Holidaymakers desperate to bag the best spot by a pool resorted to a new and 'crazy' method to beat the rush.
Sunseekers have conjured up a technique to bagsy themselves a prime location in Camp de Mar, Majorca, where many hotels have rules in placed designed to stop the lounger arms race.
In recent years sunbed demand has increasingly outstripped supply in popular resorts, causing people to get up earlier and earlier to place their towel down to secure a poolside spot for the day.
As a means of levelling the playing field so it isn't just early birds who catch the lounger shaped worm, hotels have kept pool areas closed until a certain time of the morning.
Necessity being the mother of invention, some people - presumably Brits given the expert queuing technique on show - have started lining their towels up outside the swimming zone overnight.
Have you witnessed the sunbed wars? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
"In an effort to control the sunbed madness, the door from the hotel to the pool area was kept locked until 8am," holidaymaker Geoff told The Mirror.
"So people were lining their towels up on the floor in a queue order by the door before it opened. I must add this wasn't youngsters, but mostly elderly and middle-aged people."
Geoff was visiting a four star hotel in the Camp de Mar region of Majorca, Spain when he witnessed the technique being deployed.
"The towel line actually went back much further (than the picture shows) and the owners were seated on the sofas just out of sight, ready to fly outside when the door was unlocked," he continued.
"I don't know what time they started, but we were up at 6.30am one morning to grab breakfast before an excursion, and there was already an established towel queue forming at the door. Crazy behaviour!"
Every year ray-seeking holiday makers are pitted against one another to see who can bag the best sunbed a resort has to offer.
The wars began in earnest in May this year, when a video shared on TikTok caught the action at 7.47am, showing a crowd of tourists racing to the pool area to reserve sun loungers by the pool.
Some can be seen running to the sunbeds and plonking down their belongings, while others fling their towels onto the seats in front of them.
Thomas Clifford, who captured the video, said: "I couldn’t believe it! People were sniping by throwing their towels off the top of the stairs. I felt sorry for the poor man trying to clean the pool as everyone stampeded him!"
In the clip the theme tune from Mario Kart can be heard, signalling the start of the race at the Bahia Principe Hotel in Tenerife.
Last year Brits on holiday in Majorca were caught laying out their towels as early as 5am in a bid to get the best spot.
Mum Rebekah posted a video on Instagram showing the swathes of towels left on the ground by guests in an effort to reserve a space, hours sunbeds could even be booked.
In the video she jokes: "Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you the British efforts from this year’s annual ‘Sun-bed Showdown’. More tactical, skilled and hated than ANY sports team in the world…"
