The end of sunbed wars.
Guests pick a real bed from their phone. A little e-ink tag on the bed shows the truth to everyone standing next to it — FREE, RESERVED, IN USE or BACK SOON. An NFC tap proves you actually turned up, and no-shows bounce back to FREE automatically. Towels don’t count.
The tag on the bed is the referee everyone can see — nobody argues with the screen.
How it works
Three taps, zero reading. Built for sun cream on your thumbs and two sangrias in.
Pick your bed
Scan any QR by the pool — no download. See the actual deck with live availability and pick the exact bed you want. Green means free.
Tap in at the bed
Walk up and tap your phone on the bed’s NFC tag. That tap is proof you turned up — the tag flips to IN USE for everyone to see.
Sunbathe
That’s it. Need a dip or lunch? Take a break and the tag shows BACK SOON with your return time. Done for the day? Tap out and it goes green for the next guest.
Don’t turn up, or stay away past the grace time? The bed auto-releases back to FREE. Fair’s fair.
For hotels, resorts & cruise lines
You set the rules. Bedbud enforces them neutrally — your team never has to argue with a guest about a towel again.
Fairness policy, your dials
Session caps, check-in windows, break grace time, beds per room or cabin, morning release waves, quiet zones. You choose the policy per zone; the system applies it the same for everyone.
A worklist, not arguments
Attendants get tasks, not confrontations: “towel on unclaimed bed B-207 — clear it”, “B-114 overdue — release”. Disputes become a tap on a tablet, and every action is logged.
Premium beds, new revenue
Front-row loungers, cabanas and daybeds become bookable paid upgrades. Ten premium beds can fund the whole system from the front row alone.
The Hanover ruling covered
In 2026 a German court awarded a family compensation over towel-blocked sunbeds — and said operators must have an “organisational structure” for fair sunbed allocation. Bedbud is that structure, enforced automatically and logged.
No more 6am towel dash.
We’re running pilots with hotels, resorts and cruise lines now. Tell us about your deck and we’ll show you what Bedbud would look like on it.
Get in touch Or email steve@ultimateimage.co.uk