![\"Close-up](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_Close-up-view-of-sun-loungers-with-wet-towels-near-outdoor-pool-in-hotel-Spain.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA man on holiday in Spain has shared the brutal reality of what morning sunbed wars look like at his hotel, although opinions online over reserving sunbeds are split<\/p>\n
Zahna Eklund Senior Social News Reporter<\/p>\n
14:07, 11 Aug 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
People will reserve sunbeds at hotels first thing in the morning (stock photo)(Image: Alexander Shapovalov via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Anyone who has ever been on a package holiday will know the scene all too well – bleary-eyed guests bolting out of their hotel rooms at the crack of dawn to fling a towel over a sunbed before anyone else gets the chance. It is one of the most talked-about and divisive traditions in British holiday culture, and now one man in Spain has caught it all on camera.<\/p>\n
With the summer holidays<\/a> well underway, the so-called “sunbed wars” are back in full force at hotels<\/a> across Europe, and a clip shared on social media<\/a> has shone a fresh spotlight on the chaos that plays out every single morning. A man named Anthony filmed the footage from his hotel room balcony at a resort in Spain<\/a>, capturing the moment a wave of guests came sprinting across the courtyard below, all heading in the same direction – straight for the pool.<\/p>\n One by one, each person made a mad dash for a lounger, throwing their towels and bags down to mark their territory, but not a single person actually sat down to enjoy the sunbed they had just claimed. The assumption was that the guests were heading back inside for breakfast before spending the day by the pool.<\/p>\n In his TikTok video, Anthony could be heard off-camera reacting to the scenes below, telling guests to “get a grip” and audibly tutting at what he was witnessing.<\/p>\n In his caption, he made clear the footage had not been tampered with before he posted it, writing: “No, it’s not sped up. That’s how fast they run.”<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n The clip quickly racked up views and comments, with many viewers siding with Anthony and venting their own frustrations about the practice. A large number felt that hotels should simply ban guests from reserving sunbeds with their belongings altogether, while others took aim at those whose entire holiday appeared to revolve around sitting beside a pool rather than exploring the local area.<\/p>\n One person commented: “Why do people pay all that money to go on holiday just to sit by a pool and sleep all day?” Another wrote: “Can’t imagine being this bothered over a sunbed. I’d be too busy being out and about enjoying my holiday.”<\/p>\n A third added: “It’s genuinely sad how people go on holiday and have to sit down around a pool on sunbeds, instead of going to a different place and exploring. Like, I get it is nice, but explore.”<\/p>\n Not everyone was so quick to judge, however. A number of commenters came to the defence of those seen in the video, arguing that the real problem lies with hotels failing to provide enough sunbeds for all of their guests. If there were enough loungers to go around, the argument goes, nobody would feel the need to race for one in the first place.<\/p>\n Someone said: “It’s genuinely sad how people go on holiday and have to sit down around a pool on sunbeds, instead of going to a different place and exploring. Like, I get it is nice, but explore.”<\/p>\n Others made the point that holidaymakers are perfectly entitled to spend their time however they choose, and that a few days by the pool is a completely reasonable way to unwind – especially for older travellers or those who simply want to rest rather than spend hours on their feet in the heat.<\/p>\n One commenter wrote: “Some people just want to relax, lie down, chill, and bathe in the pool. Not everyone wanna walk every day and see things the whole day.”<\/p>\n Another echoed the sentiment, saying: “Why can’t we let people do whatever they want? There’s nothing relaxing about walking around in the baking heat. That’s why, when I’m on holiday, I usually book excursions and have days like this in between, because lying down is relaxing.<\/p>\n “I just came back from safari, and the end of my holiday was a resort stay. And thank god, it gave me time to relax and recover.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man on holiday in Spain has shared the brutal reality of what morning sunbed wars look like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,3966,7991],"class_list":["post-69264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-spain","tag-summer-holidays","tag-viral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}