Jurídicos y Administrativos

📱 The new Spanish Customer Service Law mandates a maximum one-minute wait time for 90% of calls, challenging companies with high call volumes. Contact centers are essential in hospitality for efficient call management and personalized service, including booking and complaints handling. Advanced technology like AI is encouraged, but human interaction remains irreplaceable. Voice channels account for up to 25% of direct hotel bookings. Antonio Granados of Ring2Travel highlights the importance of investing in technology and human capital to enhance customer satisfaction and meet new regulations.

✈ IAG is confident Vueling will emerge successful from its battle with Spain's Ministry of Consumer Affairs over hand luggage policy, leading to a multimillion fine for Ryanair, Easyjet, and Volotea. On June 14, Vueling appealed the sanction, with a resolution expected in 2024. The total fine amounts to €150 million, with Ryanair responsible for approximately €100 million. The alleged violations include extra fees for seating minors or dependents, hand luggage in the cabin, lack of transparent pre-contractual pricing, cash payment bans, and a €20 reissuing fee for boarding passes at the airport, the latter solely penalizing Ryanair.

✈ Geneva Airport in francophone Switzerland has enforced a policy penalizing airlines for delays since 2023, with full implementation expected in 2025. Airlines facing delays pay fines ranging from 5,000 to 21,000 euros for European flights and 10,000 to 41,000 euros for transoceanic flights. Resultantly, noise complaints have dropped significantly. However, some airlines have challenged the policy in Swiss federal courts. Geneva Airport's main operator is Easyjet's Swiss subsidiary.

🏠 In Barcelona, 10 active mafia groups engage in illegal tourist apartment rentals, despite 22 being dismantled since 2016. As of 2024, the city has conducted 1,214 inspections, issued 944 cease orders, and opened 491 sanctioning files. Penalties range from €60,000 to €600,000. From 2016, 812 apartments faced proceedings, with 386 fines and 49 cease orders. Plans include extinguishing over 10,000 tourist apartment licenses by December 2028 for residential use.

🏠 Jaume Collboni led a campaign in Barcelona in the first half of July, inspecting 134 suspected illegal tourist rental homes, especially in Ciutat Vella and Eixample. This action is part of a municipal strategy to eradicate rental mafias by November 2028. Irregularities were found in 75 homes, with eight being sealed. In 2023, over 1,200 inspections have been conducted, resulting in 944 cease and desist orders and 491 sanctioning files. The city aims to control illegal activities before the current 10,101 legal tourist licenses expire in 2028.

💸 Travel agents must allocate time to complete booking records, using either a specific website or an API app with QR scanning. The website requires filling out 20 fields, 14 being mandatory, whereas the API has 4-5 fields. Specialists clocked an average of 5 minutes per booking, totaling 100 sterile work minutes daily for a small agency with 15 hotel and 4-5 car bookings. The registration process's efficiency is anticipated to differ in practice, especially in the early days of operation.

🚩 Palma de Mallorca's city center woke up to a wave of anti-tourism graffiti at various locations with messages like "El turismo os hará libres" in Plaza del Olivar and "Stop Tourism" in Plaza de España. These actions and protests are noticed by key international tourists for the Balearic destination. German and British media recently reported on a disturbing graffiti in Manacor stating "Kill a tourist," labeled as sinister and entirely unjustified.

💲 Deutsche Bank, Banca March, Société Générale, Bankinter, and Abanca are suing Sandra Ortega's company, Rosp Corunna, over €150 million in guarantees provided to Room Mate. Ortega, daughter of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, owns 30% of Room Mate, which filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic hit. Auditors Deloitte report legal outcomes as uncertain, treating the situation as a contingent liability. Ortega denies signing "comfort letters" and alleges identity theft by former wealth manager José Leyte.

💰 Argentine President, an avid social media user, reacts vehemently to Ibiza radicals who painted Lionel Messi's house, accusing him of capitalism and illegal property purchase. Ibiza ecologists from Futuro Vegetal, known for anti-tourism actions at Barajas, El Prat, and Ibiza airports, criticize the unequal application of law and call for the abolition of police. The President labels them "communists" amidst a tense relationship with Spain’s Pedro Sánchez.

🎡 Since April 25, Venice has imposed a €5 entry fee per person, except for those staying overnight, generating €2.2 million from 450,000 payers in the first two and a half months. Despite this fee, visitor numbers remain unchanged. Criticism is mounting as Venice considers doubling the tax to €10. Controls exist without barriers, and fines range from €8,500 to €20,800. Hotel guests avoid the entry fee but pay a municipal tax, which is not new and solely boosts revenue.