Icelandic tourist lives it up for free for 10 days in Benidorm until police present the bill

A cheeky Icelandic holidaymaker lived it up for a full ten days in Benidorm, checking into hotels and tucking into meals at local sites without ever putting his hand in his pocket, only for officers to step in to settle the score.

Local police in the Costa Blanca resort nicked the 50-year-old man on suspicion of fraud after he spent the best part of a fortnight enjoying free bed and board across multiple places. Officers had already crossed paths with him several times at different hotels and restaurants before making the arrest on the tenth day of his unpaid stay.

Police follow the unpaid trail across town

Benidorm’s local force kept an eye on the pattern once reports started coming in from businesses. The Icelandic visitor moved between various hotels for overnight stays and hit different restaurants and bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner, walking out each time without settling a single bill.

Police spokesperson Quique Tortosa recounted that agents had spoken to the man on several earlier occasions at different spots around the resort. Only once the repeated behaviour became clear did they move in and take him into custody. He now faces a possible charge of fraud and has been placed at the disposal of the courts.

Tortosa summed the whole episode up in four blunt words: “Travelling free ends up costing dear.”

Officers serve up a side order of humour

Benidorm police shared the news on their own social media channels with a clear dose of dark humour. Their post read: “He travelled light on luggage and light on cash. A 50-year-old man, 10 days in Benidorm, eating and sleeping without paying in the town’s establishments. But Benidorm police have arrived and we’ve presented him with the bill: arrested for alleged fraud. If this is your travel option in Benidorm, we announce that we have a special package deal with accommodation included.”

The message finished with a couple of law-and-order emojis for good measure. Similar tongue-in-cheek posts have appeared before, including one about a camper who pitched a tent on Levante beach and got woken by the beach patrol unit instead of the sunrise.

Not the first free-loader to make headlines

Cases of diners or guests vanishing without paying crop up from time to time in Spanish resorts. One of the bigger examples involved a baptism banquet in Galicia a few years back where 200 guests left a bill of more than €5,000 unpaid; the organisers were later tracked down and ordered to repay the debt in monthly instalments.

Only last week a British woman was stopped at Gran Canaria airport after an 11-night stay in Maspalomas left a hotel bill of nearly €2,500 unpaid.

In Benidorm itself the latest arrest follows the same simple rule officers keep repeating: enjoy the town’s hotels and restaurants by all means, just remember the bill eventually arrives. This time it arrived in handcuffs after ten days of free living.

The Icelandic man remains in custody pending further legal steps. Businesses that lodged complaints will now wait to see whether any of the unpaid amounts can be recovered through the courts.