Mark Hunter, from Ireland, was on holiday in Hotel Playas de Torrevieja in Costa Blanca, Spain, when he witnessed the sunbed wars unfolding around the hotel pool
Spain: Holidaymakers barge past children to secure sun beds
Dozens of holidaymakers have been spotted sprinting to bag a sunbed – with even a 12-year-old boy joining in to nab the first one.
Mark Hunter was shocked to see the chaos unfold from his hotel balcony. The 38-year-old watched on as determined holiday-goers raced for a lounger with their towels in tow as the pool gates opened.
One woman tripped over a chain barrier near the edge of the frame but quickly recovered, while others weaved past her in the dash. Mark was particularly surprised to see children pushed and jostled in the desperate rush for a prime pool spot. The madness unfolded after a tourist related their surprise at how empty the sunbed scene was at their resort in Spain.
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Mark, a corporate manager from Ireland, filmed the clip at Hotel Playas de Torrevieja at around 9.54am on Friday (2 Aug), while on holiday with his wife Tara and their son Jake.
“I was shocked to see grown adults reduced to scrambling for sun beds,” he told Luxury Travel Daily. “It is exactly the same every morning — there are grown adults pushing past children to get a sun bed by the pool.”
After watching the chaos unfold, Mark’s 12-year-old son asked if he could take part the next morning. He added: “My little boy did want to be involved in the chaos the next morning as he thought it looked fun. We did let him queue and he was the fastest to a sunbed!”
Mark shared the clip on TikTok TikTok, where it has left viewers stunned with over 2,400 likes so far.
He is not the only one to have found himself on the frontlines of the sunbed wars. Laura Smith and her fiancé Eric Whittaker recently labelled their holiday morning routine “chaotic” thanks to the poolside skirmishes that were breaking outing. Laura revealed that guests armed with towels start queuing an hour before the pool opened at 9am.
Lines of over 100 holidaymakers would stand around waiting for hotel workers to open up the pool. The couple, who got engaged last September, were staying at the five-star RIU Funana resort in Sal, Cape Verde.
The hotel costs upwards of £1,000 per person a week and implemented a one-hour bed reserve policy to help stop the chaos. This involved pool workers placing a ticket on an unoccupied sun lounger and coming back an hour later to remove the towel if it was still unused.
Last month we reported on an incident at the four-star Spring Bitacora hotel in Tenerife where Liam Pourhana and his friend, Paul Nygaard, had front-row seats to shocking scenes of sunbed chaos.
They witnessed a hotel worker almost get trampled by a ‘stampede’ of guests rushing to secure the best poolside sun beds. Footage showed the security guard unlocking the gate before dropping his keycard. He was almost knocked over by clambering holidaymakers as he tried to retrieve the card before retreating to safety.
