New Sheraton for Benidorm?

The burning question in tourism circles at the moment in Benidorm is 'where will the new Sheraton and Westin hotels be?' The question has been provoked by the actions of the Starwood Group, an umbrella organisation for both brands of hotels, whose marketing department has located the hotels in Finestrat in its advertising literature.

The reason apparently is that the group do not associate the name Benidorm with the type of luxury tourism that they are hoping to attract to the hotels which are being built by the new golf course. They see Benidorm as more of a mass market destination unsuited to the upper end of the market though this didn't appear to bother them when the town gave them space on the Benidorm stand at the recent Fitur travel fair in Madrid.

As the land on which the hotels are being built is within the municipal boundaries, our tourist boss Roc Gregori, is seeking a meeting to find out just what the motives are for the decision to keep Benidorm's name out of the publicity.

22 February 2005 Stephen White.

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