Large Spanish hotel companies maneuver to get from the State millionaire compensation for the economic blow caused by the forced stoppage of its activity during the first state of alarm of 2020. After a long administrative process in which the Government has not addressed its claims, Meliá and NH Hotel Group finalize the next step and will activate the legal battle in the courts to request compensation for more than 200 million euros.
The Government decreed in March of that year the mandatory closure of all hotels of the country to prevent it from being a source of spread of covid, giving chains a maximum period of one week to close all their establishments. Only about 300 specific hotels were saved, which continued to operate to serve essential workers on their unavoidable journeys.
The Ministry of Health ordered the closure of the hotels under the legislative umbrella offered by the state of alarm to enact extraordinary restrictions. The Constitutional Court has subsequently declared that first state of alarm unconstitutional for not limiting fundamental rights, but rather suspending them, in a very tight decision (the vote was by six magistrates against five).
Both Meliá and NH activated the administrative channel to demand compensation from the Government for the damage to their accounts from the total closure of hotels at the start of the pandemic. Months ago, the chains presented their property claims to the Administration, through which Meliá claimed 116 million euros and NH around 100 million.
Administrative silence
The Government has not responded to either of the two claims. In the case of Meliá, the legal term to receive that response has already expired and in the case of NH, it is also about to expire and is still waiting. The administrative silence in this type of patrimonial claims it is considered negative; that is, the lack of response implies that the State rejects the petition. Once the administrative route has been exhausted, both hotel groups intend to take the case to court with the presentation of an appeal through the contentious-administrative route.
“We made the decision to claim the Administration in an exercise of responsibility, due diligence towards our shareholders and others stakeholdersclaim that we understand solidly founded & rdquor ;, explains Gabriel Escarrer, vice president and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, in statements to THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAIN. “We adopt the expeditious legal channels for circumstances such as the one that occurred, which is that of the Patrimonial Claim to the Administration. Once dismissed due to the expiration of the term to assess the negative administrative silence, it forces us to go to the contentious-administrative route & rdquor ;.
Meliá closed with losses of 596 million euros in 2020 and between January and September 2021 (latest official data made public) the red numbers were 469 million. “Our losses in 2020, plus those that we will present again this year, represent a very important loss of value that will cost us time and effort to recover,” Escarrer stresses.
From the Majorcan hotel group it is emphasized that the claim of 116 million is limited to the damage of the first state of alarm suffered by the parent company and the owners of several of the hotels it manages, it is anticipated that it will present the contentious-administrative appeal in the coming weeks , and takes for granted the “illegality and inadmissibility & rdquor; of the economic blow to the company due to the approved restrictions, more after the Constitutional Court considered the first state of alarm unconstitutional.
From NH Hotel Group, controlled by the Thai Minor, it is noted that in his case the claim by administrative means has not yet exhausted the term. But, at the gates of the administrative silence of the Government also materializing, it is warned that “the company will continue to defend the social interest in the judicial instances & rdquor ;, anticipating the jump to the contentious-administrative route to claim compensation whose amount the chain does not confirm, but that sources in the sector place in the environment of 100 million euros.