Towards the end of June 2016, it was announced that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide had finalised an agreement to manage the Gaviota 5th Avenue Hotel in Havana. The announcement was an historic one. The hotel was to be the first one to operate under a US company since Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959.
More than a quarter of a century ago, Meliá Hotels International (as now is) opened the Sol Palmeras Hotel in Cuba. It was the group's first hotel on the island. At the time of celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary, father and son Escarrer restated their "unwavering commitment to the present and the future of the Cuban tourism industry".
Meliá is the largest foreign hotel operator in Cuba. Such is the company's status that it has a "position of honour" in the history of the development of the island's tourism. This position had brought with it 29 hotels under its management in Cuba at the time of the anniversary: 29 more than any US hotel concern. A history of joint venture investments with the Cuban government had stood Meliá in good stead, and it continues to. From the start of this year, four more hotels came under its management. Two others are to be added between now and 2019.
A few days ago, it was reported that four leading Mallorcan hotel groups are to invest some 1,000 million euros in Cuba this year. Meliá was one; Barceló, Be Live (Globalia) and Iberostar were the others. The report made, and cue the howls of criticism, including those of Més. Joana Campomar, for some reason hauled up in front of the press, insisted that rather than all this money going on Cuban investment it should be dedicated to improving working conditions and new technologies in the Balearics. She was hardly about to say, good on you, hoteliers, and why stop at just 1,000 million for Cuba?
The hoteliers, especially the major ones, are most people's Aunt Sallys. By most people I don't just mean islanders who dislike the massive amounts of money they make and the low wages they pay. There are also the non-islanders, for whom the hoteliers are the devil's work in depriving the Balearics of apartment rentals. It is curious of course, where the critical islanders are concerned, that they are probably exactly the same people who want highly restrictive rentals regulations because they can't find anywhere to live. In the same camp therefore, but with different perspectives, even if they can be hypocritical in not acknowledging that the hoteliers are basically batting on their behalf: more so now because of the wage agreement.
Admittedly, it can appear somewhat unfortunate that you have Fluxà, Hidalgo and Escarrer the Father being photographed sipping mojitos (or whatever) with the Cuban tourism minister and explaining their investment largesse. The fat cats just get fatter. Two of that threesome are on the Forbes Billionaires List. One who wasn't photographed - or rather two who weren't - were Carmen and Luis Riu. They are jointly listed by Forbes. Riu quit Cuba three years ago, citing the lack of quality of hotels under their management and a certain exasperation with Cuban red tape. Meliá, it would seem, have never had a problem with this, or have at least learned how to deal with it.
Investment in Cuba, or indeed in the various other destinations in which Mallorca hotels are active, grates with the lobby that has its issues with tourism. Those who want limits or de-growth in Mallorca's tourism tend to also be those who are anti-globalisation. The hoteliers, especially the leading companies, are the only real example of Mallorca engaging in globalisation.
But what do people expect? I personally endorse the notion of tourism limits on the island, but I have no problem with overseas investment. Why should I? These are businesses, after all, and very good ones. They invest abroad in order to grow. And one reason is that they have little scope to grow in the Balearics. They can't just stick up loads of new hotels because they're not allowed to. New hotel developments in the recent past are ones for land that had been allocated for tourism accommodation purposes. Future developments will require a quid pro quo. New hotel places will mean eliminating existing ones, and this policy would be unlikely to change even if a right-wing government comes into power.
With Cuba there is also the historical context. It was Cuba (and Puerto Rico) that once provided entrepreneurial opportunities for Mallorca, and the ties with Mallorca and with Spain remained strong despite the loss of both to the Americans. So, Cuba has always been a place to do business. And because the Americans banned all business contact, the island was wide open to the Spanish. It still is, despite Obama and because of Trump.
Mallorca has global businesses, whether some people like it or not.
Showing posts with label Mallorca hoteliers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mallorca hoteliers. Show all posts
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
The False Claims For All-Inclusive
A ban by Mallorca's hoteliers on offering all-inclusive to UK holidaymakers. No sooner had this headline appeared than the cheers were ringing out. Salvation was at hand for bars and restaurants that have struggled under the yoke of all-inclusivity for years: too many years to mention. Such a ban would be the death knell for the all-inclusive. Its obituary was already being written. If only.
Curious things can happen which change business strategies and business marketing. An avalanche of false compensation claims for diarrhoea and gastric complaints falls into the curious category. No one could have anticipated that these claims might signal the end of the reviled all-inclusive: reviled, that is, by a section of the holidaymaking public but not by another but most certainly by the non-hotel complementary sector.
The point is that all-inclusive is not in a process of dismantlement. It would just be the British tourist who is barred from obtaining a wristband and from enjoying the dubious pleasures of endless queuing for dubious quality refreshment. And such a characterisation is itself false in terms of the whole offer of all-inclusive. Some of it is rubbish, some of it is not. It very much depends on the type of establishment, the type of establishment classification, the type of clientele, and the type of socioeconomic classification of that clientele (its money, therefore).
The delights of all-inclusive would instead be diverted to tourists from other nations. French, Swiss, Dutch will suddenly be able to indulge themselves in all-inclusive heaven. As though they haven't been able to already. The threat by the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation to cease offering all-inclusive to the UK market may not be an idle one, but its practicality is another issue. Demand may be a further one. Tour operator strategies for these alternative markets would be yet another. A swift U-turn in their product marketing will be required for 2018 if the British are to be denied their all-inclusive rights.
The UK market, in all its guises, is the second largest for Balearic tourism. It dwarfs the supply of touristic human resources from other nations. The hoteliers' threat would be difficult to follow through. It might not come about in any event if the UK justice system moves with greater alacrity than it has thus far. The threat had a sense of the good headline rather than anything definitive.
The false claims are reprehensible as well as being illegal under both UK and Spanish law. Their number, though, should make one wonder about the coherence of UK justice. Is there no database of claims? The fact that the same claim in very much the same form, directed at very much the same hotels, being made by very much the same intermediaries must surely have alerted someone to the existence of an organised fraud. Seemingly not.
This has become an issue of such significance that it has risen to the state level. The hoteliers have themselves insisted that it is a matter of state. But while far from condoning the claims, have the hoteliers not engaged in some dissembling? Reports for Mallorca as to the scale, cost and growth of claims bear a remarkable resemblance to those for Spain as a whole: the same figures in other words. Still, it's all good stuff for news management on the local hoteliers' behalf.
Is there, one might ask, another agenda: an opportunity being spied? Think of Magalluf and how there has been some jumping for joy at the fact that the resort is now less dependent on the British. The transformational process of Meliaisation has opened the gates to the resort to Swiss, Russians and others. The sub-text, barely disguised, is that these other markets will bring greater riches. The thinking, a highly generalised one, is that the British are low-rent, in addition to being drunk and almost unrecognisable because of tattooed adornment.
The false claims, targeted principally at the economy-class giant all-inclusives, just serve to reinforce this negative image of the British. They can therefore provide a means to an end, one of altering the tourism nationality marketing mix. Perhaps a post-Brexit apocalypse is also entering the thinking, but why should there be such a thing? Tourism life will continue, untrammelled by notions of what may or may not constitute freedom of movement in the future.
Brexit may, though, influence hotelier thinking regarding all-inclusive. Before the bombshell and supported by general European economic recovery, the hotels were moving away from all-inclusive. There are definitely examples of ones which have now either abandoned it, have reduced it or are contemplating doing so. Brexit, or rather foreign exchange, may just demand a rethink, hotelier threat or not; negative image of the British or not. The truth for the hoteliers is that they cannot do without the British, and they know it.
Curious things can happen which change business strategies and business marketing. An avalanche of false compensation claims for diarrhoea and gastric complaints falls into the curious category. No one could have anticipated that these claims might signal the end of the reviled all-inclusive: reviled, that is, by a section of the holidaymaking public but not by another but most certainly by the non-hotel complementary sector.
The point is that all-inclusive is not in a process of dismantlement. It would just be the British tourist who is barred from obtaining a wristband and from enjoying the dubious pleasures of endless queuing for dubious quality refreshment. And such a characterisation is itself false in terms of the whole offer of all-inclusive. Some of it is rubbish, some of it is not. It very much depends on the type of establishment, the type of establishment classification, the type of clientele, and the type of socioeconomic classification of that clientele (its money, therefore).
The delights of all-inclusive would instead be diverted to tourists from other nations. French, Swiss, Dutch will suddenly be able to indulge themselves in all-inclusive heaven. As though they haven't been able to already. The threat by the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation to cease offering all-inclusive to the UK market may not be an idle one, but its practicality is another issue. Demand may be a further one. Tour operator strategies for these alternative markets would be yet another. A swift U-turn in their product marketing will be required for 2018 if the British are to be denied their all-inclusive rights.
The UK market, in all its guises, is the second largest for Balearic tourism. It dwarfs the supply of touristic human resources from other nations. The hoteliers' threat would be difficult to follow through. It might not come about in any event if the UK justice system moves with greater alacrity than it has thus far. The threat had a sense of the good headline rather than anything definitive.
The false claims are reprehensible as well as being illegal under both UK and Spanish law. Their number, though, should make one wonder about the coherence of UK justice. Is there no database of claims? The fact that the same claim in very much the same form, directed at very much the same hotels, being made by very much the same intermediaries must surely have alerted someone to the existence of an organised fraud. Seemingly not.
This has become an issue of such significance that it has risen to the state level. The hoteliers have themselves insisted that it is a matter of state. But while far from condoning the claims, have the hoteliers not engaged in some dissembling? Reports for Mallorca as to the scale, cost and growth of claims bear a remarkable resemblance to those for Spain as a whole: the same figures in other words. Still, it's all good stuff for news management on the local hoteliers' behalf.
Is there, one might ask, another agenda: an opportunity being spied? Think of Magalluf and how there has been some jumping for joy at the fact that the resort is now less dependent on the British. The transformational process of Meliaisation has opened the gates to the resort to Swiss, Russians and others. The sub-text, barely disguised, is that these other markets will bring greater riches. The thinking, a highly generalised one, is that the British are low-rent, in addition to being drunk and almost unrecognisable because of tattooed adornment.
The false claims, targeted principally at the economy-class giant all-inclusives, just serve to reinforce this negative image of the British. They can therefore provide a means to an end, one of altering the tourism nationality marketing mix. Perhaps a post-Brexit apocalypse is also entering the thinking, but why should there be such a thing? Tourism life will continue, untrammelled by notions of what may or may not constitute freedom of movement in the future.
Brexit may, though, influence hotelier thinking regarding all-inclusive. Before the bombshell and supported by general European economic recovery, the hotels were moving away from all-inclusive. There are definitely examples of ones which have now either abandoned it, have reduced it or are contemplating doing so. Brexit, or rather foreign exchange, may just demand a rethink, hotelier threat or not; negative image of the British or not. The truth for the hoteliers is that they cannot do without the British, and they know it.
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