Thomas Cook 'may consider rolling out pre-bookable sunbeds to more hotels'

Pre-bookable sunbeds could become a more regular feature of package holidays, after Thomas Cook said it may consider rolling out the scheme to more hotels.

The comments come in the wake of a survey which found one in 10 people are in favour of the idea.

Five per cent of holidaymakers who responded to the poll said they "definitely would" pay to reserve a sunbed, while a further 5% said they "probably would".

This summer, Thomas Cook became the UK’s first package holiday company to offer guests the option of paying to book a specific lounger.

Numerous videos posted online have highlighted the frantic dash undertaken by some tourists to get their favoured spot.

Some even queue up early in the morning - before their hotel pool opens - ready for the mad dash against others to bags enough sunbeds for their party.

Thomas Cook's scheme costs £25 per sunbed for an entire stay and is available at 50 of its hotels.

Sunbeds are displayed on a map featuring a compass to help people work out whether certain areas will be in the sun or shade at different times of the day.

And only a certain number of loungers are included, meaning there are enough for anyone unwilling to pay the surplus.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: "With 22 million customers, this research shows that more than two million of our holidaymakers want to book a sunbed.

"At the hotels we offer it, around one in 10 sunbeds are available to book so it’s clear we’re on the right track. Perhaps we need to ramp up the roll-out to more hotels."

The survey of 1,025 UK holidaymakers was commissioned to mark the opening of trade show World Travel Market at the ExCeL exhibition centre in east London on Monday.

Travel firms receive numerous complaints from customers unable to use hotel sunbeds because many are reserved by people leaving towels, books and other belongings on them.