Sunbed Wars

Excerpts from a Euronews report:

It's day three of the sunbed wars at the Paradise Park Hotel in Spain’s Canary Islands.

At the large tropical lagoon-style swimming pool, a crowd of guests suddenly emerges, rushing to be the first to lay their towels on a sunbed.

It's the start of chaos.

The swarm of tourists sprints the 20 metres from the pool entrance to the sunbeds - and one man takes the lead, managing to put towels on five sunbeds.

It's game, set and match for the remaining customers who watch in astonishment.

You might think this is a rare incident at resorts along the Spanish coastline, but it's happening on a daily basis, sometimes menacingly.

To avoid these clashes, Spanish hotels are getting creative.

To cope with the demand, Sunset Beach Club Hotel has cut down palm trees and bought more sunbeds to extend the pool area, saying that while in the past tourists preferred to go to the beach, this trend has changed in recent years.

Protocols have also been put in place to avoid conflicts.

At nine o'clock José Carlos, the hotel's sunbed controller, opens the doors and the towel game begins.

“There is a war for the best spots, but for the rest of the day there is really no problem. Every summer there’s a war, however this year it's much quieter,” says José Carlos, who has worked as a sunbed controller for the last three years.

The sunbed controller’s job has been specially designed so that guests can enjoy the pool without any surprises.

Sunbed controllers walk around the pool to locate the hammocks that are falsely occupied and leave a warning. After an hour, they return and if there is still no one there, they take away the things left behind to release the sunbed for another customer to use.

There are clues that put them on alert. "If they leave a book on the hammock at 9.30 in the morning, we know they are saving it. Others leave a single towel to cover four sunbeds," says José Carlos.