A surreal scene uploaded by two British tourists to TikTok has gone viral in Spain
A video of British tourists “stampeding” to secure sun loungers at a hotel in Spain has gone viral, prompting bemusement among Spaniards.
The video shows guests at the four-star Spring Hotel Bitácora in Tenerife waiting outside a locked gate for the pool to open in the morning.
Dozens of people are then seen racing across the terrace before laying out their towels and other belongings on sun loungers.
The video has been picked up and commented upon by media across Spain.
The online newspaper 20minutos.es reported: “Around a hundred people eagerly gather at the entrance, waiting for a security guard to open the gate and a ‘stampede’ ensues to get a sunbed, which at that moment becomes the most precious commodity of the day.
“A surreal scene uploaded by two British tourists to TikTok has gone viral, generating thousands of views and comments about this incredible scene that occurs every morning. ‘Risk of a stampede!’ they describe in the video.”
“Every day when the swimming pool opens up, a veritable ‘sunbed war’ breaks out.”
The scene was captured by two British tourists on a video taken by @blazedchefx.
One of the makers of the video told Luxury Travel Daily, an online travel magazine: “After spending €5,000 [£4,324] it’s a joke to have to get up earlier than you would to get to work.
“The reality is that if you don’t get up and get in line, you won’t get a sun lounger.”
Sunbed wars among British tourists are an annual conflict in the hotels and beaches of Spain.
However, the British eagerness to claim a place on a plastic sunbed – instead of exploring more of Spain – leaves some Spaniards incredulous.
It is only the latest episode in the guerra de los tumbonas — as the sunbed wars are called in Spanish — that Spain’s media love to report on.
In July, Michelle Cranston, a British tourist on holiday at the H10 Porto Poniente in Benidorm in Valencia, filmed a group of her compatriots stealing out of their rooms at 6.30am to claim sun loungers.
When she returned from holiday to the UK, she saw her video had prompted enormous interest, with comments, reactions and messages. “I never anticipated the post would be this popular,” she said, surprised about the strength of feeling about claiming a sun lounger while in Spain.
Elsewhere Mandy Boyd, who was staying in Magaluf in Mallorca, filmed holidaymakers claiming sun loungers at 2am at the Aparthotel Aquasol in Palmanova.
Meanwhile in Portugal last summer, one British couple said they sneaked to the pool at 1am to claim a sun lounger at their hotel rather than pay €7.50 (£6) at a later time.
Aimee Millar, 20, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, told The Sun they did not manage to secure a lounger despite getting to the pool around 6am, so instead they left their room in the middle of the night – only to discover that other guests were doing the same.