimbo, read it again!!
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Good on you for being a man and bringing up the subject face to face Rod! Even if a satisfactory solution wasn't reached, atleast you tried!
Thanks D@G. I must stress that I found the sunbed booking more irritating than anything and we were more concerned about other guests that possibly were less mobile than us.
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Yiannis, your memory is going. You could'nt wait to tell the rest of your gang about our confidential little chat. Your EXACT words were "they (me and wifey) dont like me putting towels on beds". You also excused your sunbed booking exploits due to the fact that that you were sitting on or nearby the aforementioned sunbeds. We also discussed your frustrations and apathy towards the San Stef forum and the wife taking the mickey out of your name (she still refers to you as Ian). Honestly, we still remember. I have no idea as to what kind of personanality you have by the way and this is not a personal attack. However, I do know that you are the kind of person who books sunbeds en masse. (Did I really type that last sentence)?
You do realise Jimbo is getting great material for his new book/tv programme from these ramblings dont you?
Hi Rod
It is my word against yours & I know I am telling the truth.This last post of yours is a tissue of lies from start to finish.One good thing about it is my decision to jump ship is made far much easier .Certain people will be delighted to know this is my last ever post.
Yammas
Yiannis
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Hi Rod
It is my word against yours & I know I am telling the truth.This last post of yours is a tissue of lies from start to finish.One good thing about it is my decision to jump ship is made far much easier .Certain people will be delighted to know this is my last ever post.
Yammas
Yiannis
I do NOT tell lies! Do you know in an earlier post you asked why I never mentioned our discussion. I thought I was being discreet and polite by not naming you as I knew you were a regular on here. But you came storming in to brag that it was you. I'm certainly not delighted that it may be your last post but not too upset either. I shall refrain from name calling or branding you a liar.
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This topic seems to be turning sour and no one wants to see anyone leave the forum. I see that both sides of the coin have been discussed and unless you wish to post a consrtuctive comment related to the topic, I would ask that forum rivalries be left at the door.
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Well said Cerys, this year will be our 9th year of going to the Romanza, in all our time going there we have not come up against anything like this. no matter what time of the day that we go round the pool area we have always managed to get a sunbed, even when we have left the pool area and returned later there was always sunbeds free. All i can say is roll on monday so we can get back to our favourite holiday destination.
Chill out folks. ;)
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I would like to add a comment.I can see both sides of things here.Two years running we stayed at Nafsica, booked direct with Speros.On both of those holidays most of the sun beds had towels on before breakfast had started, not from people staying at Nafsica, but from the appartments around.Which to be honest was a bit annoying, we dont use a pool everyday, like the beach also, but when you are forced to go elsewhere its not nice.Now looking at it from the other side, we have been going selfcatering for many years also, and use many of the pools around the village, but tend to only go around 10 so at least it gives the chance for the residents to get beds if needed.I think its just a case of useing your loaf and some give and take, after all everybody wants a nice relaxing holiday.
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This is all getting a bit petty and childish isn't it? We never lie around any pools,preferring the beach or going for walks or meeting
friends in the taverna and having a chat,but hey ho each to his own.
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All, I'm reverting to Yammas Bar where this conversation can carry on with the Members without the outside world looking at the dirty washing :-)
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From our own personal point of view we never put towels down before we want to sunbathe by the pool at Teresa. If we got back to the pool and there wasn't any room we would use the beach . Glad to say though we have never had the problem of not getting a lounger either by the pool or on the grass area.
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Ive no issue someone leaving them and then going for breakfast. As long as you're going to spend the vast majority of the day on them!!
Romanza Man..... it deffo happened when we were all there..... a certain group, whom im sure you know who...... used to lay on them on the morning then would go for 'a quick drink' around lunchtime and never return!!
One night we went out and they were still there at 8pm, sat around the bar, in there trunks etc. Towels still on loungers!!
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Yiannis - stay - don't go. This is democracy and everyone has a right to their own opinions - to be said freely and without judgement. Yiannis you are valued by so many on here - that has got to feel good.
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Cerys - I never said a word - - - - - - it wasn't me!! Honest1!!!
But for the record - - I have just bought ten new Kevlar Towels with loops and motorbike cable locks....
I intend to lock my bullet-proof towels to the Romanza beds and go for a walk.........
C'mon you lot chill out please - - -and don't nick my sunbeds.......
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As he gone yet ;)