Tourist fuming over hotel sunbed wars as guests block loungers in her resort

A WOMAN was left fuming after holidaymakers in Spain hogged sunbeds with their towels for several hours.

Every summer, holidaymakers are seen battling for beds around the pool to nab a prime sunbed spot, and the trend looks like it will almost certainly continue this year.

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At a hotel in Lanzarote, a woman filmed a string of empty sunbeds that were reserved with just a hotel towel.

In a video on TikTok, holidaymaker Sophie (@sophieannmc) revealed how most of the sunbeds at her hotel were reserved by other guests.

As she panned around the pools, she revealed how the loungers were reserved with towels, bottles of suncream and books – even though a sign banned guests from reserving the beds.

In the caption, Sophie explained that she’d spent over half an hour hunting down a sunbed without a towel.

She wrote: “Is this not the most frustrating thing ever when you’re on holiday?

“It took us over 30 minutes to find two beds across four pools. They were all empty but reserved with a towel.

“One family saved six beds and then went to the beach!”

In the comments Sophie explained that she used the sunbed for two and a half hours and in that time she watched other holidaymakers struggle to find an unreserved lounger.

The video has had over 4,000 views since it was uploaded last month.

One person wrote: “Throw the towels into the pool.”

While throwing away other people’s belongings isn’t acceptable, there are some rules that should be obeyed.

Renowned etiquette expert, William Hanson, believes there is a 30-minute grace period on poolside reservations.

This is where hotel guests can use a towel or a book to reserve a spot for no longer than half an hour.

William told the Sun Online Travel: “In the morning, at the start of the day, and you’re by the pool after breakfast, then it’s fine at 8.30 to put your towel on the bed to reserve your spot.”

“But later on in the day after you’ve used the lounger, and go off for a massage, for example, which is going to be an hour, then you can’t use a towel to reserve the sun lounger.”

If you’re grabbing some grub at lunchtime, William said holidaymakers are allowed to eat at the hotel bar or restaurant providing you’re not gone longer than 30 minutes.

He said: “It also gives your towel time to dry off.”

Despite the grace period, William said: “You can’t hog the sun lounger for the entire day.”

Meanwhile, Laura Akano, the Principal Coach and Trainer at Polished Manners, who is also an etiquette expert, doesn’t believe holidaymakers have a right to reserve a lounger at all.

She told the Sun Online Travel: “I think it should be a first come first serve basis – if the resort doesn’t have a booking system.”

Meanwhile, holidaymakers have even taken to reserving spots on the ground at some resorts.

Staff at a hotel in Tenerife were caught removing them after cheeky tourists had dumped their belongings and left.

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