A shocking incident witnessed at the Spring Hotel Bitácora in Tenerife’s Playa de las Américas has sparked renewed concerns over the infamous “sunbed wars” plaguing holiday resorts across Spain. In footage captured by the German newspaper Bild, around 100 foreign guests were spotted trampling a staff member who was opening the pool access door at 6:30am.
The early-morning footage shows the crowd of tourists, armed with towels, gathering around the Tenerife hotel’s ground floor before racing to secure the best beds by the pool. The staff member was seen struggling to retrieve his dropped key card amidst the scramble. The incident occurred at the 4.5-star hotel situated between Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje, in the south of the most popular and largest of the Canary Islands.
This type of incident appears to be a common theme at the Spring Hotel Bitácora. A 2023 Tripadvisor review described the sunbed situation as a “complete nightmare.”
“Have to rush breakfast or eat separately so you can still get a sunbed,” they continued. “It’s such a shame because there are so many positives.”
They hotel replied to the review, writing: “Our pool crew work all day round checking on who’s reserving sun beds alone for more than 30 minutes, after that they notify with a note, that if on the next 15 to 20 minutes no one has been seen around the sun beds, their belongings will be put on a plastic back and saved in our lost and found so that other client can enjoy the sun beds.”
In 2022, more footage showed tourists racing to the sunbeds in a clip shared on TikTok. According to The Mirror, some holidaymakers, including those from the UK, waited some 90 minutes at the crack of dawn before being allowed outside.
These sunbed wars are not limited to the Canary Islands, either. Over in Majorca, at Cala Agulla, near the popular tourist destination of Cala Rajada, footage captured last week by a German tourist at 9am showed an empty beach with nearly all sunbeds already “reserved” with towels.
Local residents are now complaining that this is becoming an increasingly standard spectacle, particularly during the peak summer season, as holidaymakers compete for the best beachfront locations.
Cala Agulla is surrounded by numerous hotels, so local media suggests that these early-morning reservations are primarily being made by tourists. The video’s author claimed: “The rental companies even replaced the towels after strong winds had blown them away”.