British tourists have ramped up sunbed wars by sleeping on them overnight

The summer may be slowly approaching its end, but sunbed wars among British holidaymakers abroad are still going strong.

In Tenerife, one British man was stunned when he woke up and noticed the best loungers around his resort’s pool were taken three hours before the area opened.

Sunbed wars have reached a whole new level as British holidaymakers sleep outside on them to reserve a coveted spot.

30-year-old Ben Smith, from Sheffield, said the scene was a ‘vicious cycle’, taking photos of the scene at the £259-a-night-per-person Gf Fanabe Hotel in Tenerife – a four-star resort.

The footage was shot on Monday, at the start of Ben’s two-week summer holiday.

‘They reserve the beds, but the hotel has a policy that if your bed is left unattended, they will remove the towels – so they just lie in them,’ he said.

‘Some even look to be asleep. It’s a bit silly. I do get why people do it, but it’s a vicious cycle, so to speak. They’re the ones creating the problem that they’re aiming to avoid.’

Ben said if people didn’t reserve beds they didn’t actually need to use, there wouldn’t be an issue at all.

In his time at the resort so far, he said the beds haven’t been anywhere near full of anyone – except towels.

Ben added: ‘We got one bed between three of us the other day, and a lady kindly said we could have one of hers – it wasn’t being used and she told us to take her towel off.

‘I mean, in a sense, it’s nice of her, but in another, why is her towel on it when she’s not using it? It’s mostly selfishness.’

Tensions in Tenerife are high at the moment – just days ago, an angry woman screamed at fellow holidaymakers, accusing them of having ‘stolen’ her sunbed.

So-called sunbed wars are a feature at holiday hotels and resorts in sun spots across the world.

With loungers often outnumbered by guests, a bun fight ensues for the best spots by the pool.

It comes as research found that people from the West Midlands were most likely to admit to having reserved sun loungers while abroad.

Meanwhile, those from the West Country and Yorkshire and the Humber were the best behaved, with just eight per cent fessed up to being a bed hogger.

Metro previously declared the beginning of 2025’s sunbed wars back in May, after an altercation at a resort in Lanzarote came with the battle cry ‘you picked on the wrong person’ and threats of calling the manager.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.