EXCLUSIVE: A holidaymaker was left shocked at the behaviour of fellow tourists in Benidorm as people started queueing at 6.30am for sunbeds, leaving her and her family perched on plastic chairs
A fuming mum hit out at “selfish middle-aged fellas” for hogging sunbeds as her family were forced to perch on plastic chairs during their Benidorm holiday.
Annie Redfern went away with partner Declan Nash and seven-year-old daughter Belle Redfern for a 10-night holiday in the popular Spanish resort last month.
They were staying in the hotel made popular by hit ITV sitcom Benidorm, but she slammed the middle-ages blokes who queued for hours before swarming like “ants” for sunbeds.
Annie and her family arrived at Sol Pelicanos Ocas hotel, known as Solana Hotel on the television show, but realised all the sunbeds had already been taking.
She put this down to arriving at the hotel at midday, but the mum was stunned to see people congregating to bag a coveted bed at 6.30am the following morning – despite the pool not opening until 9am.
Annie, from Hull, East Yorkshire, said: “We thought if we’re going to go to Benidorm, we might as well see what the Benidorm hotel is like.
“We arrived there at 11.30am and there were no beds but obviously at that point we just thought it was because it was midday.
“The next morning, I started seeing queues starting at 6.30am, at this point I didn’t even know what time the pool even opened. We had gone down to go and get a latte and there were just loads of people all lining up.
“I can’t believe that’s how you spend your holiday, it’s crazy. You see them go, put a towel on the bed then run off straight to the breakfast then eat the breakfast then run straight back. It was a whole routine.
“What we realised was either wives were sending their husbands or the husbands were just doing it because so many of the line was made up of middle-aged men. It was just like a sea of people.”
Annie posted about her bizarre experience on TikTok and it quickly went viral, racking up more than 192,000 views.
She said the only way to grab a sunbed without joining the huge queue was to wait until people left for their evening meal around 5pm.
The family were instead forced to resort to sitting on plastic chairs when they weren’t playing or in the pool.
Annie admitted Benidorm divides people in the UK “like Marmite”. She said: “You can just go sit at a table and obviously I’ve got a child so we’re always in the pool anyway so I don’t really get much sunbathing.
“It’s selfish. Maybe do it one or two times so you can get a spot or have a day on the sunbeds, but there was one woman and she was at the front every single day.
“They [people queueing] were speed walking and as soon as the guy would come down and open the barrier, it was like ants.”
People online slammed the situation. One wrote: “My idea of hell this is.”
Another commented: “I’d rather go to Blackpool in the winter.” A third said: “I love Benidorm but I would never lose sleep when there’s so much more you can do in Benidorm.”
Sol Pelicanos Ocas hotel was contacted for comment.