Four illegal Lanzarote hotels named in Greenpeace report
Greenpeace has named four hotels in Lanzarote in their latest report for operating illegally and damaging the island’s protected coastal environment. The report claims that Lanzarote once had “the highest concentration of illegal hotels on the Spanish coast”
Four of those hotels are still open to the public, even though they haven’t been made legal. Among them are the Hotel Princesa Yaiza, Hotel Son Bou, Río Playa Blanca, and Sandos Papagayo (formerly Papagayo Arena). Greenpeace criticises not only their continued operation but also the fact that some of them have received public subsidies despite their unresolved legal situation.
The environmental organisation described the Lanzarote Cabildo’s decision to grant Sandos Papagayo a provisional tourism classification in August 2024 as “astonishing”.
The hotel, located on the beachfront next to the Los Ajaches Natural Monument, reportedly occupies public land and exceeds permitted building heights.
The controversy dates back to the early 2000s, when the Canary Islands High Court annulled planning licences for around 20 hotels due to irregularities. In 2016, the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, was sentenced to six years in prison and had his assets seized in the well-known “Yate Case”, which exposed widespread corruption linked to urban development in the south of the island.
While most of the affected hotels have since managed to legalise their situation, these four have not. According to Greenpeace, Hotel Son Bou, owned by businessman Juan Francisco Rosa, has double the number of rooms allowed and exceeds the permitted built area by more than 6,000 square metres. Despite this, it continues to operate.
Similarly, Río Playa Blanca remains open even after the Spanish Supreme Court rejected an appeal by its owner in May 2025. The company claimed it was unaware of a 2007 court ruling that annulled its building licence. Greenpeace points out that the hotel has still not submitted any plan to bring its facilities in line with planning regulations.
In December 2023, the Cabildo gave a provisional tourism licence to Hotel Princesa Yaiza, another hotel owned by Juan Francisco Rosa, even though it didn’t meet legal standards. The Canary Islands High Court had already ruled its planning permission invalid, and Yaiza Town Council admitted it would be "impossible" to legalise the hotel without first removing the extra 5,000 square metres that were built illegally.
In a broader context, Greenpeace’s national report warns that Spain’s 43,000 square kilometres of coastline face increasing risks from climate change. The organisation argues that instead of adapting to these environmental threats, many areas are continuing with developments that go against climate protection efforts.
Under the banner of "luxury tourism", the report says, authorities and developers continue to promote new hotel projects in already saturated and environmentally sensitive areas, claiming they offer greater economic return and reduced social impact, but often at the cost of genuine sustainability.
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