RUI Oliva Beach, Corralejo

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

from RTVAC:

Tamara - still no decision to go ahead by Costas on the refurbishment of the hotel planned for autumn 2019!



The PP asks the PSOE that the Government of Pedro Sánchez of an immediate solution to the Hotel Oliva Beach

· "We demand the intermediation of the PSOE majorero in the Ministry of Ecological Transition to ensure that workers and their families are not affected by the lack of response from Costas", says Gutiérrez

· "The priority on the agenda of a Senator in Madrid was to fight for the rehabilitation of the Hotel and its workers and the senator for Fuerteventura has not done anything", regrets Fernando Enseñat

· Tony Pereira claims "forcefulness for once to the Mayor of La Oliva"

The PP of Fuerteventura regrets that three months after the election campaign and despite the promises of the Socialist Party campaign, "the project to rehabilitate Oliva Beach remains unanswered by the Government of Spain and workers will be affected by an ERE ", denounces the spokesman of the PP in the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Claudio Gutiérrez that demands an immediate solution to the Central Executive. "We demand the intermediation of the PSOE majorero in the Ministry of Ecological Transition to ensure that workers and their families are not affected by the lack of response from Costas," says Gutiérrez.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

from RTVAC today:

Intersindical will take the conflict of La Oliva Beach to the whole of Fuerteventura and demands the public appearance of President Torres.


a-1-4Intersindical Canaria, gives a maximum period of 15 days for both the Spanish Administration and the management of Oliva Beach, to clarify and unlock the alleged impediments to proceed with the remodeling of these hotel facilities, These legal objections are that, if they exist, after two years since the hotel processed the request for reform, they continue without being clarified by the Administration.

The magnitude of this labor and social problem justifies the public appearance of the new president of the Canarian government, in which from his institutional responsibility, and from his political analogy with the state government, positions on the future of the hotel and the contradictory positions of the Spanish executive towards unlocking this conflict

From what is stated by the RIU firm, but above all because of the silence maintained by the Spanish Ministry and the Demarcation of Coasts, it does not follow that the hotel reform plan will affect the land maritime public space, which is why we understand that some Black hand aims to unjustifiably hinder the modernization of tourist accommodation, and what is worse, the loss of jobs in the Majorero hotel with a greater number of Canarian workers. This unusual situation that puts the future of about 400 jobs at risk, also prevents the creation of another 50 job contracts that would enable the modernization of the hotel.

Intersindical Canaria, a majority union in the Oliva Beach Business Committee, after the 15-day period outlined above, will call for the general mobilization of the island in defense of the hotel's jobs, protests that include a Stepped process and gradual stoppage of the tourist activity in Fuerteventura.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

A second article in RTVAC today:

The spokesmen of the Municipal Groups of Canary Coalition, Juan José Rodríguez Pérez, En Marcha, Pedro Manuel Amador Jiménez, Spanish Socialist Workers Party, Julio Santana de Agustín, and Win Fuerteventura, Pilar González Segura, the councilors of the Mixed Group, Oliver González Cabrera (Nueva Canarias), María del Carmen Cabrera Álamo (Podemos) and Antonio Pereira González (Popular Party), and the mayor of La Oliva, Isaí Blanco, gathered this Thursday, July 25, 2019 at the headquarters of the City Council of La Oliva and as If the plenary scheduled for this date has been called off and in the circumstances that motivate the urgency, they have reached the following:
Institutional agreement to support the workers of the Oliva Beach hotel and to reject the delay of the Government of Spain in processing the authorization for the remodeling of the hotel.

STATEMENT OF MOTIVES:

Almost two years ago, in December 2017, the company that operates the Oliva Beach Hotel, in the municipality of La Oliva, Geafond Number One Lanzarote SA, requested authorization from the General Directorate of Coasts of the Government of Spain to undertake remodeling works for the establishment. However, as of the date there has been no response, despite promises and meetings, even with the Vice President of the Government of Spain.

Now the company has summoned the representatives of the workers to announce, foreseeably, a file of regulation of employment before the losses

caused by the silence of the Government of Spain in the processing of the file.

Which would affect the 371 employees of the establishment. The company announces a fall in revenues in the last quarter of 2018 of 29% compared to 2017.

The renovations of the hotel, which do not entail an increase in the built-up volume or cross the boundaries of the area over which RIU has a concession even for 75 years, would allow Oliva Beach to become four stars, gaining competitiveness and tourism quality.

This reform involves an investment of 40 million euros and after it the staff of the hotel staff would grow, so it represents another opportunity for the generation of employment and wealth in the municipality of La Oliva.

The Oliva Beach Hotel was inaugurated in 1997 and is the livelihood of almost 400 families in the municipality of La Oliva. This establishment is also one of our hallmarks.

The tourist sector in Fuerteventura does not go through its best moment, with a decrease in the arrival of tourists. At this time, we cannot afford to lose jobs in the sector or our housing establishments lose competitiveness.

Although at this time of processing the City Council of La Oliva as an administration has no room for maneuver, it can exert pressure and claim the momentum that the company's request needs.

After the meeting held on Wednesday by the company with the workers and in which it was announced that next September the employment regulation file (ERE) is expected to begin as a result of the economic losses suffered by the company, which has been 4 quarters presenting accounts with losses.

This situation directly harms hotel workers, who could lose their jobs.

For all the above, the assembled spokesmen adopt the following:

AGREEMENT:

First. The City Council of La Oliva expresses its support for the workers of the Oliva Beach Hotel and the company in its project of remodeling the establishment for its contribution to the tourist quality of the municipality and the generation of employment and wealth that it entails. While expressing its rejection of the action of the Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain in the processing of the authorization of the hotel remodeling project.

Second. To urge the General Directorate of Coasts of the Government of Spain to give impetus to the procedure and resolve in the corresponding sense.

Third. To transfer this agreement to the rest of the town councils of the island and to the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, with the aim of joining it.

Quarter. To transfer this agreement to the senator on the Island of Fuerteventura with the objective of making the necessary steps to unlock the situation of the Oliva Beach project.

Fifth. This agreement will be ratified at the next plenary session held by the City Council of La Oliva.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

RTVAC today:

The representatives of the workers of the Hotel Riu Oliva Beach have met with the President of the Cabildo to request amparo against the threat of ERE posed by the company RIU.

The President of the Cabildo has been accompanied by the 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents of the Cabildo, the Senator for Fuerteventura, as well as the Minister of Environment and the Manager of the Tourism Board.

During the meeting, the President has given details of the coordinated efforts that have been established with the President of the Canary Islands Government and the Senator of Fuerteventura from the Presidency of the Canary Islands so that from Madrid the solution to the file of the Hotel Riu Oliva Beach .

The President has expressed his total and unconditional support to all and all the workers of the Hotel Riu Oliva Beach, ensuring that they will continue to be kept promptly informed of the efforts made by the Cabildo de Fuerteventura in coordination with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Senator for Fuerteventura.

The President, at the request of the workers to be able to hold a meeting with the Company and the Cabildo before the end of August, did not place any type of impediment in order to share and contrast all kinds of information or progress made in this regard.

[windermeregolfer]

Why does it looks like Riu management is using their own employees as a bargaining chip? They do and will keep their jobs as long as the management will do what they are paid for - to get the money / customers in.

The issue is the permission needed to refurbish the hotel so that the operators off the service and standards that guests expect and demand in 2020, if they don't do the work standards will fall with the knock on effect of fall occupancy and revenue.

When I ran hotels we refurbed some part of the hotel every year so that every 5 to 10 years the whole property was keep up to date and met guest expectations.

[windermeregolfer]

Yes we need to see the plans, if there are to be extra buildings within the existing foot print of the hotel land it could be to enhance the facilities to meet expectation, I see no problem with that.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

from RTVAC, the latest update:

The PP of Fuerteventura will support the demonstration of Oliva Beach workers and once again demand a solution from the Government of Spain

 Fernando Enseñat reiterates the support of the Popular Party to the workers of Oliva Beach and the more than 400 affected families

· Claudio Gutiérrez regrets that the Cabildo de Fuerteventura now questions the administrative concession that was already processed and approved in 2013 after the modification of the Coastal Law

The PP of Fuerteventura will support the demonstration of the workers of the Hotel RIU Oliva Beach that this Friday will concentrate in Corralejo to demand from the Government of Spain a solution to the situation in which this hotel establishment is located and the more than 400 workers and their families .

"The Government of Spain must give an immediate response and stop looking the other way," says Claudio Gutiérrez, spokesman for the PP in the Cabildo de Fuerteventura. “It cannot be that now even the Government of Spain, with the applause of the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, is questioning the administrative concession that was already processed and approved in 2013 after the modification of the Coastal Law. We will not allow him to walk backwards. ”

For his part, the president of the PP of Fuerteventura, Fernando Enseñat, regrets that, "despite the promises of the Socialist Party campaign, the project to rehabilitate the Oliva Beach remains unanswered by the Government of Spain and the workers go to be affected by an ERE ”.

This mythical hotel establishment opened in 1977 employs 400 people and has almost 2,000 beds and an average occupancy rate of 80% per year, with about 600,000 stays every year.

"This economic engine of the municipality of La Oliva deserves an immediate response from the Government of Spain after they have been waiting for more than a year and a half to process this permit," Enseñat recalls.

The situation of this hotel has been the subject of two plenary agreements that support its rehabilitation during the last mandate in the Cabildo de Fuerteventura and in the City Council of La Oliva.

Fernando Enseñat reiterates the support of the Popular Party for the workers of Oliva Beach and the more than 400 affected families. “Fuerteventura cannot let them close this hotel that has filled in all the information that Costas has required for its rehabilitation. The only impediment it really has is political, since the PSOE voted against the modification of the Coastal Law in 2013, ”he recalls.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Today's edict from the La Oliva mayor, courtesy of RTVAC:

The mayor of La Oliva values that "the work of these months has paid off" and moved his commitment to "save the jobs" by unlocking the renovation of the hotel "with all legal and environmental guarantees"

The mayor of La Oliva, Isaí Blanco, has wanted to address public opinion to inform that "this September we expect positive news to solve the problem with Oliva Beach at once."

With the aim of providing "a message of tranquility", the first mayor in the City of La Oliva moved that "the work of these months has paid off" and that, "after talking with the parties, study different possibilities and bring postures, very soon we will have a solution that saves jobs and unlock the renovation of the hotel with all legal and environmental guarantees. "

Isaí Blanco explained how, during these last months, the possibility of delaying the renovation affecting the staff of the hotel has become public, "from the City Council of La Oliva we have maintained a constant dialogue with the works council, we have obtained legal advice and studied different technical alternatives ".

"Institutions and politicians in Fuerteventura and the Canary Islands have expressed their support for the workers. But this is not solved with statements to the media, but with work. The problem with this project is more technical than political, and therefore that is the section in which we have been working these months. We will move to Madrid if necessary to unlock the situation, "the mayor values.

At this point, he added, "we are convinced that the General Directorate of Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea, the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Ministry for Ecological Transition have sufficient tools to authorize the renovation of the hotel within the legality. "

Regarding the competence of the City Council of La Oliva in urban matters, Isaí Blanco considers that "it is possible to do the project without increasing the buildability of the Oliva Beach, and therefore without contravening the regulations."

The mayor of La Oliva also made an assessment of the criticisms that the hotel renovation has received. "Regardless of whether some like it and others do not, the reality is that this establishment has a valid authorization to carry out its activity." Therefore, "if what is proposed is to renovate the facilities and not expand them, and with that it is possible to offer a better service to the clients, it seems reasonable to us".

Blanco once again broke a spear in favor of the hotel staff. For any other consideration, he said, "the priority is to save jobs. Because they are our neighbors, professionals in the tourism sector who have worked very hard for this municipality and for their families, many of them for decades, and also being referents in quality of attention to tourists ".

It should be remembered that the City Council of La Oliva has declared itself institutionally and unanimously in favor of the workers and the rehabilitation of the hotel. "Not only the government group, but also all the groups in the opposition agree on this issue. It is appreciated that there is unanimity among all the councilors of the municipality on an issue as important as this," concluded the mayor.

Isaí Blanco Marrero, mayor of La Oliva.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Well that puts a new face on it Sam! Interesting read, thanks.

[hairybiker]

OOOH! That is interesting and a little worrying.

I vaguely recall being told, by someone who has been staying at the Tres Islas (next door) since it opened in 1974,  that, in the early days, some of the "senior suites" at the Tres Islas had been sold off.  If that is true, we might be seeing a move to demolish that as well.

In my opinion, the demolition of the Olivia Beach hotel would improve the landscape.  Not so much the apartments, but that monstrosity of a 8 storey block is an eyesore with no redeeming architectural features.

The Tres Islas, on the other hand, is an interesting counterpoint to the dunes area and it's shape reflects the mountains in the area.  It is also an interesting example of the work og the architect, Miguel Fisac