This is the moment British tourists were kicked out of their sun loungers in Benidorm for trying to bag them up too early.
Video footage from the Meliá Hotel shows a security guard waving his finger and shouting ‘no, no, no!’ at the two men as he frantically gestures with his hands towards his watch.
The men are then escorted off the beds and told to get to the end of a queue that had been forming at the entrance to the pool area.
This comes as hotels prepare for this year’s dreaded sunbed wars, which could start sooner than ever. This week two elderly tourists were branded “selfish” for lying on stacks of sun loungers in Benidorm.
At the Meliá, the two tourists had tried to occupy two beds at 8:40 a.m., against the hotel’s policy, which appears to be enforcing the law this year.
Video footage from the Meliá Hotel shows a security guard waving his finger and shouting ‘no, no, no!’ at the two men as he frantically gestures with his hands towards his watch
The men are then escorted away from the beds and told to get to the end of a queue that had been forming at the entrance to the pool area.
The pool area and its beds are strictly off-limits until 9am, and guests are forced to queue behind a cordon of ropes.
A security guard in a bright yellow shirt keeps a watchful eye on sun worshipers trying to cheat the system by getting an early bed.
However, those who have paid for access to the Level Lounge will be able to relax in a roped-off area of VIP beds as soon as they want.
At 9am, the guard releases the cordon of ropes, unleashing a flock of British tourists who race to secure their favorite poolside spots.
Travelers have started their shenanigans earlier than ever this year, with many Brits seen at the Meliá carrying piles of towels to reserve a row of beds before immediately slipping away to enjoy the breakfast buffet.
The children were filmed running with towels to secure their family’s favorite spot for the day.
A security guard in a bright yellow T-shirt keeps a watchful eye on sun worshipers trying to cheat the system by grabbing an early bed.
At the Meliá, the tourist couple had tried to occupy two beds at 8:40 a.m., contravening hotel policy.
This comes after the hotel witnessed identical scenes last August, in the height of the season.
Clare Fairbrother, 49, from Warrington, Cheshire, described the scenes as “crazy” while on holiday with her husband David, 50, and daughter Lily, 10.
They filmed the moment when the British ran to the loungers in the VIP area.
She said at the time: ‘Ok, we thought it was fun and crazy to see this at 9am having breakfast…
‘There were about 50 people in the queue and 20 of them ran. I didn’t see it get violent, but people sent their kids first because I think they’re faster.
“The hotel restricted the opening of the doors to the sun lounger area until 9 in the morning.”
Footage from last summer showed tourists competing with each other for poolside loungers as the sites opened, at which point witnesses said “madness” ensued.
A British mother who holidayed at another Benidorm hotel last year said she was close to tears after her family were forced to sit under a water slide after missing the mad dash.
Cayleigh Tuffs, pictured with her husband Andrew and eight-year-old daughter Charley, said she was left close to tears after missing last year’s crazy race.
Cayleigh Tuffs, 34, who was on holiday with her husband Andrew and their eight-year-old daughter, described the rush to get beds as “horrendous” and vowed never to return to the Spanish tourist destination.
Hotels across southern Spain were forced to crack down on unruly behavior as tourists battled for the best sunbathing spots.
A hotel on the Costa del Sol revealed they were forced to introduce a parking ticket system, where towels left on unattended beds were removed after a time limit.
Guests at the Estival Torrequebrada on Benalmádena beach, many of whom paid thousands of dollars for their holiday, were warned they could no longer leave towels as a marker on a sun lounger to claim for an entire day.
People queue for sun loungers at the Hotel Estival Torrequebrada, near Malaga, as many brought chairs and a good book as they waited for almost two hours before the beach and pool opened.
Instead, management began leaving cards on sun loungers with towels, bags and other personal items, warning that they would be removed after 45 minutes if they remained unoccupied.
There have been similar scenes in other parts of the Mediterranean. After missing out on a sunbed at their Greek resort, where a similar policy was intended, a German family was paid £280.
The family, who spent £4,532 on their holiday last summer, received the cash after they were unable to get sun loungers at their Rhodes hotel one morning.
Managers at the TUI Kids Club Atlantica Mikri Poli hotel had been enforcing a policy that meant guests who placed towels on any of its 500 beds had to use them within 30 minutes. The court determined that in this case the policy was not implemented.
