ARCHIVED - 5-star La Manga Club hotel closes as prestigious resort re-enters lockdown mode

Golf courses and the tennis centre remain open but 420 staff affected as activity in La Manga Club is minimal

The 5-star Hotel Príncipe Felipe in La Manga Club, one of the most prestigious in the Region of Murcia and the Costa Cálida, officially closed its doors on Monday due to it having become almost completely empty of guests.

This has come about, of course, as a direct consequence of the restrictions imposed on domestic and international travel in response to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, making it impossible to keep a leisure establishment of this kind open (according to the management group Hesperia). Especially damaging to the hotel has been the virtual disappearance in Murcia of international tourism, which provided the majority of the guests.

As a result, the 192 rooms in the hotel are now empty and will remain so until the situation improves, although in La Manga Club the three 18-hole golf courses and the 28-court tennis centre remain open. As for the hotel, the decision to announce temporary closure became almost inevitable as soon as the Murcia government announced the latest lockdown restrictions, banning people from travelling between municipalities other than for specific purposes, and with most activities in the resort as a whole having been suspended only a dozen or so of the 420 staff are still working, mostly on maintenance.

When Spain’s first lockdown was announced in mid-March the entire workforce was placed on an “ERTE” furlough scheme, and although in June 120 of them were taken on again to ensure that La Manga Club was functional during the summer they have now re-joined their colleagues on furlough leave.

Needless to say many of the businesses in the nearby village of Los Belones, on the shore of the Mar Menor, as well as La Manga itself and Cabo de Palos, have been similarly affected: numerous guests at La Manga Club enjoy exploring the area to shop and eat out during their stays at what over the last 50 years has become one of the most prestigious golf and sports resort complexes in Europe, and their absence is being keenly felt.