All is not well in the Reform Church of Iglesias. The faithful have started to desert the pews of Saint Pablo and Our Lady of Wecan, seemingly alarmed at the thought that Wecan might weaken Spain by converting it into the Greek Unorthodox Church of Syriza. Had this thought not occurred to them before? Or is it the case that the faithful are only now rumbling Podemos? The easy part was grabbing hold of some power at the ballot box. The less easy part was always going to be convincing the faithful (and others) that, once handed this power, they aren't just a bunch of hairies from the students' union locked in mortal combat with each other in dissecting their own version of Dialectical Materialism rather than being taken seriously.
In former times, English slang gave us the "nit". In strictly linguistic terms, nit means nothing. The nit of slang was someone who was foolish, who did not do sensible things, who had nothing to offer except nittishness and being a nitwit. It would be harsh indeed to suggest that Podemos (We Can) have nothing to offer, because they have plenty, and some of it is sensible. However, they are doing their best to appear to be nits, a bunch of Charlies, some right Herberts, or even left Herberts.
Laura Camargo, considered by some to be the real power behind the Wecan throne in the Balearics of Dave Spart Jarabo, confronted the lovely, indeed immaculate Inmaculada de Benito of the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and launched into a tirade of fraud, worker abuses, exploitation, blah, blah. Laura might have a point, but it became lost in the vitriol. Why did she do it? Probably for public consumption. Wecan were wanting to show the Mallorcan public that they can stand up to the hoteliers, that the hoteliers' days in the sun of power are no more. Unfortunately, and despite a large number of Mallorcans concurring with the view that the hoteliers do have too much power, there is a far greater number who rely on the hoteliers and related businesses. Laura really should learn that she isn't in the students' union and that in the real world one adopts a less strident manner.
Our Lady Laura of Wecan was but one who was indulging in delivering sermons from the pulpit of Saint Pablo. There was also Our Lady Xelo. She informed his Royal Highness that, rather than splash the cash on the thrash at the Almudaina when various politicos and others are invited for some gin 'n' tonics, the moolah should go towards soup kitchens. On balance, one would have to agree with Xelo that this might be, in still-crisis times for many, a preferable deployment of financial resources, and the King, thoroughly admirable man that he is, might even be inclined to agree as well. However, protocol and all that does rather intrude into such affairs. Whether Xelo will ask for a doggy bag for her canapes and cut along with it to the nearest crisis centre after the reception, we will find out.
Showing posts with label Inmaculada de Benito. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inmaculada de Benito. Show all posts
Monday, August 03, 2015
Monday, June 02, 2014
Falling Out At The Hoteliers Federation
All is not well, it would seem, in Mallorca's hotel world. For once, this isn't because of occupancy, seasonality or the usual hotel-related subjects. It is to do with the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and what it is up to.
It isn't clear exactly what the problem is, but three former presidents of the federation have come out and said, more or less, that they consider that the federation is only concerned with the interests of the big hotel chains. They have intimated this but haven't enunciated the reasons why they think this.
But, if one takes a look at the federation's history, one might start to get an idea. It was created in 1976 and has had, over the 38 years of its existence, seven presidents. It is the background of these presidents that lends support to the complaints about the big chains.
The first president was Miguel Codolà. His hotel group - he died in 2012 - was Valentin, never more than a middle-ranking hotel chain in Mallorca. Following him came José Forteza Rey, Ferràn Porto, Pedro Cañellas, Antonio Horrach and Marilen Pol. What these all had in common was that they were involved, through ownership, with relatively small hotel concerns. Horrach's family hotel chain, for example, is HM. It has five hotels in Mallorca and one in Mexico. It isn't very big, therefore.
When Marilen Pol died in January last year, there was the possibility that Inmaculada de Benito, then the director of the federation, would succeed her. This, though, was ruled out on the grounds that she wasn't involved in hotel ownership. She wasn't, as was said at the time, a "hotelier". It had been the case, since the federation started, that a president had to be a hotelier in the sense of being an owner.
The federation, in seeking to find a successor to Pol, wanted someone for whom there would be a consensus of support. It had to adapt its statutes. Inma de Benito stayed in her post (before recently being promoted to vice-president), but Aurelio Vázquez, who is not an owner, was made president and he is CEO for Spain and the Mediterranean with Iberostar, having previously been with Riu. He has experience, therefore, of two of the "big four".
Vázquez and de Benito were recently in Madrid, where they set out fifty measures that they want the national government to adopt and which would create a special "regime" for the hotel industry. Among these measures are those to do with tax advantages, limitations on strike action and incentives for modernisation. Concerns expressed by the three former presidents - Forteza Rey, Porto and Cañellas - appear to have come in the wake of the Madrid announcement. Yet, and one would have thought, they would be measures which would be beneficial for all hoteliers.
The three ex-presidents have all said that they think Vázquez and de Benito are doing a good job. There again, for diplomacy's sake, they probably would say this. But they obviously have some disagreement, Forteza Rey having said that proposals should not be allowed to generate any controversy, without stating what this controversy might be.
The Madrid announcement has taken the tourism industry by surprise. Vázquez was asked why the Mallorcan federation had opted to go it alone in calling for the measures, when they are essentially the same as those called for by the Spanish federation. He replied that the means are not important but the end (i.e. it doesn't matter who makes the proposals), adding that previous proposals had not been of the "calibre" of those made by the Mallorcan federation.
One detects in all this a feeling that the Mallorcan federation is getting above its station and so therefore may indeed be pressing the case of its big hotel chains. Mallorca does have, relative to other parts of Spain, a concentration of the country's largest hotel companies, but this still doesn't explain why former presidents of the federation might take issue.
Is it, therefore, all linked to the traditions of the federation, one that had been presided over by those from smaller family concerns? Vázquez is a hotel career professional, while de Benito is the closest one could get to what could be dubbed a tourism industry politician, having spent most of her career knocking around hotel associations. And the politics of the hotel industry, specifically the attitude of the federation towards wage negotiations, may be what is worrying the old guard. Of a previous round of negotiations, Antonio Horrach, by then no longer president, took issue with de Benito, saying that wage increases should be accepted. Does this give a clue as to why the ex-presidents have expressed their concerns? Whatever the reason, the hoped-for consensus in the appointment of Vázquez seems to have been shortlived.
It isn't clear exactly what the problem is, but three former presidents of the federation have come out and said, more or less, that they consider that the federation is only concerned with the interests of the big hotel chains. They have intimated this but haven't enunciated the reasons why they think this.
But, if one takes a look at the federation's history, one might start to get an idea. It was created in 1976 and has had, over the 38 years of its existence, seven presidents. It is the background of these presidents that lends support to the complaints about the big chains.
The first president was Miguel Codolà. His hotel group - he died in 2012 - was Valentin, never more than a middle-ranking hotel chain in Mallorca. Following him came José Forteza Rey, Ferràn Porto, Pedro Cañellas, Antonio Horrach and Marilen Pol. What these all had in common was that they were involved, through ownership, with relatively small hotel concerns. Horrach's family hotel chain, for example, is HM. It has five hotels in Mallorca and one in Mexico. It isn't very big, therefore.
When Marilen Pol died in January last year, there was the possibility that Inmaculada de Benito, then the director of the federation, would succeed her. This, though, was ruled out on the grounds that she wasn't involved in hotel ownership. She wasn't, as was said at the time, a "hotelier". It had been the case, since the federation started, that a president had to be a hotelier in the sense of being an owner.
The federation, in seeking to find a successor to Pol, wanted someone for whom there would be a consensus of support. It had to adapt its statutes. Inma de Benito stayed in her post (before recently being promoted to vice-president), but Aurelio Vázquez, who is not an owner, was made president and he is CEO for Spain and the Mediterranean with Iberostar, having previously been with Riu. He has experience, therefore, of two of the "big four".
Vázquez and de Benito were recently in Madrid, where they set out fifty measures that they want the national government to adopt and which would create a special "regime" for the hotel industry. Among these measures are those to do with tax advantages, limitations on strike action and incentives for modernisation. Concerns expressed by the three former presidents - Forteza Rey, Porto and Cañellas - appear to have come in the wake of the Madrid announcement. Yet, and one would have thought, they would be measures which would be beneficial for all hoteliers.
The three ex-presidents have all said that they think Vázquez and de Benito are doing a good job. There again, for diplomacy's sake, they probably would say this. But they obviously have some disagreement, Forteza Rey having said that proposals should not be allowed to generate any controversy, without stating what this controversy might be.
The Madrid announcement has taken the tourism industry by surprise. Vázquez was asked why the Mallorcan federation had opted to go it alone in calling for the measures, when they are essentially the same as those called for by the Spanish federation. He replied that the means are not important but the end (i.e. it doesn't matter who makes the proposals), adding that previous proposals had not been of the "calibre" of those made by the Mallorcan federation.
One detects in all this a feeling that the Mallorcan federation is getting above its station and so therefore may indeed be pressing the case of its big hotel chains. Mallorca does have, relative to other parts of Spain, a concentration of the country's largest hotel companies, but this still doesn't explain why former presidents of the federation might take issue.
Is it, therefore, all linked to the traditions of the federation, one that had been presided over by those from smaller family concerns? Vázquez is a hotel career professional, while de Benito is the closest one could get to what could be dubbed a tourism industry politician, having spent most of her career knocking around hotel associations. And the politics of the hotel industry, specifically the attitude of the federation towards wage negotiations, may be what is worrying the old guard. Of a previous round of negotiations, Antonio Horrach, by then no longer president, took issue with de Benito, saying that wage increases should be accepted. Does this give a clue as to why the ex-presidents have expressed their concerns? Whatever the reason, the hoped-for consensus in the appointment of Vázquez seems to have been shortlived.
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