Do you like Hotel/motel pools and hottubs?

[Queen K]

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#254653

Better hope the plaintiffs lose if you love to use a pool or hottub as part of your hotel vacation.

As tragic as the story is, no hotel chain could possilby hold to the standard which the plaintiffs are suing for. None of them. Especially not mom and pop hotels and motels.

I had an incident in Penticton which would absolutely curl your straight hair two weekends ago. And it wasn't the just the management at fault, it was the parents drinking open alcohol in the pool area, but one level up from the pool. Not one parent was actively supervising the nine children in the hot tub and pool.

Guess what the behavior was?

Cannonballs into to the pool.
Holding each other under water, in the hottub. One girl did that to the other.
Screaming and throwing water into each other faces.
Jumping up on the garden walls, walking on them and uprooting plants.
Leaves were all over the pool deck and walking areas.
One kid stood on the lounge chairs.
Kids on each other shoulders in the main pool, playing chicken and roughhousing.
One boy got deep gouge wounds on his arm.


Absolutely no one took charge. We saw one man get up to talk to one kid but nothing changed. At one point a parent mom got up to take cell phone photos I guessed of me watching the kids. Because guess what, I decided someone had to. Parents weren't. Once the kids left the hottub we went over to it and the kids stayed mainly in the pool area.

Let's see: management was afraid to talk to the parents. Parents were afraid to parent regarding pool rules. Kids? Were afraid of no one. Not even the adults in the pool telling them cannonballing into the pool was wrong. My actual words were, "rules are no diving in the pool" and I was told by the kids, "we weren't diving." Ya, okay, canonballing is different, I could be swimming and you can land on me.

Why didn't we leave and go back to our hotel room? Because we were SOBER. The parents up on half deck over were not, they had beer cans everywhere.


UP Shot? For the first time in my travelling life I made formal complaints to the front desk and to the manager. He called.

Guess what I told him? "Your policy for the pool is written in dark lettering, in dark tiles mounted on a dark surface, in poorly lit areas. YOU need to up date and make the pool rules more clear and readable. Not to protect your patrons, but to protect YOU and your hotel chain."

He said, "I guess it's sad we're becoming more Americanized." I concurred, "yes it is, that's why you have to do it."

I actually plan to check to see if it's done, next time I head towards Penticton. Or coming back to Kelowna. Seriously, if the plaintiff wins, and the hotel management can not control or are afraid of their patrons, "MIGHT OFFEND THEM", then there will be NO MORE POOLS.

Or insurance rates will skyrocket to the point of only having pools in high end hotels.

And that's a sad day for all of us.

[GordonH]

It's that whole US mentality of suing (I totally agree QK this was a tragedy) instead of using basic common sense when using something.

[Queen K]

If the hotel "had provided a lifeguard and/or other safety personnel at the pool at the time of the deaths ... or monitored the pool ... it is more likely than not that Menelik and William could have been saved with timely assistance," the lawsuit claims.

It further alleges that shortly after the deaths, the hotel pool was staffed with a full-time lifeguard and monitored by cameras.

There is no way every hotel and or motel is going to be able to provide a full time lifeguard. Monitering by cameras also implies that hotel staff is watching and ready to act at all times. Not going to happen. Believe me.

Also, he was in the pool and slid into the deep end. Easy to do, even I've done it but I also know how to swim. Early lessons in that icy cold Okanagan Lake. I have to wonder how many people are in a pool but don't actually know how to swim? Does any one think it's hardhearted to say that it is possible the fellow didn't know HOW to SWIM?

The father was holding the toddler in his arms when he "slid into the deep end of the pool."

Aurellia and Wilma allegedly threw a life buoy to Ganjui, who "hung Menelik's arm around it before (Ganjui) went under and sank to the bottom of the deep end.

Easy to walk in a shallow area, yes. But swimming is a whole different ballgame.

Having been in many pool areas I do not recall ONCE in the pool rules, "Be sure you Know how to swim before entering the pool or hottub."

This may have to be added to every pool area in North America, USA and Canada. No exaggeration.

I am going to say this, swimming is easy to those who are taught early on, but it is shocking how many people get away from it. Or just don't learn. Do we not have drowning deaths every single year in the Okanagan? Seems like a lot of people have gotten away from swimming lessons.

[Queen K]

Since I'm on a pool roll: the most impressive parent I ever saw in a pool area was an Oriental lady watching her son.

She sat at the poolside. And WATCHED him. Everything. Every move he made. No android. No laptop. No day dreaming.
She was engaged with his every move.

No begging from him to "watch this mom" because she already was.

[the truth]

i expect nothing less from these people.

[jimmy4321]

I don't go near more than I have to in a Hotel/Motel let alone hot tub or pool.
I know folks that picked up some itchy scratchy skin issues from hot tubs , *bleep*! That!

[Queen K]

I never have but I have stayed out of sketchy hot tubs, there was one Golden, BC., ick.

Always shower well after any hottub experience, hot water and soap. I've never had an issue.

As for what truthy said,

I don't see it as "those people." I see it as she had a terrible shock, her children did and three years later some slimy bottom feeding lawyer told her to try for a settlement. Name a ridiculous amount and they will likely settle out of court for an undisclosed amount of cash, to hell with the implications across the entire freaking continent and the hospitality industry. I think because he was the main breadwinner she never thought she'd have to work.

That's my take on it.

[Urban Cowboy]

Not a big fan of pools or hot tubs in a public setting such as a hotel.

Bad enough one has to worry about bed bugs.

[Queen K]

A hotel isn't a public setting though.

And if I worried about everything, I wouldn't travel at all. Nor would anyone.

Mexico? Nope.
Sri Lanka? Nope.
USA with all their guns? Double Nope.

I get it.

But I'm thinking of the implications of this lawsuit. Often after a long drive, I look forward to one or both.

[Bsuds]

I thought they would pretty much be covered by the "Use at your own Risk" signs.

[vegas1500]

I thought they would pretty much be covered by the "Use at your own Risk" signs.

Yup...I stay In Hotels many nights a year for work. Every pool has signs stating “use at your own risk” or “no lifeguard on duty”. Sad that they probably will get something. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hotel pool over 5’ deep.

[Queen K]

Yes exactly. Sadly they will, which is to say, putting pressure on the hospitality industry where there is no accountability or personal responsibility. I think slipping into a deep end and not knowing how to move over a foot says the man could not swim at all. So is a hotel now supposed to ask if you can swim before you get pool privileges?

The hotel with the child mayham had very tiny black sigsn, lining the pool area but nothing like the conventional, big obvious signage I see everywhere else. I just wondered which drunk parent would sue if their lil darlings got truly injured.

[Brushy Bill]

Having been in many pool areas I do not recall ONCE in the pool rules, "Be sure you Know how to swim before entering the pool or hottub."

should be on the LOL thread, thanks
Maybe hotels need the same message beside the bathtub, after all it only takes two inches to drown in
and don't get me started on the lack of sticky thingies on the floor where one can slip and fall

USA with all their guns? Double Nope.

[Queen K]

Oh Heck, I travel to the USA all the time. I do however mind where I go and what I do.

Yes, the showers/tub situations can be dicey for sure. Don't get me started and that's everywhere, Canada and the USA.

I didn't add something the kids were doing in the long list in my first post:

Running in the pool area. A rule is "No Running in the Pool Area" is universal, I've never seen a board without it.

At least the kids didn't have glass in the pool area.

[TylerM4]

Watching 3 children in a hotel pool when you can't swim? And by can't swim I mean "drowns when going too close to the deep end". Jesus fricken heck. What kind of an idiot does this? You can't supervise others swimming if you can't rescue them if/when they get in trouble.

They will loose the suit - the judge/court knows the impact of such a ruling. I'm sure their lawyer knows this as well - goal is likely to get a settlement outside of court.