Dimitris Kouimtsidis
A HOTELIER from Andalucia has spoken to the BBC detailing what effect the coronavirus will have on his business.
Andy Chapell, owner of the Molino del Santo hotel in Ronda said that the hotel will not be opening this season.
“Normally we’d be opening at the end of March, we have a 20 bedroom hotel and employ 24 members of staff who would normally start working this week.
“We met them last Friday to tell them that there’s no way we’re going to be opening this season,” he continued.
“Every email we get at the moment is cancellations.”
The hotel is normally a very popular destination, having been voted as the ‘Most Romantic Hotel in Spain’ by users of the Karen Brown Guides.
It’s also been selected as a restaurant of choice by Jamie Oliver, been used as a set for films and also featured in guidebooks such as Lonely Planet.
The economy in general is going to take a massive hit, with the hotel owner highlighting how there’s nothing other than tourism in the area.
From all this adversity however, Chapell has seen a silver lining and that is people’s desire to help each other in these troubling times.
“The staff are all from a village of 1,800 people, which is a tight knit community, we all look out for each other, no one is going to starve.”
