Spanish hotel lets guests smash stress - Update

A few lucky people in need of a break from their stress got a chance at some unconventional therapy.

A Spanish hotel chain planning renovations at one of its Madrid locations offered 30 ``highly stressed out people'' - selected by a team of psychologists - the chance to take up sledge hammers and battering rams and smash through its rooms Tuesday.

Rampage they did.



Wearing protective dust masks, goggles, white overalls, helmets and gloves, the amateur demolition crew swung hammers into television sets and bedroom walls and tossed beds and desks like hard-partying rock stars.

The NH Alcala hotel, part of a chain of 335 hotels on three continents, said it decided to forgo hiring professional demolition companies and let selected customers start its facelift as a way to generate some headline-making publicity.

Those picked for the stress-relieving smash-up will be invited back to admire the hotel's new interior in September, the chain said.