sunbed

Hotel guests labelled ‘vultures’ as they ‘shoved and barged people’ for sunbeds at a Spanish holiday hotspot, with ‘grown men jumping walls’ and ‘throwing towels over heads’

A British holidaymaker was left stunned during her Spanish getaway as the notorious sunbed wars erupted each morning.

Jetting off abroad is meant to be a relaxing escape, ditching the everyday bustle for days spent lounging around a pool under the Mediterranean sun. Yet, if you’re staying at a hotel or resort in a European holiday hotspot, you might find yourself scrambling for that sought-after sun lounger.

Since the summer holidays kicked off last month, footage has been flooding social media of tourists queuing in hotel lobbies in the early hours of the morning, before racing to secure their sunbeds by frantically throwing down their towels. It’s become a brutal game of run-and-grab, and holidaymakers will go to extreme lengths to get their hands on a coveted sunbed.

Lisa Smith saw the madness unfold during a week’s holiday at the four-star Dorada Palace in the Spanish coastal resort town of Salou. “This happened every day, people would start queuing from 8am, sometimes put chairs near the doors until more people came, then the chairs got moved,” she exclusively told The Mirror.

“It was mad watching them because they were all so focused on that door, waiting for it to be open. Once the door was open, they went crazy, they just ran, jumped over walls, threw towels over people’s heads, just so they could claim a bed first.”

Following frantic scenes, Lisa said: “Some people slipped, so instead of helping someone up, they would jump over them. It was like an Olympic sport to them. They would high-five each other when they secured a bed. It was extremely embarrassing to watch.

“They weren’t bothered that people were filming them. People stood on their balconies with their phones out, ready to film them, and they would see them and laugh, as they didn’t care.”

While staying at the Dorada Palace, Lisa recorded two videos of the sunbed chaos unfolding in the morning and shared them both on TikTok (@lisasmith274). The videos quickly went viral, securing more than 2 million views collectively, as they showed hectic scenes of holidaymakers desperately racing outside with their towels in hand and towards the prized sunbeds.

In one video, she captioned: “Never seen nothing like it… Grown men jumping walls to get their beds.”

Even when Lisa attempted to move a sunbed, she received an unhappy response from a fellow holidaymaker. “One day, when we were getting a bed, we secured one, then I saw one in the distance, so I decided to drag it over to where the other one was, and this person threw their towel on it whilst I was moving it,” Lisa explained.

“I looked at them and said, ‘I’m moving the bed, you can’t do that’, I’ve actually got hold of it, I refused to give him the bed, so I continued to pull it across. They were vultures, in my opinion. They shoved and barged people for the beds.”

And after all that stress, some holidaymakers didn’t even make the most of their sun lounger, which they fought so hard to secure. “They would leave their sunbeds for hours before returning,” Lisa revealed. “We did move them ourselves in the end, and there were nine of us, and we only had two beds – the rest were chairs.”

Would you run to secure a hotel sunbed in the morning? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

The yearly sunbed wars are in full swing, and one TikToker has captured Brits pioneering a new way to queue for sunbeds without having to miss breakfast

If you’re heading to a holiday hotspot such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, or Turkey, then the odds are you’ll see people reserving their sunbed first thing in the morning.

Whether the hotel is busy or not, you’ll often see a queue of Brits, and let’s face it, many other European nationalities too queueing up for the grand opening of the pool area so they can lay down their towel before they even hit the breakfast buffet.

But one TikTok poster has discovered a new hack that her fellow holidaymakers were using to avoid even needing to queue, and while it meant they could avoid needing to hang around the lobby, comments slammed it as ‘selfish’.

The poster Sarah, who posts on TikTok as @mrsbainbridge, posted the video taken at the Hotel Best Oasis Park in Salou, Spain, showing a neat line of beach bags, inflatables, and other items holding peoples’ place in the queue while their owners are presumably doing something more fun.

In the caption, Sarah wrote: “Never have I came across somewhere like this for sun bed wars of a morning” as she panned across the variety of abandoned items. In a second video, she captured the massive queue, this time populated with people waiting to nab their favourite spot.

Comments overwhelmingly agreed with Sarah. Some said they simply wouldn’t follow the informal system: “I’m not waiting in a queue behind a bag. Straight to back of the first human I see in the queue.”, while another agreed: “nah if you’re not physically in the queue then I’m walking to the front”.

Others questioned whether there were steps the hotel could take to minimise the impact. One person suggested: “The hotel should be taking all those bags and putting them into an orderly pile in the corner. Same with towels left on sun beds for more than 40 minutes”.

Other posters who claimed they’d visited the same hotel as Sarah shared their story. One claimed: “Was there start of July, worse when the doors open.. absolute chaos! Grown men pushing children out of the way etc,” while another added: “Just left there. Joke each morning. Kids nearly getting trampled on then people putting towels down and disappear for the day.”

Sarah isn’t the only one to post videos of the hotel’s sunbed wars. Another user named Mandy posted a video captioned “10am sunbed dash” showing a huge queue of families with towels and inflatables trying to reserve a spot. Warning: video contains strong language.

In June, @deajak1405 also posted a video showing a ‘rat race’ which showed the view of the daily sunbed grab from his balcony. The user is heard laughing as grown adults are shown pushing through the doors as they open, jogging towards the pool area to find their favoured spot.

Some reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor also highlight the hotel’s sunbed issues. A review from July claims: “The set up for sunbeds at this hotel is ridiculous. The doors to the pool open at 10am, people queue from 9am, then others just run past for a bed. My daughter 14 years old was pushed to the ground one day then my wife and daughter were verbally abused on other day. We also witnessed to major arguments in the week.”

Hotel Best Oasis Park has been contacted for comment.

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A British tourist in the Canary Islands has captured the chaos of her hotel’s sunbed wars, but she admits that rather than being annoyed, there’s one reason why she found the whole scene ‘funny’

A Brit staying in Tenerife was unimpressed by her fellow holidaymakers after she spotted sunbed wars erupting before the hotel had even opened up the breakfast bar.

Chenaiyah Bernard, 21, from Leeds captured the video of holidaymakers rushing early in the morning to snag their favourite sunbeds, even staking their claim on parasols in an attempt to get the best spot.

She was staying in the popular resort town of Playa de las Américas, and captured the scenes from her balcony last Friday (July 24).

The primary school play worker says she was relaxing on her balcony at 7.45am, and saw a group of people hanging around the pool area, looking to nab their loungers for the day before breakfast had even opened.

Chenaiyah’s video, set to the Mario Kart theme tune, shows Brits patiently waiting around for the cleaners to finish, standing next to parasols to stake out the area they want before they can grab sunbeds for the day, reports creatorzine.com.

Chenaiyah said: “I woke up early to stand outside of my hotel room balcony and witnessed a bunch of British people all stood around the cleaners waiting for them to finish so they could then occupy a sunbed and then head off to breakfast. I doubt they will all be wanting to sunbathe at 7.45am since it’s not that warm. People began to occupy parasols with their towels, which I found funny.”

Once the pool area is open, the Brits are shown taking sunbeds out and throwing their towels over them to mark their territory, before casually strolling away.

Chenaiyah was left bemused by the scenes, which ultimately proved pointless; she claims she had no trouble finding a poolside sunbed when she went down to relax later that morning, meaning the early birds’ rush may have been completely unnecessary.

She said: “I don’t care to wake up early for a sunbed but other people can do what they want.” She added that although it didn’t seem overtly “competitive or aggressive” adding that “it was just funny watching people wake up early just to claim a sunbed way earlier than they actually will need it, and I assume some people probably want to hog the sunbeds all day and not allow people who also want to sunbathe to use one.”

Chenaiyah said she doesn’t judge those taking part in the sunbed scramble, saying: “I don’t think it’s that serious in my opinion to go downstairs that early to claim a sunbed, to have your towel sat there when you aren’t always going to be with. Like, get out of the resort and explore, but people can honestly do what they want.”

But she pointed out there was plenty to do even if you don’t sit by the pool: “People who sleep in probably aren’t bothered about claiming a sunbed at the crack of dawn and feel they have better things to do, like exploring the area or going to the beach.”

Chenaiyah’s video has since been viewed over 160,000 times on TikTok with over 5,000 likes, and it’s safe to say most of the comments were on her side. One said: “Why oh why do people do this you are on holiday for god’s sake.”

Others claimed these kinds of videos influenced the kind of breaks they’d book in future. One said: “Why would you go on this type of holiday, that’s hell.”, while another joked: “all inclusive about as much fun as an MRI scan.”

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Tom Caunce weas annoyed at people getting up at 6am to reserve sunbeds in Mallorca

A holidaymaker fed up with fellow tourists getting up early to reserve sunbeds by the pool decided to sprinkle itching powder onto their towels. Tom Caunce decided to take matters into his own hands during a family holiday in Mallorca.

The 31-year-old filmed the sabotage and shared the footage online. Tom said he specifically targeted what he described as “repeat offenders” who reserved prime poolside loungers before heading back to their rooms.

“I think we’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to get a sunbed on holiday,” Tom said. “Many of us have accepted the 6am wake-up call just to have a chance of getting a decent spot. On my last holiday, I decided enough was enough and that it was time for a bit of playful payback.”

Tom, from Southport, said he spent the first few days keeping an eye on guests who repeatedly claimed the same loungers each morning before disappearing. His first target was a woman he estimated to be in her late 40s.

According to Tom, she and her husband reserved the same beds every day despite spending little time around the pool. He attempted a quick “walk-by sprinkle” of itching powder onto one of the towels. But the plan appeared to backfire almost immediately.

Tom said: “As soon as she arrived at the pool she seemed annoyed. She immediately grabbed the towel from the sunbed and stormed back to her room to change it, while her husband stayed behind to reserve the spot.”

Undeterred, Tom returned the next morning with a new plan. After setting his alarm for 6am, he watched from his balcony as holidaymakers headed towards the pool.

Within minutes, he spotted another couple making a beeline for the same loungers they had used the previous day. Tom said he sneaked downstairs and rubbed itching powder into one of the white hotel towels before waiting for the pair to return.

Hours later, at around 1.30pm, the man finally appeared. Tom initially feared the prank had failed after noticing the holidaymaker had brought another towel with him. But moments later, he said, the scratching began.

Tom said: “After about a minute, I noticed him starting to scratch his legs. After around 10 minutes, he got up and jumped into the pool.”

According to Tom, the situation escalated when the man later used the towel to dry himself. He said: “He picked up the white towel and used it to dry himself, and the small irritation seemed to turn into a full-body scratch.”

Tom claimed the holidaymaker eventually gave up sunbathing and spent the rest of the afternoon sheltering under an umbrella. He said: “I tried to get more footage of it on a few occasions, but I couldn’t stop laughing. The reaction was priceless.”

The videos were viewed a combined 864,000 times and attracted more than 13,000 likes, with social media users split over the stunt. One person said: “This is incredibly strange.”

Another user added: “It’s not ok to do this. Remove towels, yes, but this no.”

Man sprinkles itching powder on sunbeds

A different user said: “Oh, I love this! Just make sure you don’t do it to people who are just swimming and not reserving.”

One person added: “Absolute genius, thank you for your service.” Another person said: “What a b*llend.”

The prank took place in Majorca on 6 and 7 June.

The most common traditional ingredient of itching powder comes from the seed pods of rosehips (specifically Rosa canina). Inside the pod, the seeds are surrounded by tiny, sharp, microscopic hairs. Some cheap or poorly made novelty powders historically used ground-up fiberglass or specialized glass fibers. This type is highly hazardous.

A tourist who has been on holiday in Tenerife has been praised for “getting her own back” on alleged “rude” holidaymakers who were apparently reserving sunbeds with towels. Ellie McAdams decided to take action

A woman has been praised for “getting her own back” on “rude” tourists who allegedly used their towels to reserve sunbeds that weren’t in use, and it’s not the first time such an event has happened. Ellie McAdams recently opened up about her experience in Tenerife where she claimed some people were trying to “hog” sunbeds that weren’t in use.

She explained what happened in a TikTok video when she was relaxing by the pool recently while on holiday, and she admitted she doesn’t think people should be able to “reserve” their sunbeds for hours without using them. In her opinion, other people should be able to enjoy them instead.

It’s not the first time the topic has come up either. Previously, someone else claimed they had been called “selfish” for actually attempting to reserve sunbeds while abroad.

Ellie said: “So we’ve been wondering aimlessly all morning, looking for a sun lounger, and we then notice that there was a group of sun loungers right by the pool that have been currently unoccupied for four hours. So, what did we do?

“We removed their towels and sat on the beds. We went and asked the lifeguard, and said ‘they haven’t been there for four hours, maybe move their towels?’ and he said ‘yeah, go for it’.

“So, stay tuned and see if we end up having an argument, but it’s our last day, so we don’t really care.” A while later, she added: “Just an update, it is now 1.15pm, those beds were unoccupied for five hours, so I’m very happy that we moved those towels off.

“And did we put them back? No. You can’t claim beds and then f*** off out for the day. You can’t do it. It’s rude and it’s selfish.”

The video has been viewed over 11,000 times since it was shared, and people were quick to comment too. Hundreds chimed in to express their thoughts, and many offered praise.

One said: “No sun lounger should be reserved and unoccupied for more than an hour.”

Another added: “No problem in reserving sunbeds before breakfast and then having breakfast before you occupy the sunbeds. But for people who claim them first thing in morning then not to be seen most of the day is not on.”

A third replied: “Well done. I remove towels every day when I’m away on holiday. People have to learn.”

Meanwhile, a fourth commented: “I find people absolutely selfish for even putting towels down, first come first served. Don’t blame you moving them, we do it all the time.”

What are the rules when it comes to reserving sunbeds?

When it comes to reserving sunbeds, there is no universal rule. However, some hotels and resorts enforce their own specific guidelines, so it’s always best to check.

Many resorts have a policy stating that towels left on unoccupied loungers for one to two hours will be removed by staff and placed in lost property to free them up for other guests. Then, there are other hotels where pre-booking is required.

Some resorts allocate sunbeds to specific rooms or require you to reserve a parasol at reception when you arrive. Other hotels may not have any rules in place at all.

However, according to online forums like Reddit, the act of “reserving” beds by putting towels down at dawn and returning hours later is generally frowned upon. Many deem the act as “selfish”, and it can cause tension.

However, in Ellie’s case, she did point out that it wasn’t a problem throughout the whole holiday. In the comments, she added: “I’ll be honest, we never once woke up early to get a bed, and we never struggled.

“There was three of us and one little boy. This was our last couple hours by the pool before our transfer, and was the only time we walked about and couldn’t find one!”

A woman has hit out at a “rude” holidaymaker who allegedly “attacked” a man with a broken leg over a sunbed dispute. She was so furious she started to “plot revenge”

Most people love going away, but something that can get tourists down is when sunbed wars break out at holiday resorts. Unfortunately, it’s a problem some travellers have to deal with when they jet off on holidays to enjoy some time the sun, but one woman was recently left furious after what she witnessed by the pool.

She told her unfortunate travel story on Reddit as she wanted advice on how to deal with such “rude” people. In the post, she even admitted she was hypothetically “plotting ways to get revenge”, even though she said she would never actually take matters into her own hands.

In the post, she claimed a man “attacked” a fellow tourist over a sunbed dispute. It comes after a different hotel was praised for trying to tackle issues surrounding reserving sunbeds.

She wrote: “How do you deal with rude sunbed reservers? I’m on holiday and yesterday I watched a 60ish-year-old man shouting and getting aggressive at a woman and her husband with a broken leg for moving his towel in a prime sunbed location at the hotel.

“Towel man said broken leg man had ‘no d**k’ for needing to use crutches. Towel man shouted that he’d been up to put his towel out before 7am, and this altercation happened at 1.30pm, and he’d not been down all morning to use the sunbed.

“How do you deal with these sorts of people?”

Warning: Below post contains language some may find offensive

Naturally, the post got a lot of people talking. In fact dozens shared their thoughts on the matter that appeared to spiral a little out of control.

One said: “I don’t. I actively avoid hotels where I think the clientele will act like this.”

Another added: “Get a member of staff involved. Most hotels have a policy on it now.”

A third replied: “It’s blatant arrogance to reserve a lounger that isn’t used for half of the day. Selfishness at its peak.”

Meanwhile, a fourth commented: “I’d move the towel and go, ‘prove it?’ And turn over and ignore them. There’s not reservations on a sunlounger lol. The only reservation you got is if it is in your room.”

One more also stated: “Sadly, the only option is to pay more for resorts/villas that don’t cater for the kind of people who’ve never been taught emotional regulation.”

In an update, the woman noted she “loved” reading people’s replies. She also admitted she started to come up with a plan to “get revenge”, even though she wouldn’t actually go through with anything.

“We spent the afternoon drinking nearby and making up ways of revenge,” she added. “Which I’d never enact, of course. Our favourite was the idea to place small bits of the buffet meats under his towel when he left to attract a continuous supply of aggressive ants.”

Naturally, it’s not advised anyone do anything like this. She simply chuckled at some of the wild suggestions.

A European hotel has been described as a ‘ghost town’ because there are no sunbed wars in the morning – all because of a genius solution they’ve come up with

Sunbed wars have become an almost unavoidable part of a holiday at a sunny resort, but guests at one hotel in Europe never have to worry about bagging a prime spot by the pool.

If you’ve ever stayed at a resort with a pool and rows of sun loungers, you’ll know all too well about the early morning scramble to secure a sunbed before heading off for breakfast. This frantic rush typically sees guests charging across the courtyard to toss their towel over a lounger, effectively claiming it for the entire day.

The trouble with sunbed wars, however, is that they not only encourage deeply selfish behaviour that denies fellow guests a fair chance at using the facilities, but they also pose a genuine safety risk, with people running poolside and potentially coming to blows over the best spots.

At one hotel in Cyprus, though, that early morning battle simply doesn’t exist – the resort appears positively “deserted” compared to other venues where daily poolside races are commonplace.

It’s not that the hotel is short of guests, however. The real explanation behind the refreshingly towel-free poolside scene each morning is that the resort has introduced a clever system designed to guarantee every guest a spot by the pool without any of the usual squabbling.

Mark Brown, also known as Right Guys Reviews, recently posted a TikTok video filmed at a hotel during his stay in Paphos, Cyprus. He panned his camera across the sunbeds surrounding a large pool, revealing that not a single one had a towel draped over it – despite it being morning and the majority of guests already seated at breakfast.

He was keen to point out that the pool wasn’t empty simply because the hotel was quiet, claiming it was actually fully booked. Rather, guests at this particular hotel simply have no need to scrap over a sunbed spot.

Mark said: “Honestly, you’d think this was a ghost hotel, and it was actually empty. But if you take a trip over to pool services, you’ll find out now why there’s no towels on the sun loungers.”

He went on to explain that upon checking in, guests are handed plastic “pool towel” exchange cards. Each morning, these are taken down to the pool services kiosk and swapped for towels to use on the sunbeds.

But there’s no mad dash once you’ve got your towel. At the pool services kiosk, guests are also assigned their sunbeds for the day, guaranteed to be theirs regardless, meaning there’s absolutely no need to squabble over the best spot.

Viewers who commented on Mark’s video were thoroughly impressed by the sunbed management system at the unnamed hotel. Many recalled their own battles over sunbeds in the early hours, with the vast majority saying they’d gladly swap the stress for a more relaxed, hotel-managed approach.

One holidaymaker said: “Just been to a five-star resort in Kos with no sunbed management. I had to get up at 6am every day just to secure two sunbeds for me and the wife.”

Another chimed in: “That’s the best way to do it. Booking policy is a brilliant idea.”

A third shared their own experience: “We went to Tenerife a couple of years ago and they allocated beds. It’s brilliant. So much better. You could book for am/pm or all day. Hate it when people put towels on at 7.30 and don’t turn up until 1pm.”