In support of his criticisms, Escarrer indicates that the number of hotel accommodation places (beds) has increased "residually" since 2015 - by five per cent - while the number of places for holiday rentals has gone up 135%.
"In the Balearics, one in every 25 homes is used for tourist rentals, the highest percentage in Spain. Pollensa is the municipality with the most of this type of accommodation, surpassed only by Yaiza and La Oliva in the Canary Islands. While hotels have been investing in improvements aimed at promoting quality over quantity (fewer tourists, but more profitable and more respectful) for over a decade and since the 2012 tourism law, the business of housing owners (as opposed to hoteliers), grouped together in the all-powerful Habtur association, continues to grow and saturate our destinations, pushing residential housing out of the market to use it for economic activity that diminishes the residential stock.
"The decree clearly favours the holiday rental model. While it doesn't grant more licences for apartments, it does not address the problem or provide the solution that citizens expect: returning thousands of apartments to the residential market."
The government vice-president, Antoni Costa, does not share Escarrer's diagnosis. "Not one more bed will be allowed." He added that the government is committed to "containment". "This government has never been committed to decreasing the number of beds. We are only committed to reducing illegal tourist rental beds." The government is in "an all-out fight" against illegal supply.
Spokesperson for the opposition PSOE, Iago Negueruela, describes the decree and its consolidation of 90,000 spaces holiday rental places as "an attack on the islands". The vice-president is "lying" when he claims that not one more place will be created, because up to 145,000 holiday rental places that had been "doomed to disappear" will be put on the market.
Josep Castells of Més per Menorca is also critical. His party had been willing to negotiate some of the measures, but the tourism minister, Jaume Bauzà, had not kept his word. "He didn't even send the draft of the measures. It's all been a show."
The Habtur association has meanwhile accused Escarrer of "cynicism". "He now presents himself as a defender of sustainability and coexistence, having inherited and expanded one of the largest empires in the state, built on a Balearisation that devoured the coastline, territory and public resources.
"100% of hotel profits remain in his hands, while those of the holiday rental sector are distributed among local businesses and the thousands of families that make up this group." The association claims that 70% of tourist spending in its sector is separate to the accommodation, "while all-inclusive guests do not leave the hotel". "For decades hoteliers have been able to build hotels on the seafront, have received public aid, have modified laws accordingly, and have achieved re-zoning by decree. They should not now offer us lessons in urban planning."
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Do the math Mr. Gabriel Escarrer. 5% of a lot is a lot lot more than 135% of a little.
As we know, apartment-based holiday rentals are illegal. Whereas licensed villa-based holiday rentals are legal in Mallorca. For more adventurous tourists, who don't need the comforting safety blanket and familiarity of a hotel's infrastructure, a villa-based holiday is a wonderfully liberating, more exciting experience. Providing a much more in-depth and textured experience of the island. Plus, it's a model that spreads a tourist's holiday spending across multiple independent island businesses. Furthermore, holiday villa rentals are generally not worsening the housing crisis, which is centered around chronic shortage of affordable apartments for long-term rent. The hotels association should get over themselves. Anyone with half a brain can see right through their shameless and relentless pursuit of their own self-interest. They're fooling absolutely nobody.