Soría versus Rivero again as sparks fly over "constitutionality" of Canarian tourism law

[Janet]

Spain's minister for Industria, Energía y Turismo, Canarian José Manuel Soria, has said that after talks failed to get the Canarian government to modify last year's Canarian tourism law, the national Government  might present an appeal against it on the grounds of unconstitutionality. Sr Soria, speaking at the Confederación Canaria de Empresarios (CCE), said that the law in its current form contravenes the Spanish constitution, let alone European law.

The focal point of tension is the situation of hotels in Gran Canaria especially, where the authorities do not want to be limited to luxury 4 or 5 star. Sr Soría said he wholly approved of some measures in the Canarian law, notably those concerning renovation, but that the restriction on mid-range hotels goes against basic Canarian, Spanish and European principles of economic liberty. He stressed that although Madrid recognized absolutely the Canaries' right to legislate on its own tourism matters, it had to abide within rights bestowed by national and international freedoms to provide services.

Let us remember three things. First, that this is a minister of the very government that is imposing similar tightened tourism measures nationally! Secondly, that he is himself a Canarian who is at daggers drawn with the beleaguered president of this region, Paulino Rivero, who is struggling to maintain support for his reelection bid among his own party, let alone the electorate! Thirdly, there is no suggestion here that the "freedoms" being demanded refer to anything other than the rights of lower-star hotels; indeed there has been nothing but controversy for months now over the new legislation's bans on (particularly) the construction of 3* hotels in Gran Canaria.

The eastern province considers Tenerife, with its preponderance of 4 and 5* luxury hotels to be unfairly advantaged by the legislation and upmarket drive, and thinks that the regional government should not be imposing a one size fits all policy on the islands as a whole. Within these contexts, it is hard to see the remarks of Sr Soría - himself from the eastern province - other than in the light of a PP national politician having a dig at an opposition party president, a former regional political sparring partner of his with whom there is very little love lost, and all in order to highlight what is widely seen in the east as a grossly unfair territorial advantage for Tenerife in the Canarian law. Let us also remember that the Canarian government gave itself a year for its legislation to "settle". We will know later this year what its own view is of the success of the legislation, and what movement will follow, and who will benefit. JA

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Fine.  Let Gran Canaria host all the chavs.  They are more than welcome to them!

[Guanche]

Whilst not wishing to get into the political side of this matter I have a question. Who decides what is a 5 star hotel and what is not. We have stayed in 5 and 4 star hotels in the UK, France and Belgium, admittedly not very many! We have also stayed in them here and I am sorry to say the ones here were sadly lacking. Now with that said I am going back a few years. I can only assume that they have a far looser system of classification here?

[Janet]

not sure about internationally, but in Spain, there are official designations for what you get for the different levels ... e.g. to qualify for 3 stars an establishment must provide hairdryers in all bathrooms, full length mirrors in all bedrooms ...

[Delderek]

Whilst not wishing to get into the political side of this matter I have a question. Who decides what is a 5 star hotel and what is not. We have stayed in 5 and 4 star hotels in the UK, France and Belgium, admittedly not very many! We have also stayed in them here and I am sorry to say the ones here were sadly lacking. Now with that said I am going back a few years. I can only assume that they have a far looser system of classification here?

That is the problem, no worldwide classification exists, and each country has it's own system of grading. A five star in Tenerife would not begin to compare to somewhere like Dubai. Even the hotel chains vary. For instance the Sheraton in Tenerife is way below that of The Sheraton in Dubai. The five star Hyatt in Mexico equates to the 3 star Sol hotels in Tenerife. Then of course you have the Holiday companies that use their own gradings.So unless a worldwide system could ever be agreed the star system means nothing.

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

not sure about internationally, but in Spain, there are official designations for what you get for the different levels ... e.g. to qualify for 3 stars an establishment must provide hairdryers in all bathrooms, full length mirrors in all bedrooms ...

These sound like very minor and inexpensive things which anybody wanting to open a hotel should be able to afford.  In fact they are so trivial you would think they would strive to provide them so as to be competitive and secure custom and have a built-in advantage of stars to promote their business.  So I'm missing something - perhaps the differences between 3, 4 and 5 are more significant?

[Janet]

HERE's the law defining tourist standards here in the Canaries ... 

[Delderek]

These sound like very minor and inexpensive things which anybody wanting to open a hotel should be able to afford.  In fact they are so trivial you would think they would strive to provide them so as to be competitive and secure custom and have a built-in advantage of stars to promote their business.  So I'm missing something - perhaps the differences between 3, 4 and 5 are more significant?

Internationally, for a real five star, it has to offer:

24 hour full restaurant facilities.
24 hour full room service with full menu
Full communication facilities either in room or business centre
Staff to guest ratio above a certain figure (sorry can't remember what)

Not sure if this is a requirement but:::always someone trying to polish your shoes on your way in or out..................EVEN IF THEY ARE SUEDE

[Janet]

THIS is four star ... in Turkey ..... 

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Have you seen the Turkey vs Spain advertisement, filmed on a beach?  Guess they know what they're doing.