Yes, very quiet. Hotel occupancy rates are currently 45% when it rarely drops below 90%.

I think the trend started way back, found it quieter in August.Its happening all over just come back from Tenerife quieter there also compared to other years.

Yes it was quiet.I've just come back.Infact some Hotels are not even full for xmas.A friend of mine was told by a Hotel Manager of a certain hotel that they'd only sold 9 rooms for xmas another Friend who is a booking manager for a big Hotel chain reckons parts of the Hotel he works in could be closed and it still would'nt be full.The Hotel I stayed in was probably 10% full.I was on fullboard and at dinner there were just tables set for 16 people but the food was good and the Hotel beautiful. The pound/euro doesn't help either.

£1 - 1 euro

Credit crunch.

Deep recession.

No consumer confidence.

What do you expect? This forum is really quiet too.Holidays are put on hold I'm afraid.

I remember going to Ibiza in the 90's recession and some hotels shut down completely with hoteliers filling up one hotel in a group and not opening others.

Hi

Just wondering if anyone who is recently back from Benidorm can tell me if its really quiet just now. I know a few people who have been in other areas of Spain and Majorca and hav found it really quiet. Going out with my oh for first week in June and it's his first time ( I usually go with the girls) and am bit worried that it will be too quiet.

Thanks

Jacki

It's finally picking up now. The cabaret bars are over half full at last.

It has been a long, quiet winter here, not sure if this has anything to do with the "credit crunch" or not. A lot of small bars have gone under.

Yes it is quiet during the week but its very busy during the weekends, You have also to remember Benidorm is a pretty large area and well spread out so sometimes it is difficult to find out how busy it actually is.

its always nice when a resort is busy.but when its over full.you cannot get a drink.a seat or table.it will be busy.its will not be a ghost town.trust me.make the most of it.

Yes it is quiet during the week but its very busy during the weekends, You have also to remember Benidorm is a pretty large area and well spread out so sometimes it is difficult to find out how busy it actually is.

I was in Benidorm for Xmas/New Year and for 2 weeks in March, and if I compared the resort with previous years, it was quieter, but what is considered quieter for Benidorm would mean being dead and buried for some other resorts.
In March, during the first week, the top two floors of my 95% British hotel were closed off because of the lack of guests and the hotel Ocas was closed completely for the best part of the second week after the fallas fiesta had finished, and guests were being allocated into the bigger sister hotel Pelicanos.

Now this may seem like gloomy reading, but it's not because there were plenty of people in the resort and because of the poor exchange rate British people are now selective where they spend their money, but there is so much more to Benidorm than the British Levante ghetto.
If the bars which provide entertainment are half empty and who pay for the said entertainment by charging excessive prices for drink, this is no real indication of the amount of people who are actually in the resort.

These bars only represent a small section of the tourists in Benidorm and do not represent the amount of other tourists who do not frequent those bars regardless if the resort is busy or not, or who have the euro as their currency, so by comparing some of the bars, you're just looking at Benidorm from a British perspective.
Yes, the Levante side of Benidorm mainly depends on the British tourists, but maybe those tourists have now been forced to realise because of the exchange rate that you get far better service and prices by venturing into a Spanish bar, and if after the recession Benidorm emerges more slimmed down with less British bars and Asian tat shops, IMO it will be a good thing.

This photo was taken one afternoon during my visit in March...it really looks quiet and the weather looks naff.!



Sanji

seems a bit over the top to suggest people who may have put years of sweat and hard work along with possibly their life savings into their dream of a bar in the sun will leave benidorm better off when their gone.

Yeah, it's totally outrageous to have an opinion where you would like to see more Spanish businesses in a Spanish town, in Spain.

Personally, I wasn't simply looking at it from a British perspective by comparing the bars, I was looking at it from a business point of view. Also if more British owned bars do have to close down because of the lack of custom, then I doubt it will make more people go into the Spanish bars, they will simply go somewhere else on holiday, then Benidorm will possibly turn the ghost town that we all dread it becoming. All of Benidorm relies on British tourism, not just the Levante area. Incidentally, the majority of cabaret bars in Benidorm are Spanish owned.

IMO: Benidorm will never become a ghost town, it's survived nearly 50 years of bad image and media crucifixion, and yet has recently been voted the favourite destination in Spain by a poll undertaken by Thomson.
Everywhere is suffering and there are places closing down left, right and centre in the UK due to the global recession and people losing their jobs, but Benidorm has enough home grown supporters from places like Madrid and the Basque region to help it survive, along with the die hard Benidorm brigade from the UK....some other resorts don't have that devoted following and are suffering far worse than Benidorm.

Some have had the years of good times in Benidorm and should accept the situation that everybody is now experiencing.
I hate to see another Spanish shop close down and I hate it even more when another British bar, Asian tat shop or more recently the Indian sport/electrical shops spring up in its place.....is that such a bad thing.?
If some of these places bite the dust, it'll not affect me one iota, and I shall continue to go to benidorm until I'm unfit to fly.

I'm glad that you'll continue to come to Benidorm regardless of bars, shops etc. However, when people only come for 2 weeks at a time at various times of the year, they don't see the full picture. When you live here all year round, you see the drop in numbers of tourists. Last winter a lot of Spanish bars as well as British bars were closed due to lack of customers. Walking along the streets in the middle of the afternoon was like walking round an English seaside resort out of season. The streets were quiet, a lot of shops were empty and a lot of bars were closed down. Many of these bars and shops have never recovered and have gone out of business, and I don't just mean the British ones, the Spanish have suffered the same fate.

Fair enough, I agree, we don't need any more Chinese Todo shops, or Indian electrical shops selling rubbish, but there is nothing wrong with the British bars. They are just ordinary people trying to make a living in the sun, chasing their dreams. And a lot of holidaymakers do like the British bars.

I have lived here 7 years and before that used to come here on holiday at least twice a year for around 10 years, so I have seen Benidorm's rise and fall. But this particular fall seems to be lasting longer than usual. Hopefully, once the "crisis" is over, people will return here on their holidays and we can all breathe easier.

Yeah, it's totally outrageous to have an opinion

shame you dont let others express there's then.
Just to let you know, having an opinion does not mean that opinion isn't offensive. For anyone struggling to provide a service to their customers and giving what many British travellers enjoy, to suggest it will be good if they went out of business and a Spanish bar opens up instead is indeed offensive while at the same time an opinion. Putting forward a thought out discussion on the benefits to the area of spanish bars over british ones is opinion and legitimate debate. Glorifying their demise is something else entirely.

I have seen Benidorm's rise and fall. But this particular fall seems to be lasting longer than usual. Hopefully, once the "crisis" is over, people will return here on their holidays and we can all breathe easier.

Lisa
I have every confidence that this is just a slight blip and people will return to Benidorm because chose what anyones tries to deny, IMO it is the best resort for diversity and value for money on the Spanish mainland....and I might add that I've been to plenty of Spanish places including the Islands over the last 30 years, and my money whether the then pesetas or the now euros, goes further in Benidorm than anywhere else.

I'm off to the Costa del Sol next month, I do the same things and I buy the same things in the resort as I do in Benidorm, yet for years I have always needed more spending money than Benidorm.
No, there's nothing wrong with some British bars, but there are some where I wouldn't take my dog, and ideally I would like to see a ratio of similar proportion of other bars/establishments kept in the resort.

Sanji

shame you dont let others express there's then

Don't you mean shame you don't let others express theirs then .?

and if after the recession Benidorm emerges more slimmed down with less British bars and Asian tat shops, IMO it will be a good thing.

What didn't you understand about the above.? what don't you understand between the words less or some.?
And yes, I have an opinion and I will continue to express it as long as I am allowed by the moderator of this board and I keep within the T&C's and if I want a resort full of British bars, I'll go to Brighton instead, but Benidorm and the Costa Blanca offers more to me than the ratio of British bars.

Try not to be personal luv2tan, it's against the T&C's

its extraordinary the level to which you plead to be allowed to express an opinion while aggressively and arrogantly coming down on anyone opposing that opinion. Further, for YOU to demand people do not get personal is like Hitler asking for world peace. You are continually being personal in these forums and becoming very tiresome.

less British bars , IMO it will be a good thing

unless you wrote that in code you hope more British bars go to the wall.

No, I don't become personal and if you want to master the art of quoting, please quote the whole sentence, instead of just the bit you want .
Just in case you missed it.

and if after the recession Benidorm emerges more slimmed down with less British bars and Asian tat shops, IMO it will be a good thing.

Becoming very tiresome.? a bit like your petty nit picking then.