Squatters leave Hotel Callao Sport after nine-month illegal occupation
The long-awaited eviction of squatters from the Grand Hotel Callao Sport in Costa Adeje, south Tenerife, took place today, Wednesday, without incident, bringing an end to a nine-month illegal occupation that at one point involved up to 300 people. By 10:00am, the time set by a court order for everyone to leave voluntarily, most occupants had already left the complex.
According to sources involved in the operation, only six or seven people remained when the Guardia Civil arrived to carry out the final checks. The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife had ordered the eviction in early November, granting the occupants a deadline of 10th December to vacate the premises voluntarily.
The group included people of several different nationalities, as well as families with children. Social Services were prepared to intervene in cases where families with minors refused to leave.
The hotel originally opened in 2009 but shut in 2020 during the pandemic and was later put up for sale. It subsequently became a target for illegal occupation. The company that owns the hotel stated to the press that it had exhausted every available legal option and stressed that the ongoing occupation had created significant insecurity in the surrounding area, evolving into a wider social problem.
How the occupation unfolded
The Provincial Court issued the eviction order after identifying indications of criminal activity inside the property, including theft, drug trafficking, and material damage. The administrator of Construcciones Domasa, Margarita Domínguez, explained that the situation began in February 2025 as an attempted theft and assault, which escalated within hours into what she described as a “massive illegal occupation”.
She argued that the ruling had arrived “late, but had finally arrived”, noting that the family had been forced to continue paying electricity bills, municipal taxes, the mortgage, and private security throughout the period costing tens of thousands of euros, despite having no control over the hotel.
Fires and severe property damage
Safety concerns intensified following two fires recorded inside the complex. The most serious occurred in the early hours of 14th July 2025, when a blaze in the interior left two men with severe burns and smoke inhalation, one of them in critical condition, and a woman moderately injured. The Guardia Civil later arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of deliberately starting the fire, which investigators said involved several independent ignition points.
Emergency services had already warned about the building’s hazardous conditions, which included makeshift electrical wiring, gas canisters, and a complete lack of safety infrastructure. A second fire broke out on Friday (5th December 2025) at the rear of the property near the complexes tennis courts. Although no injuries were reported, early findings also indicated it had been started deliberately.
Voices from inside the hotel
Several occupants spoke to the press about receiving the eviction notice, including vulnerable families and individuals struggling to access Tenerife's rental market. A couple with a baby described authorities knocking on their door “as if it were a forced entry” and being told that any belongings left inside after the deadline would be treated as abandoned and destroyed.
“We do not want to resist, but if the 10th arrives and we have nowhere to go, what then?” they asked. “To the beach, a ravine, wherever.”
Wednesday’s peaceful clearance marks the formal end of one of the most high-profile illegal occupation cases in south Tenerife in recent years. Authorities are now assessing the condition of the hotel ahead of decisions about its future.
Share:
