The summer holiday season in Spain has long been synonymous with sunshine, sangria, and, increasingly, a bizarre and frantic ritual known as the “sunbed scramble.” Recently, at a resort in Salou, a coastal town just south of Tarragona, the tension boiled over as dozens of tourists participated in a chaotic race to secure prime poolside positioning. Witnesses described an atmosphere of high stakes and high intensity, with guests lining up at the pool gates as early as 8:00 a.m. By the time the clock struck nine and the doors swung open, a stampede of over 40 people surged forward, all determined to claim the best spots for their towels before anyone else could beat them to the punch.
For Chris, a holidaymaker from Glasgow who was enjoying a week-long stay at the hotel, the spectacle was both staggering and darkly comedic. As he watched the morning ritual unfold, he felt compelled to capture the madness on camera. He later described the scene as “manic,” noting that it became a daily occurrence throughout his trip. For those observing from the sidelines, it was difficult to reconcile the relaxed, carefree spirit of a Mediterranean vacation with the cutthroat, sprint-like intensity displayed by guests who seemed more focused on securing a piece of plastic furniture than actually enjoying their morning coffee.
The peculiar aspect of this phenomenon, as Chris pointed out, is the performative nature of the “bagging.” Many of the guests who participated in the high-speed dash had no intention of actually swimming or sunbathing at that moment. After throwing their towels over a lounger to mark their territory, these same individuals would retreat to their rooms or head to the breakfast buffet, leaving the pool deck filled with unclaimed, towel-laden chairs for hours on end. This creates a frustrating landscape for other guests—often families or those preferring a slower morning—who find the entire pool area “reserved” by empty fabric long before the day has truly begun.
As the footage of the Salou scramble went viral on social media, set to the fittingly chaotic theme music of the Benny Hill show, it sparked a broader conversation about travel etiquette. Chris admitted that while he initially laughed at the absurdity of it all, he ultimately found the lack of consideration unfair. The system rewards those willing to sacrifice their sleep and serenity to participate in a “first-come, first-served” war, while effectively locking out anyone who refuses to treat their vacation like an Olympic sport. It raises a valid question: when did the point of a holiday stop being about relaxation and start being about competitive chair-staking?
The frustration surrounding these tactics has led some tourists to take matters into their own hands in increasingly controversial ways. Take the case of Tom Caunce, another holidaymaker who recently made headlines for his “playful payback” at a hotel in Mallorca. Tired of watching “repeat offenders” hog loungers while they disappeared for hours, he decided to target their vacated towels with itching spray. While his video garnered nearly a million views and polarized the internet—with some cheering his vengeful spirit and others calling it a step too far—it serves as a symptom of a deeper annoyance shared by many travelers who are fed up with the lack of shared courtesy in popular tourist spots.
Ultimately, these incidents highlight a growing friction in the travel industry as overcrowding and aggressive territorial behavior threaten to overshadow the joy of the holiday experience. The image of dozens of adults sprinting to claim a pool chair serves as a stark reminder that even in paradise, the habits of the modern world are hard to break. Whether it is through social media mockery or, more drastically, through retaliatory pranks, travelers are calling for a change in culture. Until hotels implement better systems to manage these spaces, the poolside “scramble” looks set to remain an unfortunate, frantic, and entirely avoidable fixture of the summer getaway.
