How to win the sunbed wars! They are already raging over Europe. But an ingenious series of new tricks mean you might never face the pre-breakfast sprint to the loungers again...

Clayton Smith takes his job seriously. He’s up at the crack of a Spanish dawn, focused, uncomplaining, determined. Armed with several rolled-up towels – and wearing smart trainers that may or may not give him the edge once the starter gun is fired at 9am – he seems quietly confident. Mr Smith, 63, who recently retired from a career in the marine industry and lives in Blackpool, has done his research.  He knows where parts of the pool area will be in shade as early as 4pm – and where best to catch the eye of a passing waiter when refreshments are required. He also knows five other people are depending on him. ‘I’m the designated sun lounger bagger,’ says Mr Smith, who, with his wife Paula, has come to the Melia Costa del Sol Hotel in Torremolinos for a ten-night holiday with two other couples. ‘You really don’t have to put yourself under so much pressure,’ I tell him. ‘Did you know you can book a sun lounger on the beach at this hotel even before you arrive? Wouldn’t that make life easier?’ ‘I didn’t know that,’ he says. ‘But it wouldn’t suit because some of us aren’t keen on the beach. Paula doesn’t like all that sand in her toes’. Which is a shame, because he and his friends could easily have secured front row sunbeds for 10 euros a day, or 8 euros a day for a berth in any of the other rows. And they could have arranged that back home in Blackpool. British holidaymakers have a reputation for being the worst culprits for sunbed bagging. Pictured: The Melia Costa del Sol Hotel (seen) in Torremolinos  The book-in-advance option is a significant new development in efforts to de-escalate hostilities in the sunbed wars raging across Europe.  Something of a crackdown is going on – and the stakes are higher than ever, following the sensational case of David Eggert, a German tourist who successfully sued his tour operator following a dispute over sunbeds at a luxury hotel on the Greek island of Kos. The 48-year-old pilot from Dusseldorf claimed that all 400 loungers at the five-star Grecotel Kos Imperial had been reserved with towels during his family holiday in 2024 (despite getting up at 6am to bag a pair of them for himself), leaving his children lying on concrete around the pool. He was awarded more than £800 in compensation. ‘People were not actually using the loungers,’ Mr Eggert told the Daily Mail. ‘They just went into town or back to bed and slept. It’s a very important ruling. When the holiday season starts and people face the same problem, they will say: “Look, somebody sued a tour operator over this. I’ll do the same.”’ Already, the rules of engagement are changing. Resorts across Cyprus and Spain have introduced systems where guests are assigned their own sun loungers for the duration of their stay, thus avoiding the dawn rush – in theory at least. At the St George Beach Hotel & Spa Resort in Paphos, Cyprus, you’re allocated a sunbed at check-in. Later, you can change position, according to availability, by speaking to one of the pool attendants.  ‘Our Sun Loungers Allocation System operates with fairness and attentiveness,’ says the hotel’s website. ‘Every effort is made to fulfil guest requests, ensuring that each visitor has the opportunity to enjoy their preferred spot by the pool or on the beach.’ At the five-star, adults-only Iberostar Selection Sabila in Tenerife, guests have to book a lounger on an app. They can do this up to 48 hours in advance. If they do not take the spot by 10.30am, it becomes available to others. I stayed this year at the Sandals resort in Curacao where sunbed blocking (by leaving personal items on it) is not allowed. Signs make clear that ‘all unoccupied sunbeds will be cleared after 11am daily and then every 90 minutes thereafter’. Cruise companies are also addressing the issue. P&O Cruises has adopted a ‘lonely lounge’ policy, whereby a member of staff places a beige hood over the head of a lounger with a message on it that reads: ‘If left for more than 30 minutes, belongings will be moved to the lonely lounger pick up point.’ It was a distinct lack of consideration for others that drove Rachel Rodgers recently removed towels off unattended sunbeds while staying at the Mediterranean Palace hotel in Tenerife Some British tourists have taken sunbed wars to extremes by sleeping on loungers overnight to reserve the best poolside spot Carnival Cruise Line uses a timed sticker system. ‘Shipboard team members, the “ChairShare Team”, monitor sun lounger usage and if they observe a seat that contains a towel or personal belongings but appears to be unoccupied, a sticker is placed on the chair indicating the time the sticker was placed and when personal items will be removed,’ according to the official policy.  ‘If the chair remains unoccupied for 40 minutes, the contents are removed and held for the guest’s safekeeping.’ What’s positive about this course of action is that passengers are given an indication as to when a lounger will become available. The hogger is timed out and the sunbed seeker can move in. Perhaps pre-booking a sunbed is long overdue. After all, we choose and pay for a specific seat on a plane or when going to the cinema or theatre. The problem is that in many hotels there just aren’t enough sunbeds to go round. Hence the stampede. At the Melia Costa del Sol there are 540 rooms and the hotel is pretty much full to capacity until October. So, based on two people sharing, it means there needs to be more than 1,000 sunbeds to keep everyone happy. ‘That would be impossible,’ says Jose Benitez, Melia’s assistant Guest Experience Manager. ‘So what we do is place a note on all the sunbeds, warning that staff will remove towels and other items if the sunbed is not occupied for 45 minutes.’ Mr Benitez accepts that, in practice, this rarely happens because it would cause too much commotion. So, is he fearful of guests taking legal action if they can’t find a sunbed in the coming months? ‘All guests sign a contract on arrival – and nowhere does it say there is a sunbed for everyone,’ he says. ‘We just depend on people being considerate.’ It was a distinct lack of consideration for others that drove Rachel Rodgers to take matters into her own hands recently while staying at the four-star Mediterranean Palace hotel in Tenerife. Incensed by hoggers who had appeared from the shadows at 6am, she began removing towels from the reserved sun loungers – and filmed her exploits, all set to the music of How You Like Me Now by The Heavy, and finished with a triumphant curtsy.  Her social media video amassed 2.3 million views with many people hailing her a hero and some suggesting she should be given a free holiday.  ‘I enjoyed doing it and if I had a little bit more time, I’d have carried on doing it – and I might even have thrown some of them [the towels] in the pool,’ says Mrs Rodgers. Asked to comment on those who criticised her, she said: ‘I don’t give a stuff.’ It’s clearly a sensitive issue. When approached by the Daily Mail, Tui did not want to comment and Jet2 said ‘sunbed policies are managed and administered by individual hotels’. Meanwhile, back at the Melia Costa del Sol, where the glass doors to the swimming pool opened at 9am, Mr Smith is only half satisfied with his morning’s work. He has bagged six sunbeds in a prime position near the pool and with guaranteed sunshine until late afternoon – but they are not all in a row. The Melia has launched a system to reserve your sun lounger by the hotel pool and beach A couple (‘probably from Germany,’ he says, ‘but don’t quote me’) are occupying two sunbeds in the middle of the row of six and, fearful of causing a scene, he is not inclined to ask them to swap. ‘Even if you can book a sunbed in advance, you might not necessarily be positioned in the best place,’ says Joanne Bromilow, from Plymouth, part of Mr Smith’s gang. ‘When you’re paying a lot of money to stay in a resort, you don’t want a sunbed next to the toilets or in some dark corner.’  That must be on the minds of guests at the even bigger Sol Hotel a few hundred yards down the strip. There are nearly 1,000 rooms at Sol, which perhaps explains why, when I arrive at 7am, most of the sunbeds around the main pool are already reserved, with towels pegged to the back of them.  Some even have notices saying: ‘This is my place.’ Toril Rasmussen, 40, from Norway, is on holiday with her daughter and her grandson. ‘I come down every morning before breakfast and reserve two sunbeds,’ she says. ‘Over the years, it’s become a ritual and I quite like it.’ It’s the early morning alarm call I could do without. And, unlike Mr Smith’s wife, Paula, I like sand between my toes. So, at around 7pm, I book an eight euro sunbed on the beach club for the next day. I ask to be in the second row if possible.  Then, 15 hours later after a good night’s sleep and leisurely breakfast – taken while the long-suffering Mr Smith is queuing at the entrance to the pool – I saunter down to the beach, give my name and am shown to my sunbed, which has an upside down plastic table on it, saying ‘Reservado’. The eight euros will be added to my bill at check-out. This strikes me as a bargain, certainly compared with the five-star Hotel Martinez in Cannes, where a cabana on the pontoon costs 757 euros for two people, with a bottle of Taittinger, fruit platter and mineral water part of the package.  A front row sunbed on the beach at the Martinez costs 99 euros per person or 74 euros for one in any of the other rows. British holidaymakers have a reputation for being the worst culprits for sunbed bagging – but last summer there was cheering news from a survey of German tourists, which revealed that 71 per cent of them believed it was a ‘predominantly German’ custom. Lisa Henning, boss of Cheshire-based travel agency Inspire, is convinced sunbed booking will soon be available as an add-on.  ‘I can see how booking a sunbed will become an essential part of the holiday,’ she says.  ‘Many of our customers are particular about where their rooms are located in their hotel and I can see them wanting to be assured of a sunbed in the right spot and being prepared to pay for that. ‘Hotels should look to offer it as a room type with sunbed.’ Mr Smith might need some persuading because he relishes the challenge, not least because it means he is excused forking out for a round of drinks – as a reward for his early morning heroics.