Sunbed Wars 2025 hit Tenerife with tourists throwing down towels on six loungers
Sunbed wars have broken out in Tenerife — with resort guests throwing down towels on up to six loungers at a time around a pool.
The British national sport is taking place at the HG Tenerife Sur from 8.15am until late in the morning, according to one holidaymaker.
Combatants have been spotted rising early to reserve places in the fight for spots that has led the hotel to take counter-measures.
Metro covered the outbreak of this year’s sunbed wars earlier this month, with the first known battle taking place in Lanzarote, where one holidaymaker was filmed accusing another of taking her spot.
Footage then emerged of a tourist, reportedly British, being beaten up by a resort worker in Turkey after declining to buy a sunbed.
The resort in Los Cristianos told Metro that the ‘unfortunate difficulty’ is not confined to its precincts and is common in the holiday sector.
Claire Midgley, 39, from Middlesbrough, stayed at the hotel in the Easter holidays with her two children, mum, sister and partner.
She witnessed the participants claiming loungers left out by the poolside — and even sitting on others that had been locked up.
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‘I had heard about sunbed wars before but never witnessed them until now,’ Claire said.
‘Guests were dressed and round the pool putting towels down and sitting on the piles of locked up beds from 8.15am until the lifeguard came and unlocked them at 9am.
‘They would reserve beds and then just leave them, some up until the afternoon, especially ones near the pool.
‘I did overhear a family asking the lifeguard if they could remove the towels but the response was that it’s not their responsibility to do so.
‘There were a few beds that opened around 11am but again there was a queue to get them and by this time the spots in the sun were pretty much taken, so only shaded areas were left until the sun came out later on.
‘Other than that the hotel was spot on; friendly staff and always clean.’
Claire said that families were putting down up to six towels at a time and placing the beds around the pool, with most returning later in the day.
A spokesperson for the hotel said: ‘We are aware of the sunbeds issue.
‘In fact, it is an unfortunate difficulty most hotels have to face at certain periods of the year, as having a sunbed per guest is not feasible.
‘We always enforce customers not to reserve them, but unfortunately not everybody is respectful.
‘We have lately taken measures to improve the situation, such as collecting them every day to prevent people reserving during the night or early hours before pool opening, as in the past they were spread around the solarium and were always available.
‘As the customer mentions, we also keep around 50 sunbeds apart, that are released at 11am to help with the daily distribution, which helps but does not solve the problem entirely.
‘Our pool guard should deal with those not using the sunbeds in favour of those being ready to use them.
‘We will talk to him and find out what happened this time.
‘In any case, both upon arrival and on our house rules, we inform our clients to come and see us at reception in order to help and mediate.
‘We will keep on working to improve and offer the best service possible to our customers.’
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