British tourist films Spain hotel sunbed race after guests queue for two hours

A Scottish holidaymaker filmed guests racing for sunbeds at a hotel in Salou after reportedly waiting from 8am until the pool area opened at 10am. The clip has revived one of Spain’s most familiar summer holiday frustrations: paying for a relaxing break, then starting the morning in a queue for shade seeing a front-row of sunbeds already with towels on them. 

Spain hotel guests queued before breakfast for a poolside spot

A British tourist has filmed the morning scramble for sunbeds at a hotel in Salou, where guests reportedly queued for up to two hours before racing towards the pool area as soon as the doors opened.

Leah Norman, 37, from Scotland, was staying at the Best Oasis Park Hotel in Salou when she filmed holidaymakers waiting inside the hotel before heading out to claim loungers. According to UK reports, some guests had been waiting from around 8am for the doors to open at 10am.

The footage has struck a nerve because it captures a scene many holidaymakers have experienced. Towels placed on loungers early in the day, beds appearing “taken” while nobody is using them, and families left trying to find shade once the best spots have already gone.

Why Salou sunbed queues hit a nerve for British families

For parents with children, older travellers, or anyone just trying to avoid long exposure in the heat, a shaded lounger can become an extremely important part of the holiday routine. And in a packed July or August hotel, these sunbed battles are becoming a more and more frequent disruption.  

In a place like Salou, that is not a small or quiet resort, pool pressure is not uncommon. The Costa Daurada town recorded more than 2.4 million visitors and 8.6 million overnight stays in 2025, according to figures published by Salou tourism sources. UK arrivals were listed at 448,197, up 33.4 per cent on the previous year.

Spain’s wider tourism pressure is also rising. The National Statistics Institute (INE) said Spain received 10.3 million international tourists in May 2026 alone, 9.5 per cent more than in the same month of 2025. Across the first five months of the year, arrivals were up 5 per cent.

Against that background, hotel pools in resorts popular with British and Irish visitors can quickly become flashpoints, especially where the number of guests wanting shade and poolside space is higher than the number of loungers in the most desirable spots.

Don’t worry, hotel towel rules are usually local policy, not Spanish law

For now, sunbed rules are normally set by the hotel, not by a national summer-sunbed-protection Spanish law. So some resorts may remove towels left unattended after a set period. Others put up signs asking guests not to reserve loungers at all. In many hotels, enforcement depends on staff, peak-season pressure and whether other guests want to get more involved.

That is where the arguments can often arise. Removing another guest’s towel may feel tempting when there’s no one around, but it can quickly turn into a poolside confrontation. Recent cases, including disputes in Tenerife and Mallorca, show how quickly arguments over reserved loungers can escalate when hotels do not clearly enforce their own poolside rules. The best option is to ask reception, a lifeguard or pool staff what the hotel’s actual policy is and whether unattended items can be removed by staff.

The issue has already moved beyond online jokes in parts of Europe. In May, The Guardian reported that a German holidaymaker was awarded almost €1,000 after a court found his family could not access sunloungers during a Greek package holiday, although the case depended on its own circumstances and does not create a universal rule for every Spain hotel guest.

How Spain holidaymakers can avoid the sunbed battleground

For anyone booking a Spain hotel during peak season, reviews can most likely reveal more than perfect pool pictures. Searching recent reviews for terms such as “sunbeds”, “towels”, “pool opens”, “shade” and “queues” can show whether guests are regularly competing for loungers.

Families who need shade may also want to check whether the hotel has parasols, shaded terrace areas, nearby beach access, or paid lounger options on the seafront. In Salou, the Best Oasis Park is advertised as being close to Llevant beach, which gives guests another option if the pool area becomes crowded.

The Salou clip is unlikely to be the last sunbed scramble of the summer. Spain’s busiest resorts are now entering the peak holiday period, and every new viral video feeds the same debate: whether hotels should enforce clearer rules on reserving loungers or not, or whether guests have simply accepted the sunbed battle as part of the package holiday routine.