British holidaymakers are getting up at 5am to reserve a poolside lounger as sunbed wars grip a popular resort. The dawn dash takes place at hotels in Majorca, where guests place a towel over a sunbed to reserve it for the day.
However, for much of the time they don't even use the facility meaning other holidaymakers cannot use the sunbeds. Now there are calls for hotels to crackdown on the issue with some guests reporting rows have escalated into violence.
YouTuber Alexandra Smith, who runs the Mallorca Under The Sun channel and website, has demanded that something is done to outlaw the selfish and annoying habit. The travel expert posted: "After recent conversations with holidaymakers and from a poll run on my YouTube channel and Facebook group, the sunbed wars in Mallorca rage on. And what’s more, many of the hotels aren’t doing anything about the problem.
"In recent days, I have spoken to holidaymakers visiting the island and I’m amazed to find out that the early morning dash for hotel sun loungers still takes place. I want the hotels to firstly care that it is happening and secondly to do something about it.
"I even had a friend who is a former rep comment that she was threatened by a guest for removing the towels from block-booked sunbeds that weren’t being used in a four star hotel on the island."
One hotel in the resort of Santa Ponsa tried to resolve the problem by charging guests 3.50€ for a sunbed until 4pm, so they are essentially charging for sunbeds that should be free. A holidaymaker at another hotel posted on Mallorca Under The Sun: "The hotel has signs saying not to (reserve sunbeds), but they don’t stop people.”
But Alex, a Majorca resident, added: "How can a hotel promote a holiday if it involves getting up early, and in many cases racing with guests to secure the use a sunbed by the swimming pool? It seems incredibly unfair for guests to pay the same yet are unable to get a sunbed because they are unable to run fast enough in the pre-breakfast sunbed scrum.
"By allowing the sun lounger race in the morning obviously discriminates against the elderly or disabled guests and I would love to know if any hotel takes this into account. I first experienced sunbed wars when on holiday in the 1980s and I’m amazed that hotels on the island cannot find a solution to this problem almost 40 years later."
To read more on Mallorca Under The Sun, check here.
