Ashotel has told the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (FECAM) that it reserves the right to take legal action if there are no movements regarding the exemption of fees and taxes by the municipalities, "It is not a desired action," says the hotel management association, which considers that it has legal arguments that support this action.
Ashotel has explained to Fecam the seriousness of the situation that a high percentage of hotel establishments are going through, most closed since last March due to the pandemic, but that have had to continue to pay fees and taxes for services that are not being used due to the closure of the activity.
The president of Ashotel, Jorge Marichal, met Juan Pablo González on Thursday at the headquarters of FECAM in the capital of Tenerife with the manager of this entity, Rosa Morales, and by videoconference with the president of the Tourism commission, who is also the mayor of Santiago del Teide, Emilio Navarro.
The representatives of Ashotel regretted that the vast majority of the 23 city councils of the Tenerife province, with which they contacted by letter last April, have not even responded almost ten months later. "They have been sidelined in this serious situation that many hotel companies are going through, which are now going from having liquidity problems to having solvency problems," said Marichal.
Ashotel said to the FECAM representatives that it is "incomprehensible" that the same receipt is still being charged for basura (garbage tax), when most of these companies have been closed since March and have not generated a single kilo of waste.
Among the explanations received from the municipalities that have responded to Ashotel, is that the legislation does not allow them to stop collecting municipal taxes and fees. "If the norm does not allow exemption, it does allow subsidizing amounts equivalent to those taxes," Marichal pointed out, giving an example of the tax burden borne by a 4-star hotel in Tenerife with 200 rooms, whose annual basura bill is around 26,000 euros, and IBI (rates) is around 100,000 euros.
Regarding the basura tax, the Ashotel representatives explained to the Fecam representatives that the Spanish hotel industry was closed in its entirety by virtue of an order from the health authorities which forced them to remain closed until June the end of the state of alarm on 21st. “It should not have been charged during that time, from the outset because the hotels could not be open," they pointed out.
Subsequently, many establishments have continued to be closed due to force majeure. Faced with this situation, Ashotel considers that the town councils "cannot continue charging as if nothing is happening", and they believe that they should be aware that, if the companies in their municipalities close, the social problems which they will have to cope with will be even greater, since the productive fabric that supports social cohesion will disappear.
Ashotel understands that many municipalities have put their main investment effort into assisting people with the greatest economic problems, but remember that the collapse and bankruptcy of many companies, who are net contributors to the municipal coffers, will generate even more unemployment and poverty in the municipalities.
