The Un-Complementary Sector

Back in February I wrote about the hatchet having been buried in a war between Mallorca's hoteliers and the complementary sector. The two sides agreed to present a united front in making representations to the government prior to the final drafting of the new tourism law. I suggested at the time that though "the hatchet may have been buried, it (could) just as easily be dug up again". And I wasn't wrong.

It was difficult to understand quite what the complementary sector thought that it stood to gain by getting into bed with the hoteliers, other than to believe that by being nice the hoteliers would be nice in return as in, for instance, persuading the government not to allow them (the hoteliers, that is) to be able to introduce activities open to the general public that were the domain of the complementary sector. If it did believe this, then the complementary sector was incredibly stupid.

In February the hoteliers were making conciliatory noises by implying that the introduction of "secondary activities" (discos, restaurants, whatever) should be limited, but they didn't of course attempt to persuade the government to not allow them. So now the complementary offer finds itself having to try and get some limitations, the tourism law having been approved. It's a bit late but not perhaps too late.

The tourism law does still require that some meat is put on some bones. The complementary sector, comprising restaurants, clubs, attractions and travel agencies, is issuing proposals designed to limit some of the law's damage, as it applies to them. Another aspect of the law other than that regarding secondary activities in hotels which exercised the complementary sector back in February is that to do with all-inclusives. The law is quite vague where they are concerned, precise requirements for quality plans that hotels will be required to draw up not having yet been made clear.

The complementary sector knows that it has to live with all-inclusives but its hope is that requirements of the quality plans will be that tough that some hotels might be forced to abandon the all-inclusive offer. It's a hope but whether it will be anything more than a hope is another matter.

There is a need for such quality plans and for effective ones that hotels are made to implement. In my recent article "Holiday Let Hysteria" I spoke about a generally high standard of hotel stock in Mallorca. It is generally high but there are examples of where it isn't. The hoteliers federation argument against holiday lets falls down, and not for the first time, when it insists that private accommodation can be poor and so present a bad image of Mallorca while at the same time it neglects the examples of poor hotels and their bad image. Some are all-inclusive ghettoes, and we all know which they are. If the hoteliers federation doesn't, then I can help out by pointing its president in the direction of forums and social media which will inform her.

This lack of quality covers sub-standard accommodation, inadequate service provision, repetitious meals, low-grade drinks, lengthy queues. It is a lack of quality that has been known about for years, but what has been a typical government reaction? Under the last government, the then tourism minister Joana Barceló said that inspections had not revealed a lack of quality. God knows what the inspectors were doing or where they were going then.

Such governmental complacency is not entirely unexpected. Genuinely tough quality standards could result in Mallorca's all-inclusive stock being slashed significantly. Tour operators do not benefit from a lack of quality, but they still manage to sell holidays to all-inclusives which fall below standard, and neither they nor the government have a wish to see some hotels removed from the brochures. There are other things to think of such as selling seats on airlines and generating traffic through the airport.

The current government is making much of the new law's provisions for modernising obsolete hotel stock and for overall quality enhancements, but would it really be so insistent on quality for some all-inclusives that might mean they are withdrawn from brochures? I very much doubt it, just as I very much doubt that its inspections would be as rigorous as those it intends to make in order to stamp out illegal holiday accommodation.

The complementary offer might hope that the government will be tough but the complementary sector should look at itself. Only now is it really attempting to get its voice heard after years of ineffective lobbying and after its error in February. There was never any chance of the hatchet having been buried.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.