Cardiff family says sunbed battle in Torremolinos 'like Hunger Games'

Wales Online

11-07-2025

Cardiff family says sunbed battle in Torremolinos 'like Hunger Games'
The family had to wait three hours for one bed between six of them
Family says sunbed battle in Torremolinos 'like Hunger Games'
A holidaying family of six say they were forced to join 'Hunger Games' style sunbed wars with other guests to secure the best spots by the swimming pool. Leah Keenan was left shocked after they witnessed the extreme rush for loungers at their hotel.
They say some others staying there jumped over fences to beat the queues. The 36-year-old even had to wait over three hours on their first day to get one bed among six of them. The health and safety business partner jetted off abroad with her son Albie, mother Bev, father Terry, sister Lowri and her son Leo.
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The family were staying at the four-star Hotel Triton, Benalmadena, near Torremolinos, Spain. Leah joked that the rush for beds in the morning was like the Hunger Games, with a lack of staff available to police the flood of guests.
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Leah Keenan (Jam Press)
In the 2012 film and 2008 book, children are forced to fight to the death in events. The pool opened at 10 am with very serious holidaymakers queuing up for over half an hour at the £185-a-night, four-star.
During their stay, Leah even spotted a few cheeky guests sneaking round the back and hopping over the fence to secure the best beds. Fortunately, the family from Cardiff, were able to make light of the event despite being forced to join in.
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'It was like the Hunger Games of reserving sunbeds every morning,' Leah joked. 'Some days we weren't able to get enough sunbeds, and one day someone just grabbed one of our empty sunbeds whilst one of the family had gone to get a coffee.
'A few guests snuck around the side of the pool and jumped over the fence early to secure beds, whilst others threw their towels over the fence early so that the beds were reserved.'
Sunbeds were in short supply (Jam Press)
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She said: 'When we arrived on day one, around 11am, there were no sunbeds available all day for us. We kept walking around each pool and were able to get one sunbed at around 2pm. I didn't see any lifeguards by the children's pool all day and didn't stop people from jumping the fences or throwing towels over.
'No staff walked around to check if beds were being used or if people hadn't returned to their sunbed after putting towels on it. Which allowed for the majority of people to dump their towels and then leave sunbeds empty for hours on end.
'It became a running joke every day for our family, and we didn't take it too seriously.'
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Hotel Triton has been approached for a comment.