You already know what you’re going to find when you get down to the pool. You know it before you even put your flip flops on. Every lounger taken, every one of them empty, a sea of towels belonging to people who are still in bed or eating a full English somewhere while their territory sits unchallenged in the morning sun. You’ve seen the photos. Maybe you’ve personally experienced it and wondering if it’s as bad as others say it is.
It’s worse.
This has been happening at resorts across the south of the island for years, and the thing that gets me isn’t the people doing it, it’s that the hotels know this is happening and have policies against it, but do almost nothing about it. That’s the part that should make you angry, and it’s the reason that a German tourist recently took a tour operator to court for and won. The judge in Hanover ruled that his tour operator had a responsibility to make sure the pool was actually usable, and was refunded over €900 on a €7,000 family holiday. His kids had been lying on the floor because there was nowhere else to go and that’s simply unacceptable.
Why the South Has The Worst Problem
The resorts in the south are where the sun lounger wars are at their most intense, and the reason is simple: it’s reliably sunny, which means the pool is predictably packed. The stakes feel high enough that some people will set an alarm for 5:45am to go and lay a towel on a plastic recliner before going back to sleep.
I’m not exaggerating the 5:45am part. There were videos circulating a while back of guests at Tenerife resorts sleeping on loungers overnight to hold their spot. I didn’t need to watch those videos to believe them. I’ve seen stranger things at 6am by a pool in Las Américas.
The resorts that suffer most are the large all inclusives, the ones with 400 rooms and one pool and a breakfast buffet that opens at 7:30. There are never enough loungers for everyone who wants one at the same time, and when you add in the towel reservation system which means that the people who want one at a reasonable hour have almost no chance of getting one.
What the Hotels Say vs. What They Actually Do
Most large hotels in the south have a policy which is usually printed somewhere, sometimes on a sign by the pool, sometimes in the welcome pack that nobody reads and says something along the lines of: “Towels left on unoccupied loungers for more than 30 minutes may be removed by staff.”
I want to be honest about how often this is enforced: almost never.
The pool attendants don’t want the confrontation and the management doesn’t want the complaints either. The guests who are doing the reserving are often the loudest, most entitled people at the resort, which means they’re also the most likely to kick off if someone touches their towel, so the staff look the other way. A policy or rule is only good if it’s enforced and in this case, it’s a tough one when guests don’t cooperate or follow basic rules.
The only hotels that usually enforce this are the higher end places, the ones where the clientele would consider it beneath them to be seen in a towel war, and where management has decided that a functioning pool is a selling point worth protecting. If you’re staying somewhere that costs £80 a night per room, don’t expect enforcement. If you’re paying £250, you might get it.
The North Is a Different Island Entirely
Many people planning a Tenerife holiday don’t often realise that the north and the south are quite different in terms of weather. The south is usually more predictable when it comes to the weather while the north is green, the kind of green that surprises you when you’ve only ever seen the south. It often gets more cloud and rain and is different to the south.
The north also has smaller hotels, fewer tourists, and almost none of the towel war culture. If you stay up there, the sun lounger situation simply isn’t a problem in the same way. You might not get wall to wall sunshine, but you’ll get a lounger.
I should say, actually, that I’m not suggesting everyone should stay in the north. If you’ve got young kids and you need reliable sun and a pool, the south makes sense. Just go in knowing what you’re signing up for.
The Plan When Staying at a Resort in the South
I’m not going to tell you to wake up at 6am; that’s not a holiday, it’s a punishment.
It’s better to go later instead to avoid the initial busy time between 10am and 1pm because by 2 o’clock, people are usually heading back to their rooms, going for lunch, or giving up on the sun for the day.
If you can shift your pool time to the afternoon, you’ll find it significantly easier, and the light’s better anyway with the most intense sun out of the way and less risk of sunburn.
Have a chat with the pool attendant on your first morning and just ask how it works with the sunbeds at that hotel. Ask them when it gets busy and if there is a time during the day when it’s easier to get one without any issues because they know the rhythms of the place better than anyone else and if you’re friendly about it rather than arriving with a complaint, they’ll usually try to help.
Use the beach. This sounds obvious but a lot of people staying in the south forget it’s there. Playa de las Américas and Los Cristianos both have actual beaches, sand, sea, the whole thing, and nobody’s reserving a patch of sand with a towel at 6am. It’s not the same as a pool, but on a hot afternoon it’s often better.
Whether It’s Worth Complaining to Your Tour Operator
The German court case matters because it establishes something that tour operators would rather you didn’t know: they have a legal responsibility to make sure the facilities you paid for are actually accessible. Not to guarantee you a specific lounger at a specific time, but to make sure there’s a system in place that gives you a reasonable chance.
If you’re in the UK and you want to pursue this, the process is: complain to your tour operator in writing during or immediately after your holiday, with photos and dates and times. If they’re a member of ABTA, you can escalate to them if the tour operator doesn’t respond properly. After that, small claims court is an option, though it’s a lot of effort.
The honest answer is that most people won’t bother and the hotels know it, but if you’re paying serious money for a family package and the pool is genuinely unusable, it’s worth at least putting it in writing. Document everything by taking photos or videos of empty but reserved loungers which is exactly the kind of evidence that makes a complaint harder to dismiss.
FAQ
What time do you need to get to the pool in Tenerife to get a sun lounger? At busy all inclusive resorts in the south, the towel rush starts before 7am. If you want a prime spot without pre-booking, you need to be there by 8am at the latest. The easier option is to go in the afternoon, around 2pm, when turnover picks up.
Can hotels in Tenerife legally remove towels from sun loungers? Yes. Most hotels have a policy allowing staff to remove towels from unoccupied loungers after 30 to 60 minutes. Whether they actually do it depends entirely on the hotel. Ask at reception on arrival and specifically request that the policy be enforced if you’re having problems.
Can I get a refund if I couldn’t use the pool on my Tenerife holiday? Possibly. The German court case shows that tour operators do have some responsibility here. You’d need to have raised the issue formally during your stay, have documentation, and be prepared to go through your tour operator first, then ABTA if they’re a member.
Is the sun lounger problem worse in Tenerife than other Spanish resorts? It’s bad anywhere with large all-inclusive hotels and reliable sunshine. Tenerife’s south coast has both in abundance, so yes, it tends to be worse there than at smaller hotels or in the north of the island.
Do any hotels in Tenerife let you pre-book sun loungers? Some do, either directly or through tour operators. Thomas Cook introduced paid poolside reservations as an option. It’s worth checking before you book if this is something that matters to you, especially if you’re travelling with young children.
Why don’t hotels just enforce their own towel policies? Because the guests who reserve loungers are often the ones most likely to complain loudly if challenged, and hotel staff don’t want the confrontation. Management tends to take the path of least resistance. It’s not a good reason. It’s just the real one.
The sun lounger situation in Tenerife isn’t going to ruin your holiday. But it will ruin your morning if you’re not ready for it, and a bad morning has a way of colouring the whole day. The German tourist who went to court wasn’t being dramatic. He was making a point that’s been obvious to anyone who’s spent time at these resorts: if you sell someone a pool holiday, the pool should actually work. That’s not a high bar. It just turns out some hotels need a judge to remind them of it.
Go to the north at least once while you’re here and don’t spend the whole week fighting over a plastic chair. There’s more to this island than the pool deck, and most of it doesn’t require a 6am alarm.
