Costa del Sol Hotels pin hopes on sunny Easter

COSTA DEL SOL hotel bosses are praying a sunny Easter will produce a last minute surge in bookings.

So far hotel reservations for Easter on the Costa del Sol are 9 per cent lower than last year, revealed Malaga Province’s hoteliers’ association, AEHCOS.

Francis Jurado from the 4-star Hotel Fuerte Marbella said that on Wednesday reservations for next Monday to Wednesday were 78 per cent occupancy, while Thursday Friday and Saturday average was 87 per cent.

He said whether bookings go up will depend on the weather. If it rains he says the hotel could see cancellations like they had last year when occupancy was 93 per cent for first part of Easter week, but then dropped to 91 per cent on the main days due to rain.

Meanwhile, in Malaga City’s 5-star Posada del Patio Hotel, Pablo Romero told EWN reservations for Easter week are so far worse than last year, Last year the hotel was fully booked for the three main days of Easter, while only 70 per cent of rooms had been reserved by the middle of this week.

They are hoping that their booking will increase, but it all depends on whether it rains or not.

“Current forecast says it will rain the first few days and possibly the main days too,” he said.

Mari Carmen Segovia from the 3-star Hotel Tribuna in Malaga confirmed that the hotel stood at approximately half its occupancy for Easter week bookings-wise, and echoed what the other said that it depends greatly on the weather.

For the Easter weekend, she said reservations were so far much lower than last year.

In contrast, predictions for Malaga City, where the mayor, Francisco de la Torre, said that figures were looking “extraordinary” for Easter.

The City Hall Tourism Department reports that there are 20 per cent more bookings from this Sunday than last Easter.

At all-inclusive Holiday World in Benalmadena Laura Diaz said they have enjoyed a similar volume of reservations as last year.

They are practically fully booked for the long weekend starting on Maundy Thursday.

Nationally the hotel industry hopes to maintain the positive figures of last year, according to the Spanish Hotel Industry Observatory.

Although fewer Spanish tourists are expected to travel for Easter, mainly due to the financial crisis, the number of British, German, French and Russian tourists is expected to increase.

By Jennifer Leighfield and Nicole Hallett