Canarian hoteliers are committed to sustainability and the experiential offer in the face of rising prices and the possibility of saturating the destination. Likewise, the experts highlight the difficulties that exist in finding and retaining qualified personnel and they affirm that in the face of inflation “it is obligatory to raise the quality of the service”. This is how they exposed it in the Great Hotel Debate, organized by Grupo Vía at the Abama Garden, the new multifunctional open-air space of Las Terrazas de Abama Suites, in Guía de Isora.
with the title Tenerife as a meeting point for European tourismrenowned professionals from the tourism sector addressed the importance of hotel and social sustainability, competitiveness, increased costs and the problems of attracting and retaining workers and talent.
Adrián Almirante, general director of Abama Hotels, acknowledged the rise in prices, a measure that “must be legitimized by improving the product and service of our establishments, the catering, our range of experiences… We cannot justify that we are more expensive just because of the rise in costs or we will stop being competitive».
An average increase of 7%
In this forum it was exposed that hotel prices have experienced an average increase of 7%, energy costs have increased by almost 30%, supplies have become more expensive by 17% and labor costs by almost 9%. Gustavo Escobar, general director of the Hotel Botánico & The Oriental Spa Garden; Jordi Estalella, Director of Marketing and Sales at Dreamplace Hotels & Resorts; Maurice Damen, Director of Sales in the Canary Islands of RIU Hotels & Resorts; Victoria López, president of the Fedola Group and vice president of Ashotel, and David Pérez, CEO of Turismo de Tenerife.
Deepen environmental and social sustainability from the tourism sector, not forgetting that “we are a therapy destination and we must continue to maintain that spirit” (Victoria López, president of the Fedola Group), and that although the maximum point of tourism growth is near for the Islands must grow in economic qualification with the same number of travelers were other of the conclusions obtained in this forum. “The important thing is to reach a balance point between quality tourism growth and avoiding saturation,” explained David Pérez, CEO of Turismo de Tenerife.
The staff problem
The hoteliers explained that the problem of finding qualified personnel is compounded by factors such as the change in the paradigm of life in the new generations, the shortage of residential housing in tourist destinations and the collapse of transport at peak hours. “There are cases of labor theft between some companies and others at peak demand. The question is to know if what is happening is circumstantial. We need qualified employees and if there is no mass of local labor that works and travels to the establishments, it can distort the destination, “said Jordi Estalella.
“It is our responsibility to return the desire to work in the hotel industry, attract new talent and offer good working conditions,” said Adrián Almirante.
