Ending the morning sunbed rush: a fair queue for beaches and pools

· 3 min read

Every summer the same scene repeats at beaches and hotel pools: towels go down at dawn, the entrance gets crowded at opening time, and by noon half the "taken" sunbeds are empty. Guests who play fair end up with nothing, and staff spend the day refereeing.

Why the rush happens

People rush because the only way to secure a place is to be physically first, and then to hold it. Once there's a line, nobody dares leave it; once they have a sunbed, nobody dares give it up. A queue that lets people wait without standing in it removes both pressures.

What a fair sunbed queue needs

  • First come, first served, in an order everyone can see.
  • No joining from the hotel room. Fairness collapses if one guest can hold a place from bed.
  • No line to stand in. People should be able to swim, eat or sit in the shade while they wait.
  • Flexible groups, so a family of four can take two sunbeds instead of waiting for four.
  • A way to release places that nobody claims.

How it works with QR Wait

Visitors scan a QR code at the entrance and choose how many they are and how many sunbeds they'd accept. They follow their place live and get a heads-up when they're two groups away. When the attendant enters how many sunbeds opened up, the next groups are called automatically: their phones buzz, they come over and show their number.

A few settings make it work on a real beach:

  • Location check. The phone has to be near the queue, so nobody joins from their room. Use a fixed point, or the attendant's live location if staff walk the beach.
  • Rotating QR code. The code on the attendant's screen changes every few seconds, so a photo shared in a group chat gets nobody in.
  • Flexible groups. A group of 4 can say they'll settle for 2 sunbeds. Optionally, smaller groups that fit are moved ahead so freed places don't sit empty.
  • Areas. If you run a beach and a pool, or a front row and the rest, make them areas. Visitors choose every area they'd accept, and each moves on its own.
  • Arrival time limit. Called groups get 3 to 30 minutes to arrive, with a countdown on their screen. No-shows are dropped automatically.

Before guests walk down

Each beach or pool gets its own address and a public status page on the map, so people can see how busy it is before they set off. Visitor pages open in the phone's language, in one of 16 languages, which matters at resorts with international guests.

Visitors without a phone

The attendant adds them with one tap and tells them their number. They wait in the same queue as everyone else.

Paying for it

The first 1000 tickets are free. After that you buy one-time packages that don't expire, so you only pay during the season. More on the beach and pool queue page and on pricing.