Have you ever woken up at dawn just to put a towel on a sunbed? Many tourists do this every summer at holiday resorts across Europe. This competitive practice is known as the 'dawn dash' or 'sunbed wars.' Guests rush to the pool area before sunrise to reserve loungers with their towels. The habit has become so contentious that it has finally reached the courts.
A German father recently won a payout of over €900 after a frustrating holiday. He had paid €7,186 for a package holiday to the Greek island of Kos. Despite waking at 6 a.m., his family could never find available sunbeds. His children were forced to lie on the ground because all loungers were taken. He sued his tour operator, and a court in Hanover ruled the holiday was defective.
The court said tour operators must guarantee a reasonable ratio of sunbeds to guests. Although the hotel had banned towel reserving, staff had refused to enforce the rule. Polling shows that nearly 66 percent of German tourists consider the practice distasteful. In Tenerife, viral videos even showed holidaymakers sleeping on loungers overnight to secure spots. The situation has clearly become a widespread problem across European resorts.
Hotels are now fighting back with new strategies to tackle the issue. Some Spanish resorts have threatened fines of up to €250 for sunbed hogging. Tour operator Thomas Cook now lets guests pre-book a poolside spot for a fee. Other hotels have hired security staff to monitor pool areas and remove unattended towels. If these measures work, the stressful dawn dash could finally become a thing of the past.