How to beat the Germans to the sunbed! TikToker reveals his top tips to lock down the perfect spots

By Katherine Lawton 19:03 09 Jul 2024, updated 17:09 14 Jul 2024

• READ: Holidaymakers sprint out hotel and race for prime pool-side loungers  

A holidaymaker has revealed his four top tips to secure the perfect sunbed on holiday. 

Johnny Seifert shared his precious advice in a TikTok video explaining how to bag the best place to relax - without fear the spot will get taken while you enjoy your breakfast and go for a morning stroll. 

It comes during peak sunbed season across southern Europe, with tourists filmed fighting it out in holiday hotspots like Costa del Sol and Benidorm for the best deckchair. 

Dozens of frantic holidaymakers were seen dashing to claim their spot on sunbeds the moment the pool opened at a resort on Spain's Costa del Sol.

The first piece of advice given by Mr Seifert is to 'get up early' but 'make sure all the deckchairs have been cleaned' to ensure your items are not removed. 

'You're going to have cleaners who are going to come around cleaning all the deckchairs. You want to make sure that they've done quite a sweep of it already so wait until about 7:40am,' he said. 

'Otherwise what they're going to do is just take away your deckchairs straight away.' 

The holidaymaker's second tip is to think carefully about the location of your deckchair. 

'You want to be thinking about, right, where do you want to sit? So for me, I want to be able to see that view [of the pool] the whole time because I feel like I'm on holiday,' he said. 

Mr Seifert explained you want to pick a chair with plenty of space around it so you can move it according to the direction of the sun. 

'What you want to do with your deckchairs is choose one which you can rotate 360 degrees so that you can follow the sun around,' he said. 

'So for me I like the idea of putting one here, because I can have space here to turn things around.' 

The final piece of clever advice is to bring a pre-read book on holiday to place down on the chair. 

'I've already read this book so if it goes missing it's not the end of the world. I've had books taken before that I haven't finished. What I'm going to do is open it up and put it on the deckchair so it looks like I've just gone to the toilet whilst reading my book,' the holidaymaker explained.  

I can now go for a morning walk, have breakfast, I've got the perfect deckchair facing the pool and job's a goodun'. Hopefully no one will take my deckchair because it looks like I've just gone to the toilet.' 

It comes as a video posted on TikTok showed tourists carrying towels and bathing gear rushing past one another to make sure they secured the best spot after the doors were opened to a resort on Spain 's Costa del Sol.

The Sunset Beach Club hotel in Benalmádena is said to be one of the worst battlegrounds for spats over sun loungers. 

While some hotel guests are seen making a run for their sunbeds, others can be seen tempering their pace and slowing to a power walk as they seemingly decide not to demean themselves in the pursuit of a sunbathing spot.

Commenting on the video, one TikTok user said: 'My idea of hell', while another said: 'That would give me major anxiety in the mornings'.

Last year the same hotel had to hire a security guard to break up fights as Brits got up before dawn to battle other holidaymakers for sunbeds.

Tourists, including several Brits, have reportedly had to join long queues to bag a spot by the pool-side spot.

It comes during peak sunbed season across southern Europe, with tourists filmed fighting it out in holiday hotspots like Costa del Sol and Benidorm for the best poolsng a spot.