Normally we go to 2 or 3 cabaret bars a night. Been here since Saturday and haven´t been in one yet. We are preferring to go to smaller bars.

Yes there are a lot of Spanish here for New Year, but the cabaret bars and smaller British bars will suffer the rest of the year if the Brits stay away.

We have actually spent a lot less this time, purely because we are choosing different places to go.

luci

In reply to sanji's post about the Spanish not being silly enough to pay the high prices in the caberet bars,I have to say that every hotel that I have stayed in where there has been Spanish clientele,I have never seen them buy more than one drink whilst sitting all night watching the entertainment and as soon as its over its up and away.

Iam not having a go at the Spanish here as I realise that they have a different culture and attitude to drinking,but surely they must realise that the hoteliers pay for the entertainment by selling drinks

I did see a change in Benidorm.My friend who runs a Travel Agency which has been in the resort 27 years is really worried so many people invested in their business's over the past couple of years.Maybe lower prices would be the answer and back to the 1970's packing them in.

I've deliberately been looking at prices in levante area this morning.
Coffee & brandy (103) 1 euro.50 centimos
Coffee & tia maria, the same
Full English breakfast at one place 2 euros and at another 3 euros.
Coffee in the hotel is the same as last year, which is 1 euro 10 centimos.
A straight brandy is 2 euros, with a mixer 3 euros.
G&T, 3 euros.

In a spanish bar in levante area this morning, I had a coffee and the hubby had a black coffee with brandy and the price was 3 euros .40 centimos and as the exchange rate is one for one today, those prices can be converted into pounds sterling.
So, where can I get two coffees and one with brandy for £3.40p in England.?

I still maintain that Benidorm remains value for money, I go to the costa del sol every june and way before any credit crunch or bad rate for sterling, the prices were/are higher than Benidorm.

If you don't want to accept the rate, then stay completely out of the euro zone, if you still regard Spain as value for money, then Benidorm is the best place to be IMO.

There is no reason why they should drop their prices, it's only the British who are "suffering" and the prices haven't changed since I was last here.

IMO: out of all the costas, benidorm because of its popularity with other nations, will suffer, but it stands to survive better than some other costas.

Anyway, the poor exchange rate has not stopped me visiting and never will....I've had the good years here and I shall continue through the slight blip everyone in the euro zone is suffering.

Happy New Year to you all.......

sanji

Well said Sanji.

We were in Benidorm over Christmas and did find it more expensive than before. Drinks in the Cabaret Bars were a lot more expensive than last year. We were luckily enough to be in Beni in May, July, September, November and back for Christmas and each visit found small differences in price. Although the drinks prices in the Cabaret Bars, may be on par with the UK now where can you get entertainment included. Certainly not in our small town with no transport to anywhere which has any entertainment.

We won't be back more than once (maybe twice) next year but will happily pay Cabaret prices for the entertainment.

What we did cut back compared with last time was meals out. Previously, although booked full board, we never usually had meals in the hotel.l This year we ate in hotel (ambassador) and enjoyed our meals

WE also enjoyed the local buses. In almost 30 years of going to Benidorm we had never been on a local bus, but this year enjoyed trips to Altea, Finestrat and other places. Great value at flat fare of €1.20

Benidorm is still worthwhile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sanji.
Witherspoons this morning,2 coffee + 1 brandy less than £3.Pint of Green King or bottle of San Miguel 99p.
Still say that £11 pound for 2 drinks (V+T) to watch a second rate turn who would be paid off in 10 mins at my local WMC is a rip off.in my local it would be £2.50 + good acts.
Agree with other comment re; Vincents,in White Horse a pint of John Smiths was £2.50.
I stick to Guiness (cans of draught) usually about 4 euro at least you know what you are getting + Soberano.
Johnny C

Iam not having a go at the Spanish here as I realise that they have a different culture and attitude to drinking,but surely they must realise that the hoteliers pay for the entertainment by selling drinks

Just like to reply to the above and say generally that is not true.
The entertainment in hotels is paid for out of the Hotels budget that a particular hotel has been allocated for one financial year by the group, they also have various budgets to work within for such things as salaries and food.
Most musicians/entertainers have an agent, who negotiates a contract with the entertainment manager of the hotel at the beginning of the season before any drinks have been sold over the bar.

Various agents will try and under-cut the other one and the hotel will sign a contract for X amount of months, for x amount of hours, for x amount of wages with the entertainer who is prepared to work for the agreed amount.

The cabaret bars are different, they usually lease the building and pay the rates to the Ayuntamiento, they apply for the various licence's and any profit they make is theirs, so if they are paying reasonable wages out to the entertainers, they have to get their money from somewhere and usually it is the price of drinks, otherwise they wouldn't survive long.

Still say that £11 pound for 2 drinks (V+T) to watch a second rate turn who would be paid off in 10 mins at my local WMC is a rip off.in my local it would be £2.50 + good acts.

Again, you cannot compare your local Working Men's Club with Benidorm, and as much as I agree with the comments about second rate entertainers year after year with the same jokes and songs, most WMC's now charge an admission fee when they've got good acts performing.

Most owned Working Men's Clubs get a discount from the brewery for the amount of beer they buy/sell....most WMC's are supposed to be a non- profit making organisation, but they have to make some sort of profit, otherwise they would close down too.
If they don't get the discount from Tetley's they can negotiate a discount with another brewery and have them come into the club.

If the brewery already owns the WMC, you haven't got a prayer on what you will sell and at what price.
Finally, a pint of fizzy orange is dearer than a pint of beer at my local WMC and we don't get the same measure for spirits in the UK as you do in Benidorm.

Sanji

So would the hoteliers give the same budget to the entertainment manager if they thought that every guest would buy just ONE drink per night whilst watching the entertainment?

I doubt it

It's got nothing to do with having one drink all night long.
Different cultures expect a different form of entertainment.
How does the Flamingo Oasis which is an all inclusive hotel pay for a very comprehensive entertainment programme, when the drinks are "free", well not exactly free, you've helped to pay for the entertainers in the price you paid to stay there.
Different hotels employ entertainers according to the clients needs, what is the use of paying for an entertainer, if the people prefer to go out somewhere else at night.?
What is the use of having/paying a British entertainer in a predominately Spanish hotel, singing and telling jokes in English, when all the Spanish like to do is go for an evening stroll after dinner before later returning to the hotel to dance.?
It's called using the available finances within the hotels budget and the needs of the clients.
If the hotels in Benidorm had to rely on the tourists staying in the hotel every night, buying drinks at the hotels prices, they would be in the red.

I'll give you a good example. My friend and her husband have been employed at the hotel Sol Costa Blanca on Benidorm's promenade for 18 years, they have a contract from Feb until October, when the hotel closes in October, their agent finds them work in other hotels until Feb.
The hotel is predominately Spanish and until around 10-30 every night they are singing/playing to a handful of clients, why? because the Spanish are still in the restaurant until gone 9-30pm, then they take a stroll before returning for the last hour and half.

If the Sol Costa Blanca had to rely on the amount of drinks that are sold over the bar, my friend and her husband wouldn't have been employed for the last 18 years.

I'll leave you to it....
Edit for typo error

As for hotels being in the red if everyone drank in them all night?? I think that profits would quadruple

Hi Sanji, Have you been to the Hotel Costa Blanca in the evening, if so is it good and do they serve people who are not staying there? I would love to see the Spanish people dancing and enjoying themselves. There are not many places in the Levante area were they go to, but I have seen them in the bar at the end of the Levante and they really know how to enjoy themselves. I bet you would never see drunken brawl's like in the British bars!

I've spent many many nights in the hotel Sol Costa Blanca, anybody can go in there and buy a drink.
TBH, if my friend wasn't employed there, I doubt I would spend all night in there, but in between the spots, is time for a good natter and a laugh.
Week-ends are more busy that the week days and I can't comment on the situation during July/August because I avoid holidays during these months.
They play outside during the warm weather on a stage facing the promenade, which entices the people passing by to stop for a drink.
It isn't a rave up, but it is what the Spanish like.

Horses for courses and personal choice really, I think you would find it "dead" until around 10.30 pm TBH

Sanji

Thanks Sanji,I don't go in the summer either. I will be going on the 14 Jan for 10 weeks so I will have a look in there. Back to the topic, I still think Benidorm will be the IN PLACE to go to.

I have several Spanish friends, and if I can get them to come out before 21:30 I'm doing really well. They just don't do early evening drinking. We usually plan to meet around 21:30 to 22:00 and they are almost always later than we planned.

As for the Spanish only buying one drink to last the whole night, their night doesn't begin until around 10 pm, when once they start, they can drink most of us Brits under the table.

It's a different culture, live with it.

Good on them!

I am going to close this topic now as it's fast becoming a duplicate of our BARS & CLUBS Q&As topic. Recent enquiries and recommendations have now been transferred to that topic.

David