Cheap Benidorm Holidays Could Be Over If Resort Boss Gets His Way
At a time when Benidorm has seen a huge reduction in the number of UK visitors due to the COVID-19, and more people having staycations in the UK, a resort boss wants to send boozy brits packing.
Servigroup hotel president José María Caballé, 79, has angered local bar and club owners after he said British tourism is not the money-maker it once was.
The hotel president wants to send boozy brits packing and instead turn Benidorm into an upmarket resort. This plan if successful could see many popular bars and clubs close.
This is not the first-time hotel bosses in Benidorm have demanded an end to stag and hen parties. In previous years hotel bosses have called an end to stag and hen parties in Benidorm, saying they not only bring down the popular Spanish resort, but they also put off families wishing to visit Benidorm.
María Caballé said: “Benidorm has reached a point where it has to change because the costs are going up and hotels can’t work with such low prices,” he said.
Mr. Caballé – who owns 18 hotels in Spain – said boozy Brits on holiday were no longer desired guests in Benidorm.
“During the 1970s, 80s, and 90s the standard of living in Spain was very low. People put up with noise and drunkenness because they needed to. We can’t cater for low-level clientele to get drunk for three days. This doesn’t happen in a modern country,” he said.
Mr. Caballé wants to see Benidorm return to its heyday of the 1970s where the resort welcomed families and not the stag and hen parties of today. He believes by going back to the 1970s, hotels would make more money and more people would be employed, a claim that is denied by some local club and bar owners.
One club owner who did not wish to be named said Benidorm has seen its worst season in decades. If the plan went ahead and saw Benidorm turn its backs on stag and hen parties, he believes that some hotels that cater for budget holidaymakers would be forced to close and many clubs and bars would not survive.
María Caballé has said that Benidorm, Spain will struggle to achieve the same revenue levels as before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that is why it was now the right time for Benidorm to become an upmarket resort.