Patient alive and well

[pollensafan]

Hi Folks, Just back from 3 glorious weeks and I have to say that in the many years I have been out in september I have never repeat never seen it so busy. Beach packed, bars packed and restaurants packed. Long may it continue. Just a shame that it seems according to the news that my wife and I are not the sort of people the government wants. Our crime? We rent private accommodation. Tell you one thing. With an average spend of 800-1000 euros a week in bars and restaurants I say to them, " You would like the island full of people like us".

 

[Luckyone]

Hi Folks, Just back from 3 glorious weeks and I have to say that in the many years I have been out in september I have never repeat never seen it so busy. Beach packed, bars packed and restaurants packed. Long may it continue. Just a shame that it seems according to the news that my wife and I are not the sort of people the government wants. Our crime? We rent private accommodation. Tell you one thing. With an average spend of 800-1000 euros a week in bars and restaurants I say to them, " You would like the island full of people like us".

Well said and we agree with you. Also thought the bars/restaurants were busier in September even more so than the last week in August. Some restaurant staff seemed to disagree but to the naked eye it was busier than it has been for some years.

 

[CathB]

Originally Posted by pollensafan
Hi Folks, Just back from 3 glorious weeks and I have to say that in the many years I have been out in september I have never repeat never seen it so busy. Beach packed, bars packed and restaurants packed. Long may it continue. Just a shame that it seems according to the news that my wife and I are not the sort of people the government wants. Our crime? We rent private accommodation. Tell you one thing. With an average spend of 800-1000 euros a week in bars and restaurants I say to them, " You would like the island full of people like us".


- we too thought it was busier when were there at the start of July - several friends who have restaurants/bars said that although there seemed to be a lot more people they were not spending..the hotel deals were not that good for business in general..

Therefore as Pollensafan says we will continue to boost the economy by renting apartments and spending our money in the port - Roll on Saturday

 

[Smiddy]

Palma airport was extremely busy when we arrived Sunday morning. The port is not too quite , but it,s far from busy! Restaurants i,ve been to are on the quite side, but the supermarkets are busy, so i suppose a lot of people are cooking in. Personaly i wouldn,t bother, 2 of us went to the Luna de Mel last night, wife had homemade tomato soup, i hot and sour (delicious) followed by steamed fish in ginger with vegetable noodles, washed down by a bottle of very decent house white. Total bill was 36 euros. Why bother cooking? Your on holiday.

 

[pollensafan]

Palma airport was extremely busy when we arrived Sunday morning. The port is not too quite , but it,s far from busy! Restaurants i,ve been to are on the quite side, but the supermarkets are busy, so i suppose a lot of people are cooking in. Personaly i wouldn,t bother, 2 of us went to the Luna de Mel last night, wife had homemade tomato soup, i hot and sour (delicious) followed by steamed fish in ginger with vegetable noodles, washed down by a bottle of very decent house white. Total bill was 36 euros. Why bother cooking? Your on holiday.

Just goes to show the difference a week can make

 

[Tonsyl]

Interesting comments about the perception of busy or quiet. We are just back, flew out of Palma on the 24th. and we thought the port was quieter than when we normally travel in October. Certainly some restaurants were busy, very busy in fact but some were struggling, read into that what you will! Some bars were likewise in terms of trade but overall we wouldn't say the port was heaving by any means. A couple of local business people said that they thought the majority of visitors (self caterers) were not eating out as often as in the past, maybe down to once every other day. Whatever, the general opinion seemed to be that, after a slow start in the early season, things had got much better later.

 

[Baron de Lay]

I was out for the last two weeks of August - and can honestly say that I've seen it busier over the Whitsun week in the past. A couple of Bar & Restaurant owner friends were blaming the lack of trade in the evenings on the hotels running all inclusive packages - hence the beaches being packed during the day, but far fewer people out in the evenings. Our caretakers tell us that their cleaners have noticed a marked increase in the amount of work they have to do cleaning kitchens in apartments over the last few years. Understandably it looks as if more and more people are watching their Euros and eating in.

 

[KWUK2]

We were out in PP during the first two weeks of September and have done exactly that timescale many times in the past.

We felt that it was markedly busier this year than in all previous years for early Sept.

 

[Grandad]

busy ?

I agree that for the last two weeks in August the beach was far busier than I have seen for the last few years, but nightime where did all the people go ?
Also the numbers were there but not spending except in the supermarkets.

 

[Nick]

We came out for just over two weeks from the 7th September and thought it was the busiest September we'd ever seen at that time.

I really hope that the all inclusive hotels don't take off. They're just not suitable or right in PP in my opinion. There are plenty of other resorts for them.

 

[its cd]

We too thought early September was busy and bustling.

I have a theory that many of the August visitors are different to the visitors seen in the port at other times

In August you will have families with school age children on their summer holiday, they are families who have worked hard for their 2 weeks in the sun and will have paid more than at any other time of the year just to fly out and rent their accommodation. Some will be new visitors to Puerto Pollensa rather than regular visitors who have their favourite restaurants. These families may not be able to afford to pay for themselves and their older school age children to eat out ...... Lets face it by the time kids are 10 or 11 most of them will eat a full sized adult meal and even with careful budgeting 2 weeks of family dinners and a couple of drinks is likely to set a family back around 1500 euros ...... A lot of money when added to daytime snacks, activities such as kayaking, bike hire, boat trips etc plus ice creams etc.

During other months visitors are either regulars who choose to budget to eat out every night because for them that is part of the PP experience or they are older couples or families with pre school children who will eat out each evening because meals for the tiny kiddies cost next to nothing. Also they have not paid anything like as much to get to PP or rent accommodation.

 

[Tiggy]

I really hope that the all inclusive hotels don't take off. They're just not suitable or right in PP in my opinion. There are plenty of other resorts for them.

Please expand on the '' just not suitable or right ''

 

[its cd]

Tiggy I won't presume to know what original poster means but personally I don't know why anyone would want to go all inclusive unless they were visiting somewhere that did not have sufficient good quality restaurants to eat in or somewhere that was unsafe to roam around after dark
PP doesn't fit either criteria and so in my opinion there is no requirement for All Inclusive Hotels.

Why would you want yo come somewhere like PP that has so many great quality eateries and nice friendly ambient bars just to spend each evening eating in the same hotel dining room ..... I really don't see the logic especially when for an AI hotel to offer dining of a better quality as most of the good PP restaurants it would need to be at least 4star which would prove to be far more expensive than renting a nice apartment and eating out each evening at a venue of your choice.

 

[Nick]

Sure Tiggy, no problem.

Firstly, as stated, this is just my opinion. PP is a small resort that mainly caters for rental villas, apartments and owners. This is just the way it is. Therefore you have an abundance of eateries such as cafe's and restaurants to suit all tastes and budgets.

If you start getting the hotels deciding that "all inclusive" is their thing then this will inevitably start to force eateries out of business. This will then lead to boarded-up premises, as in these financial times no-one will take them over. You will therefore get a small and friendly resort looking distinctly unattractive and put off the certain clientele that choose PP for its charm.

Yes, you could argue that "alll inclusive" would bring in people spending money but you will find that by choosing an "all inclusive" option they will not spend much outside of their hotel on food as this would defeat the object.

I'm no snob by the way as in the past I've enjoyed several "all inclusive" holidays but I personally think they would be detrimental to a resort such as PP and what it actually represents.

As with everything in life, there's something for everyone!!

 

[clinkham]

This from yesterdays Daily Telegraph business pages -

"The travel giant (TUI Travel) behind brands such as Thomson and First Choice said households were increasingly opting for breaks that include food and drink in destinations such as Majorca and Turkey as a way of sticking to tight budgets.

“[All inclusive] gives them greater certainty in terms of their holiday budget and that is proving very popular,” said Peter Long, the holiday giant’s chief executive."


You can see which way the wind is blowing. The guy has a point. The certainty of cost is a big plus in these difficult times. That said, I hope this dosen't take off in PP. Eating out etc is a big part of our holiday -to be restricted to an All Inclusive hotel site and canteen food holds no attraction for me.
Perhaps a big plus is that PP has few hotels that would lend themselves to all inclusive. I hope!

 

[Tonsyl]

As an example of what Nick & Co says, we have a neighbour who is going to PP for the first time next week. This weekend, whilst cleaning cars and chatting (as you do ) I said that we could offer some advice on restaurants and bars in the Port. He piped up saying "don't worry, we 're all inclusive so we probably won't try anywhere else". For info, travelling on a Thomson Holiday !

 

[Baron de Lay]

If you start getting the hotels deciding that "all inclusive" is their thing then this will inevitably start to force eateries out of business.

From what I understand Nick, the hotels aren't getting much of a choice in the matter. The tour operators are insisting that the hotels on their books offer all inclusive packages - or be dropped from their lists.

 

[pollensafan]

From what i understand, the standard needed for a hotel to aquire all inclusive status is being raised for next year making it more difficult to offer really cheap deals. As for the person asking why you would not want more of these type of holidays the answer is simple. It puts the bars and restaurants in the surrounding area out of buisiness. The area around the pollensa park hotel is a good example. One has already gone and the others are fighting for their very existance. Not good. Funny old world when you think about it. You have a house in spain built without permission or not to the original plans and Quicker than you can blink its demolished. Build yourself a hotel under the same circumstances and you can keep it as long as you keep handing over the " Old wonger " in fines every year to the goverment.

 

[andrew711]

Pollensafan, the point about the fines and the "old wonger" is a very, very good point indeed.

As for standards to be met, the new tourism law will require all hotels to submit a "quality plan" but its actual terms are a bit vague in that they don't appear to address standards of service (such as queuing times, ratio of restaurant places to clients, for example) which are typically where all-inclusives fall down.