Majorcan hotels are undergoing the greatest improvement for 10 years

PALMA
HOTELS in Majorca have undergone their greatest renovation for the last 10 years this winter.
Some 45 percent of the tourist establishments on the island, around 500 hotels, have had work done to improve their facilities and modernise their installations, a total investment of around 30 million euros.

The Federation of Majorcan Hoteliers said that, generally, “this has not happened for years because of the low profits seen during the last few seasons. The fact is that due to the 2006 season being a profitable one, this situation has now turned around and the money is there to do these reforms”.

The same Federation sources said that the hoteliers had taken advantage of low interest loans from the banks to finance their modernisation. This has meant that all subsectors of the construction industry (electricians, air conditioning suppliers, carpenters etc.) as well as businesses selling equipment (computers mainly) have been working all out from November to date, although some of the work will not finish until the beginning of Easter week, so that the hotels will be able to open soon and move the beginning of the season forward.

The Federation said that the investment for each hotel is very different, but it varies between 12'000 and 25'000 euros to as much as 500'000 or one million euros, according to the volume of work to be done.

The improvement and modernisation works are taking place in practically every tourist area on the island, and it is the small and medium sized hotel chains which have made the largest investment to prepare their premises for the holiday season.

Hotels on Majorca, as well as on Minorca and Ibiza and Formentera have opted to improve the quality and service of their establishments, and because of this some of them have gone up in category, two star hotels becoming three star, three star hotels becoming four star etc.

This has been happening since the 90s. For example, since 2003 some 100 establishments on Majorca have gone up in category, which has given them greater negotiating power when dealing with the tour operators.