They Wanted the Best Sunbeds. What These Men Did Had Viewers Saying, “That’s Not a Holiday, That’s Hell” – But It Gets Worse (One Even Ended Up in Court)

Going to the seaside or spending a few days at a resort is supposed to be relaxing. Yet to get a good sunbed, close to the pool or the water, apparently sleeping past 5 a.m. isn’t always an option. And for some, waking up at 5 a.m. to get a sunbed is TOO LATE. Yes, you read that correctly. Oh, and one sunbed dispute even got to court! and I will share all the details in this article.

I completely understand wanting a good spot. I’d want one too. But I’ve always thought that if getting it means waking up at 5 a.m. so I can be there at 6, I’ll simply accept a sunbed farther away and enjoy my vacation. Though, to be fair, sleeping isn’t always that easy when doors start opening and closing early in the morning and people are talking in the hallways on their way to claim their spots.

Apparently, even getting up ridiculously early isn’t enough for everyone. A video filmed at a hotel in Spain shows just how competitive the morning search for a sunbed can become – and there is no politeness, no calm walk toward the pool and no waiting for the person in front of you to get there first.

And these sunbed wars are not limited to a single place. They happen more often than we might think. In fact, just this August, several strange situations at different resorts showed what people are willing to do to get a good sunbed. Looking back at previous summers brings up a few even more absurd examples.

I’ll tell you about all of them, and I’m also very curious about what you’ve seen on your own vacations.

Then there are the reactions. As you’ll see, some of those are quite surprising too.

And, if you recall, some people have started fighting back against tourists who hog sunbeds. Their solutions have been inventive – but also risky – and I’ll get to those as well.

ID 29018892 ©Andreikovnir | Dreamstime.com 

Hotel Guests Waited for the Pool to Open – Then the Sunbed Rush Began

Lisa Smith was staying at the four-star Dorada Palace in Salou, Spain, according to the Daily Mirror, when she filmed the rush for the hotel pool loungers.

Guests were shoving and barging as they tried to reach the sunbeds, towels were being thrown ahead and grown men were reportedly jumping walls to get there faster.

Lisa recorded two videos during the vacation, so this wasn’t just one person who got carried away for a few seconds. What she filmed showed just how far some guests were prepared to go for their preferred spot beside the pool. The second video is from her 4th vacation day – she said it was the worst. And during the first day, they used a chair – not a sunbed (I discovered that in the comments).

It also raises another question: how many of those coveted loungers are actually going to have people sitting on them?

Because, as other people have shown in videos, a towel can occupy a sunbed for hours while the owner does other things.

I recently wrote about several cases of travelers fighting back against rude tourist behavior, and one involved exactly that frustration. A holidaymaker in Majorca said he spent several days watching people reserve loungers and disappear. His response involved putting itching powder on their towels.

The videos reportedly attracted hundreds of thousands of views. Some people enjoyed seeing sunbed hoggers get their comeuppance, while others thought interfering with someone else’s belongings – especially by putting a substance on them – went much too far.

What People Are Saying About the Sunbed Rush

The first video has reached more than 1 million views, while the second – posted on the fourth day of the vacation and showing people going even further to reach the sunbeds – has already passed 1.2 million views as of August 12, 2026.

The second video has also attracted more than 3,000 comments.

And judging by those comments, a lot of people watching have absolutely no desire to take part in a morning sunbed race themselves. Some of the comments are from people who were at the same resort.

On the First Video, Many People Had the Same Reaction: This Looks Like Hell

Several people used almost exactly the same description:

“My idea of hell:”

Others weren’t much more enthusiastic:

“Awful. No holiday for me there.”

“Holiday from hell getting sunbeds 😂😂😂😂”

“I mean what’s the point in this? Surely a holiday is supposed to be fun and relaxing… this must just be so stressful.”

There were also plenty of comments from people who found the whole spectacle embarrassing:

“That’s embarrassing 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️”

“How embarrassing.”

“che tristezza 😅😅🏖” (translation: How sad 😅😅🏖”)

“vergonzoso” (translation: “Shameful”)

Some Said They’d Rather Avoid This Type of Hotel Completely

A recurring suggestion under the first video was to skip large hotels and resorts where the morning sunbed competition can happen.

“Caribbean hotel, Europe Private Villa, the only way to do it”

Others had another solution:

“This is the reason why I don’t holiday in school holidays and only adult-only hotels 😩”

Adult-only hotels came up more than once in the comments, while private villas and Caribbean vacations were also repeatedly suggested as alternatives.

Others Said They’ve Seen Exactly the Same Thing Before

For some viewers, the footage was nothing new because they’d experienced similar mornings on their own vacations.

“Had this last year in Spain and hated it, people queuing from 7:30 am and grown adults pushing and shoving 😭”

Another comment summed up how familiar these videos have become:

“Every year the same pictures”

And another viewer pointed to one of the most frustrating parts of sunbed reservations:

“Then spend most of the day not using them”

Some Viewers Had Their Own Solution for Empty Sunbeds

Not everyone thought people should accept that a towel automatically means a lounger is unavailable for the rest of the morning.

One person wrote:

“Just go down when you want and take a bed that is not being used. Having a towel on the bed and not being present is not using the bed”

The Second Video Brought Even Stronger Reactions

The second video was filmed later in the vacation and shows an even more chaotic rush, including a man jumping walls and crossing green areas to reach the pool loungers.

One reaction appeared again and again in slightly different forms:

“may this holiday never find me”

Many others simply refused to call what they were watching a vacation:

“That’s not a holiday !!!!”

“That’s not a holiday, that’s hell ❌”

And one person found a more cinematic comparison:

“That’s not a holiday that’s Hunger Games in the sun”

Another commenter compared the scramble to something many people will remember very well:

“Reminds me of when people fought over toilet rolls during Covid 😆”

The Embarrassment Was Almost as Big a Theme as the Sunbeds

The comments under the second video are filled with people saying they simply couldn’t imagine themselves joining the rush.

“My self-respect would never allow me to do this”

“People are ridiculously embarassing”

“I’ve only ever experienced this in Cyprus last year and was genuinely embarrassed to be human 😔”

“Naaa I couldn’t do this it’s acc embarrassing 😅🤦🏼‍♀️”

“The highest level of sadness, and parents say to their kids “don’t run” 😂😂”

“The secondhand embarrassment is real 🙈🙈🙈 I simply could never be that person 😂😂”

One person particularly enjoyed watching people try to make their rush look less obvious:

“I like the ones pretending to be all casual and then breaking into a sprint 😂😂”

Some People Commenting Were Actually There

A few of the most interesting reactions came from people who said they were staying at the resort or had seen similar scenes there themselves.

One commenter said:

“We’re here now and just gave up on the sun bed wars never seen anything as mental in all my life, we use a chair if need be lol xx”

Another immediately recognized the hotel:

“🤣🤣 is this Dorada Palace by any chance? we witnessed this last year was hilarious. One guy jumped over the wall and fell over 🤣”

And someone who had stayed elsewhere in Salou described another system designed to control the morning rush:

“Our hotel in Salou was the same , 😅 the hotel had rules that you had to put ur towels in a Que on the floor at a certain time then come back before 10 and get ready to go for 10 when they open doors 😅”

Other Hotels Apparently Deal With Sunbed Reservations Very Differently

One commenter described a hotel in Greece where staff didn’t allow guests to reserve several loungers with towels while the rest of the family was somewhere else:

“We are in Greece, and they don’t allow this if you reserve a sunbed the manager comes along and takes your towels she says ‘We don’t allow that here’ if you are on a sunbed, it’s fine, but if you’re waiting there without the rest of your family she takes the towels”

That approach would certainly change the morning routine at hotels where rows of loungers are covered in towels long before the people using them appear.

And Then There Were the Comments About Salou Itself

The discussion didn’t stay focused entirely on the people in the video.

One viewer wrote:

“Salou has really gone downhill. I went in May after not going for many years and I felt like I was in the TV show Benidorm”

Another commenter made a very different comparison in French:

“C’est les même qu’à lidl 😂 ils sont juste partis en vacances” (translation: “They’re the same people you see at Lidl 😂 they’ve just gone on vacation.”)

Between the people calling it their idea of hell, those recommending private villas, the guests saying they’ve witnessed the same scenes themselves and the viewers offering their own solutions for unattended towels, the comments show why these videos keep attracting so much attention.

People may disagree about when a lounger is truly reserved, how long somebody can leave it unattended or what hotels should do about it. But thousands of people seem to agree on one thing: they don’t want their own vacation morning to look anything like these videos. 

Another Sunbed Race Happened Earlier This August

The Dorada Palace videos weren’t even the first examples to circulate this month.

On August 3, 2026, footage emerged from Paradise Park Hotel in Tenerife, where holidaymaker Nick Hughes said more than 100 people had gathered before the pool area opened, as reported by Manchester Evening News. Some had reportedly been waiting from around 7:45 a.m., even though access wasn’t allowed until 9 a.m.

Once the barrier was opened, people rushed toward the loungers, weaving around one another while some threw their towels onto empty chairs before they had even reached them.

The hotel had signs warning guests not to reserve loungers in advance, which meant anyone who wanted one of the most popular places had to wait until access to the area was allowed.

Nick said people had been chatting and laughing while they waited. As soon as they were allowed through, that relaxed mood disappeared and everyone wanted to get to the loungers first.

His family chose not to join the race. They went for breakfast and later used a different pool.

I’d make the same choice.

Spending more than an hour of my vacation waiting for a barrier to open, only to run for a chair afterwards, doesn’t sound like a good start to the day. I may want to sit by the water, but not badly enough to turn breakfast time into a competition.

Salou Had Another Viral Sunbed Race in 2024

ID 85335946 ©Olegmit | Dreamstime.com 

The newest incident happened in Salou, but people were filming very similar scenes there two summers ago.

In August 2024, guests at Ohtels Vila Romana waited inside before access to the pool was opened, then rushed outside carrying towels, bags and inflatables.

One TikTok posted by @kirstyp89 showed the crowd waiting and then moving toward the pool. Another video, shared by Garath McKeown, showed people throwing towels toward loungers while they ran.

That second clip had already passed 1.8 million views when The Independent reported on it.

So Salou had people running and throwing towels in 2024, and two years later another hotel in the same resort town has appeared in videos involving wall jumping, pushing and another race for the loungers.

Fortunately, there are far more enjoyable things to see in Spain than a hotel pool at opening time. And if you like learning more about a destination before or after a trip, you can also test yourself with my Spain trivia questions or discover some interesting facts about Spain.

One Tourist Reportedly Grabbed Seven Sunbeds

Running to claim one sunbed is one thing. In another video from Tenerife, one man apparently wanted considerably more.

Footage that circulated in August 2025 showed him rushing toward the pool and putting towels across seven loungers.

Seven.

Families obviously want to sit together, and I understand that. If several people are actually going to spend the day around the pool, getting neighboring loungers is convenient.

But claiming seven places and leaving them empty can mean that several other people arrive at the pool and find nowhere to sit, even though many of the chairs in front of them aren’t actually being used.

It also explains why some guests become so annoyed when they see towels everywhere but very few people around the pool.

Some Guests Apparently Decided 5 A.M. Was Too Late

My 5 a.m. example from the beginning of this article suddenly sounds rather reasonable compared with another Tenerife incident from August 2025.

At the GF Fañabé hotel, Ben Smith filmed people who were reportedly sleeping on loungers while it was still dark outside.

According to reports, the hotel removed towels when loungers were left unattended. Some guests apparently decided that the easiest way to keep their places was to remain there themselves.

So instead of waking early, placing a towel down and going back to bed, they reportedly slept beside the pool.

At that point, I’d happily take whatever chair was left after breakfast.

Ben also described how his group had managed to find only one lounger for three people. A woman then offered them another one she had reserved but wasn’t using.

It was kind of her to offer it, of course. But it also showed why other guests were struggling to find available places even when some of the loungers weren’t being used.

There Have Been Arguments Over “Stolen” Sunbeds Too

Another Tenerife video from August 2025 showed a woman arguing with other guests after accusing them of taking her sunbed.

That brings us to a question that has probably started arguments at thousands of hotel pools: when does a lounger stop being yours?

If you get into the pool for ten minutes, most people probably wouldn’t consider the chair abandoned. The same goes for quickly getting a drink or going to the bathroom.

But what happens when someone leaves for an hour? Or two? Or goes for breakfast and expects a towel to keep the place until they return?

Etiquette expert William Hanson has suggested giving someone around 30 minutes before assuming a lounger has been abandoned. Other etiquette specialists have argued that, unless a resort has its own booking system, loungers should simply be used on a first-come, first-served basis while guests are actually using them.

Hotels don’t all have the same rules, either, which is why checking the signs around the pool can save a lot of arguments.

A Sunbed Dispute Even Reached Court

ID 284299430 ©Alexander Shapovalov | Dreamstime.com 

One family’s frustration didn’t end when the vacation did.

In a case reported in 2026, a German tourist said his family repeatedly struggled to find loungers during a 2024 package holiday on the Greek island of Kos because other guests had been reserving them with towels very early in the morning.

According to Euronews, he said he was getting up at 6 a.m. and still spending around 20 minutes every day looking for loungers. At times, his children reportedly had to lie on the ground because they couldn’t get chairs.

The resort already had a rule against reserving loungers with towels, but the family argued that the rule wasn’t being enforced.

A court in Hanover eventually awarded them a refund of €986.70 from the €7,186 package holiday.

I can understand why this goes beyond simple annoyance when people have paid thousands for a resort vacation. If the pool is one of the facilities that attracted you to the hotel and you repeatedly can’t use it properly because empty loungers are covered with towels, it can affect a substantial part of the holiday.

Some Destinations Have Started Taking Early Reservations Seriously

Hotels can remove towels from unattended loungers, control access to the pool area or create their own reservation systems. On public beaches, local authorities can have rules of their own.

Calpe, on Spain’s Costa Blanca, has restrictions affecting chairs, loungers, parasols and other items placed on the beach too early or left unattended for long periods.

I explained the details in my article about the Calpe beach towel rule, because some of the headlines made it sound as though Spain had suddenly introduced a national ban on leaving towels on beaches.

It hadn’t.

Calpe’s rules are local. Equipment placed before 9:30 a.m. can be removed when it interferes with beach cleaning, and items left unattended for more than three hours can also be taken away.

Travel rules can become much stranger than people expect, especially when destinations are trying to deal with behavior that affects other visitors. I’ve collected many more examples in my article about weird travel laws around the world.

Are the Guests the Only Ones to Blame?

Watching people run, shove or jump walls for loungers certainly doesn’t make them look good.

But if the same thing happens every morning at a hotel, I also wonder why the situation is allowed to continue.

If dozens of guests are waiting behind a barrier every day and all of them know that the moment it opens they have to hurry toward a limited number of desirable loungers, a race isn’t exactly difficult to predict.

Removing unattended towels can help, although the guests who reportedly slept on loungers overnight prove that people can become very determined when they want a particular place.

Hotels can also use booking systems or time limits. Those aren’t perfect either. A reservation system can simply move the competition online, while strict time limits may annoy guests who genuinely want to swim, have lunch or briefly return to their rooms.

And not every family with several towels is hogging loungers. If four people arrive early, use four chairs and stay around the pool for most of the day, that might not be a problem – but the sunbed is occupied.

The situation looks very different when seven loungers are covered with towels while nobody is using them.

That’s why I’m curious about what happens at the hotels you visit. Do staff remove towels? Are there enough loungers for everyone? Have you ever seen people running when the pool opens? And would you move a towel yourself if a sunbed had been empty for hours?

Conclusion: I Want a Good Sunbed Too – Just Not That Much

Of course I’d rather sit close to the pool or the sea. I don’t think anyone chooses the last row when the first one is available.

But I’m not waking at 5 a.m. to queue for a chair, and I’m certainly not throwing towels, jumping walls or sleeping on a lounger overnight.

If getting a little more sleep means sitting farther away from the water, that’s an easy decision for me.

The videos from Salou, Tenerife and other resorts also make me wonder how often these scenes happen without anyone filming them. We usually hear about the spectacular examples because somebody pulls out a phone, but there must be many more mornings when people rush for chairs, argue over towels or discover that half the loungers appear to be “occupied” even though almost nobody is sitting on them.

So now I really want to know what you’ve seen.

How early have you seen people getting up to reserve sunbeds on vacation? And what do you think should happen to towels left on empty loungers for hours?

Extra sources:

• The 2 videos mentioned in the first situation I presented are these: 1, 2
• The Salou race in 2024 is in this video
• The video with the seven sunbeds reserved with towels by one man is here
• The stolen sunbed war video is here

Violeta Loredana

Violeta-Loredana Pascal is a communications expert, business mentor, and the founder of Earth’s Attractions and PRwave INTERNATIONAL. A pioneer in the Romanian digital PR landscape since 2005, she holds a degree in Communication and Social Sciences from SNSPA Bucharest. Violeta is a senior trainer at AcademiadeAfaceri.ro, where she leverages over 20 years of experience to teach professional courses in PR strategy and workplace productivity. By blending high-level business consulting with a passion for holistic travel and wellness, she empowers solopreneurs to overcome procrastination, build profitable brands, and design a life of purposeful adventure.