Holiday makers can now book hotel sunbeds before they even leave home

How to beat the Germans and win the sunbed war: book with Thomas Cook.

UK holidaymakers will be offered the opportunity to choose their sunbed before they have even left home.

Thomas Cook are letting Brits get one over the Germans by reserving sunbeds before arrival at their hotel - and then keep it for their entire stay. Customers will be able to pay £22 to book a specific lounger in advance of their holiday thanks to the travel agent's trial scheme. From February keenos can use maps to work out when each spot will get sun and shade and then pick their preferred location in three hotels. The "Choose Your Favourite Sunbed" service will be rolled out to 30 hotels in the summer. For customers who do not want to pay the premium, a proportion of sunbeds at those hotels will not be part of the scheme. Thomas Cook said: "Following the successful launch of Choose Your Room for Summer 2017, Choose Your Favourite Sunbed is part of our wider commitment to innovating today's package holiday and adapting to the needs of the modern traveller." Chris Mottershead, Thomas Cook's UK managing director, said the initiative will particularly help "families that want to secure a number of beds together in a specific spot." It says it is the UK's first package holiday company to provide such a service and follows the trial scheme it introduced last year allowing customers to select their hotel room before the start of their trip.