Hotels in Spain are ready to fight with Thomas Cook. On the photo: hotel in Valencia. Author: Alesya Belaya

Hotels in Spain want to go to law with Thomas Cook

A number of leading hotels in Spain, are united against one of the leaders of the world tourism market - the British travel company Thomas Cook. The reasons for the claims of Spanish hoteliers were trimmed payments that Thomas Cook has transferred to the hotels’ bills.

Among those who received partial payment for their services are hotels of Spain's top resorts such as Benidorm, Costa Del Sol, Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and Lanzarotte.

The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourism (CEHAT) notes that in total Thomas Cook paid about 5% less than the contract amount. Representatives of CEHAT called such reduction to be "illegal" and in the near future plan to apply to court for restoration of their rights, according to ttglive.com.

CEHAT intends to provide advice to all the hotels that have suffered from the actions of Thomas Cook. In a statement CEHAT noted that violations of contractual obligations by Thomas Cook can be a dangerous precedent and that the Confederation would require the Thomas Cook compliance with prescribed conditions of the contract.

Claims against Thomas Cook were originally initiated by the HOSBEC organization, which represents hotels in the region of Costa Blanca in the Valencia region. In this case, Thomas Cook angered hoteliers in September, when the company announced that it intends to reduce payments to hotels for 5% for unpaid bookings for August and September. It is noted that the operator was forced to take a significant discount to offset the effects of volcanic eruptions in Iceland in the spring of 2010, when in Europe were canceled hundreds of air flights. Discounts cost the company about 82 million pounds.

In turn, the Spanish hoteliers emphasize the need for strict adherence to the contract and intend to assert their rights in national and European courts.

It is worth noting that in Spain the past summer season can be considered as the most successful for the past three years. The occupancy rate of hotels in Spain in the three summer months rose by in total for 5%. Main guests of Spanish hotels were traditionally tourists from the UK.

Date: 24/10/2010