The race for the sunbeds! Hilarious moment tourists dash to leave their ....

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11013863/Hilarious-moment-tourists-race-claim-spots-Tenerife-hotel-despite-FIVE-pools.html

The race for the sunbeds! Hilarious moment tourists dash to leave their towels on the best spots by the pool at Tenerife hotel (even though it has FIVE pools!)

    Guests at Paradise Park on the island's south-east made a mad poolside dash
    Canary Island resort at Los Cristianos became frontier of latest sunbeds battle
    TikTok shows competitive holidaymakers launch for loungers at opening time
    It came just weeks after staff at nearby hotel confiscated early birds' towels

By Adam Solomons For Mailonline

Published: 15:57, 14 July 2022 | Updated: 16:55, 14 July 2022

Tourists at a Tenerife hotel have been filmed making a shameless dash for the best poolside sunbeds despite the resort having no fewer than five pools.  One guest's viral TikTok shows a crowd of holidaymakers show up at one of the pools at Canary Island resort Paradise Park just as it opens.  They then drop their towels on the hotspot's best loungers with some even glancing around guiltily as they do it.  TikTok user Sarah, whose clip has already garnered more than five million views in just one day, simply captioned it: 'The Sunbed Race'.  She added a crying-laughing emoji.  Paradise Park spokesperson Rafael Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo told MailOnline: 'We were amused to see it considering that our hotel has 5 swimming pools and areas with space and sunbeds for everyone.  Although we see quite a bit of talent among our guests for obstacle races.'

Sarah's video had comments switched off, so it's impossible to tell exactly what her followers might think of the tourists' desperate endeavour.  But a poolside clip she posted four days ago showed many towels left abandoned.  Sarah wrote: 'Soo annoying when people do this!!'

One user commented: 'I go away next week and I will be removing any towels if no one is using.'

Another added: 'Inform reception they will remove them for you. We had the same in May. People stopped doing it after that.'

The latest turf war came weeks after sunbed-blockers had their towels taken away by hotel staff at another resort in Tenerife.  Holidaymaker Amanda Proctor filmed the moment the workers picked up dozens of towels that guests had laid out on empty sun loungers in a bid to reserve the best seats next to the pool at the five-star Gran Costa Adeje Hotel, southern Tenerife.  Proctor said that the staff at the hotel, which features four pools, took the guests' bags and towels and left a note on the sun loungers telling them where to collect their belongings.  The holidaymaker said there was a sign at the hotel saying guests were not allowed to reserve sunbeds before 10am.  Proctor posted the video, which was captioned 'hotel staff and security taking towels saved on beds', on TikTok in late June.  Footage shows three hotel staff members picking up the hotel's yellow towels from the sun loungers, with one man seen carrying over 10 towels over his shoulder.  One hotel guest appeared to run over to the staff members to ask them to leave his towel on the lounger while it was being removed.  The video has been viewed by more than 3.8 million people, with many of the viewers agreeing that it was wrong for the hotel guests to reserve the sun loungers.  One user commented: 'It's the ones who reserve poolside who don't show up until 4pm'.

Proctor replied: 'Exactly. I was lying there thinking go on! They took their bags, towels and everything left a note on the sun lounger where to collect.'

She said it was 'absolutely hilarious' watching people come back to find their towels removed from the sun loungers, adding that some did not return until mid-afternoon.  Another user wrote: 'More hotels need to start doing this. It should be first come first serve.'

One person who claimed to have previously worked at the hotel wrote: 'They take away towels that have been there longer than one hour without anybody actually laying there. Loved it.'

Others commented on the video saying that they have visited hotels where they have used different tactics to avoid tourists reserving sun loungers for hours by putting their towels down.  One user wrote: 'I go to a hotel that reserves your beds for your entire stay against your room. No rush to get down, they're yours for your entire stay. Best idea ever.'

A spokesperson at the hotel told MailOnline: 'At GF Gran Costa Adeje, we defend the right of all our guests to enjoy our pools and we ask everyone to respect our policy.  All guests will have their space in our solarium. In this situation, our colleague, like the entire GF Gran Costa Adeje team, is a hero without a cape. We are very happy with the reaction to the video and from our customers.'

Sun-obsessed holidaymakers have been known to wake up early in the morning and make a mad dash to reserve sun loungers.  Also last month, footage taken by Julie Larsson captured tourists running for sun loungers at 6am at a hotel in Majorca.  Larsson joked that the video was all about 'sunbed wars at 6am'.  The video shows territorial sunbathers earmarking their loungers for the day by placing bags, towels and other belongings. Many people also rushed to secure the best seats by the poolside.  In 2017, footage emerged of people racing for sun loungers at Hotel Servatur Waikiki at the popular Playa del Ingles resort in Gran Canaria just as the pool opened at 8am.  Hotel insiders say people begin queuing at 7.30am each day in order to bag a prime spot in the first row of sun loungers.  And despite the stereotype of Germans being the first to lay their towels, sources say it is the British and Irish are the worst offenders.  In many cases they lay their towels down and head into breakfast before returning at their leisure. The hotel has a total of almost 500 rooms, with more than 150 sun beds visible in the footage.  The problem of sunbed bagging got so bad that hotel staff were instructed to remove towels from loungers left empty for two or three hours. Tour operator Thomas Cook has tried to solve the problem at partner hotels by letting holidaymakers reserve the hotel loungers via an app.