Tourists slam ‘worst’ sunbed wars with 6am chaos and ‘crazy’ towel queues
British holidaymakers have seen a sunbed war like they’ve never had before across Spain and its islands. Officials have become involved in hotspots like Benidorm as tourists and locals alike fight it out for the best sunbathing spots.
Getting up early to put your towels down has become a bit of a tradition for UK holidaymakers. But, with more and more tourists filling the beaches and poolsides it’s apparently taking hotels to breaking point – and it’s spread to public spaces too.
Incredible pictures published earlier this week showed Spaniards grabbing the best spots by the sea before dawn when many UK holidaymakers were still out partying or snoring in bed. The photos showed beach-lovers looking on as Benidorm locals set up large umbrellas and deckchairs to get the best spots to soak up the sun when it rose.
READ MORE: Benidorm sunbed wars heat up as locals steal best beach spots from Brits
Overnight council chiefs said they were aware of the problem – and insisted police have been given powers to remove personal items abandoned on the sand where it is creating conflict.
Monica Gomez, Benidorm’s Councillor for Beaches and the Environment said after being shown the photos of the so-called 'Benidorm beach wars': "Traditionally there are people who get up very early to make sure they get a spot at the front of the beach nearest the shoreline and stay there all morning enjoying the sea.
“It happens in Benidorm as well as other holiday resorts. There are also people who put out their belongings at this early time of the morning and go home, and that is something that is not allowed.
“By-laws mean the local police have the power to the act when items are left on the beach in this way and it leads to conflict between beachgoers and they always act when required to in order to mediate and try to resolve disputes to make sure both parties can enjoy a good day out on the sand.”
Despite hotel workers and police being allowed to move property to free up space, plenty of social media users have shared videos of tourists desperate to snap up a spot. A TikTok user recently captured the bizarre habit on camera and shared the footage online – causing a lot of belly laughs. She captioned the video: “Holidays in Spain. Sun bed wars at 6am.”
In the clip, guests in shorts and t-shirts could be seen sprint walking across the decking to place their towels on their preferred beds. With a catchy tune playing in the background people ran down the steps to throw their beach towels on the seats closest to the pool or bar.
Another Brit revealed that he’d seen hotel guests lining their shoes and towels up by the locked door to the pool area. They had created a queue system to reserve their spot ahead of the next morning.
He said that hotel staff had locked the door to the pool area until 8am, so people lined up their towels on the floor by the door to get in line. The bemused holidaymaker said that he had headed down to breakfast at 6.30am one morning before an excursion, and that there "was already an established towel queue forming at the door – crazy behaviour!".
TikTok creator Gillian documented her experience in Majorca – another Spanish island – and explained that guests were reserving sunbeams from 7pm the night before!
She said that they’re not even getting up early, but instead put their towels on the sunbeds in the evening – and leave them there for seven days straight. Gillian showed people reserving an entire row of sun loungers in the video as she enjoyed her trip to Spain.
She said: "It's 7 o'clock at night, and these people reserve their sunbeds for the whole week. They don't move them."
Gillian showed the beach loungers covered in towels and noted: "They lie there so you can't get a sunbed. It is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous."
The woman added: "Out of all of the sunbed situations out there I’ve ever seen this is the most ridiculous." People dubbed the scene "mayhem".
While a man in Tenerife said he couldn’t believe the fights he saw occur over loungers at his hotel. Thomas Clifford said: "Sun bed wars! My wife told me that everyone races each morning to get sunbeds, I didn’t believe her!"
Thomas posted the clip to his account, @thomaswclifford, showing the tourists queuing around the pool for it to open before running to the best loungers and chucking their towels down.
The race for the sunbeds began at 7.47am – well before most people are awake when on holiday.
Thomas added that people were going to even further extremes to get a seat adding: "People were sniping by throwing their towels off the top of the stairs."
Plus, a man has been labelled the "King of the sunbed hoggers " after a viral video spotted him launching himself across the poolside to bag some loungers. The bloke was seen jumping during the first rush of the morning at the hotel Paradise Park.
The man, sporting a yellow top, was seen sprinting across the pool area. He dramatically launched himself at the front loungers dropping the towels on as quickly as possible.
Commenters said that they had "never seen sunbed wars that bad". One noted that he usually leaves the towels until 10am and then "throws them" off.
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