Holiday Let Hysteria

(This article was asked for by "The Bulletin". It comes, as you will see, on the back of previous articles I have written on the holiday-let issue and following a meeting with some press by the hoteliers federation at which, so I am led to believe, some fairly odd things were said.)


The Majorcan hoteliers federation is hysterical. Not hysterical funny (though one could argue this to be the case) but hysterical uncontrolled. This uncontrolled hysteria stems from the lack of control of private accommodation for holiday rental and from the federation's propaganda war against the "oferta ilegal".

Let me be clear, I have no axe to grind with the federation, with any hotel chain or any hotel. I am full of admiration for the generally high standards of Majorca's hotel industry, for its innovation, for its contributions to the local economy and to employment, for the enhancement of Majorca's image through these standards and innovation and for the enhancement of Majorca's reputation overseas through the exporting of hotel know-how and ingenuity. I understand fully the investment that hotels need to make, the hoops they have to go through in terms of inspection and bureaucracy, the taxes they have to pay, the liabilities they have to assume.

I can accept that hotels are not the real villains of the piece when it comes to all-inclusive. Not all want to be all-inclusive but have had to bow to pressures that came initially from tour operators and now from a market that has grown used to requiring all-inclusive. I can accept that hotels are faced with an intolerable situation whereby their valuable real estate stands empty for much of the year, that their overall productivity is therefore diminished because of seasonality and that they have to maximise their returns in the summer season.

I have, therefore, sympathy as well as admiration and gratitude. Which is what makes my exasperation at the hoteliers' hysteria and crusade against the "oferta ilegal" that much greater, as it undoes all the goodwill that the hotels deserve and undermines all the good work that they undertake.

The week before last, I wrote a series of articles in which I took the hoteliers federation to task for what I consider to be misleading information and also took the local media to task for not querying the federation's information. On Friday this week, there was a further example of both, and the mere fact that the federation was once more ripping into the "oferta ilegal" led me to consider that it was becoming hysterical.

In "Ultima Hora" (sister newspaper of "The Bulletin"), a page was devoted to the federation's argument that economic crisis was fuelling further the supply of illegal accommodation because owners of second (holiday) homes were preferring to rent them out (illegally) rather than to stay in them. This conclusion, derived apparently from estate-agency sources and as a logical extension of increased passenger numbers passing through Palma airport, was used as further evidence of the unfair competition to the hotels and of owners avoiding paying tax. The report also stated, and I quote: "hotel occupancy has not benefited from this increase in the number of passengers in the airports".

However, and as I pointed out in those articles, July's occupancy was at a record level while August's was, at worst, about average. But occupancy figures are only part of the story; the full story is that tourists opt to stay in different types of accommodation and not only hotels.

What this report highlighted, yet again, was the fact that the level of tourism is such that it is way beyond the capabilities of the hotels to cater for it. And yet again, the obvious question was not being addressed. If Majorca (and the Balearics) want the  number of tourists that the islands attract, where are they all meant to stay? They can't all stay in hotels because there are too few hotel places. This is a question I have asked on numerous occasions and one that writers of letters to this newspaper have also rightly asked.

The report also highlighted the narrative that surrounds the issue of the "oferta ilegal". A photo caption said: "Alcudia and Pollensa, the most affected zones". There is no loss in translation; affected implies a negative. The narrative, and one compounded by the local press, is that illegal is automatically wrong. Normally, I would agree, but illegal, in the case of holiday lets, is taken as a means of demonising not just of pointing out illegality. Moreover, its very use impedes querying. Illegal equals wrong equals must not question the hoteliers' point of view.

Key to tackling this illegality, so the report added, is a law on urban leases and key to its implementation in eradicating the "fraud" that is being committed is the collaboration of town halls. In fact, mayors have been brought on board by the regional government. The creation of a "mesa" (table) of mayors is intended, in part, to facilitate information gathering in the pursuit of illegal accommodation.

I wonder, however, what a mayor such as Pollensa's Tomeu Cifre makes of this. His town is the most affected zone; most affected by the crusade against private accommodation as holiday rental. And he tried unsuccessfully to get the government to shift on the issue when drafting the new tourism law. Cifre will know, as will mayors of other zones that are "most affected" (Alcúdia and Calvià), that businesses other than hotels have a great dependence upon tourism which is not hotel-based. When the overall level of all-inclusive occupancy on the island is around 30% or so (but much higher in certain resorts), this tourism is fundamental to local economies.

I understand that last week the president of the hoteliers federation met with members of the press and that the issue of the "oferta ilegal" came up. But why is it that the press insists, or seems to insist, on meeting only with the hoteliers? To take another of the "most affected" zones, Alcúdia, it was here that Acotur, the tourist businesses association, launched its campaign a few weeks ago against all-inclusives. Why not talk to Acotur and ask it what it thinks about the persecution of property owners who permit tourism that can compensate for loss of business as a consequence of all-inclusive? Why not talk to the association for holiday homes? Why not even talk to Jaime Martínez, the Balearics director-general of tourism? It was he who mainly drafted the new tourism law. Political figure he may be, but at least he should be able to give accurate information regarding the situation on holiday lets, unlike the hoteliers federation, as I understand that at that press meeting the federation was giving wrong information.

The hoteliers do have a case in opposing holiday lets. Not all private accommodation is of a high standard and some owners will, under any circumstance, try and avoid paying tax. But it's a Catch 22. Because the accommodation is deemed illegal and cannot be licensed, it cannot be inspected and it cannot be subject to tax, albeit there exists the truly absurd situation by which there are owners who declare and pay tax on property which is illegal. But the opposition takes no account of the reality, which is that to accommodate Majorca's tourists there has to be a substantial stock of property other than hotels. It is this key issue which is left up in the air, it is the key question which is never answered. Instead, there is the supply of wrong information, either deliberate or inadvertent, and the selectivity and manipulation of information. And this supply of information has now become hysterical.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.