GUTTED: Catherine Mcdonald

AN EXPAT pensioner is being ‘thrown out’ of the hotel she has lived in for 13 years.

 

Irishwoman Catherine McDonald, who is almost 80, must leave Hotel Monarque Fuengirola Park by the end of this month or pay a further €2800 for the summer.

 

Irish-born McDonald, 79, well known in the community for her unassuming nature, is already paying €1,100 for the basic room.

 

She has spent over €150,000 on the simply-decorated room since moving in in 2004.
This week, friend Lynda Martin told the Olive Press that she is ‘very stressed and fragile’ at the prospect of leaving the hotel.

 

“She is desperate and distraught and is worried the only other option she has is to return to Ireland, a country she left in 2004,” explained expat Martin.

 

 

Hotel Fuengirola Park

The demand came when hotel bosses allegedly decided to turn her room into a family room over the busy summer season to make more money.

 

They have allegedly told her she can return in winter when demand decreases.

 

“She has paid the price of a decent sized flat to live in this room all these years and this is how they treat her,” continued Martin.

 

“She is really upset that all of the money she has put in for more than a decade doesn’t count for anything.”

 

When McDonald moved to the Costa del Sol, her brother, now deceased, set up a trust fund for her and set her up in the hotel.

 

She was dependent on her brother before his death, explained Martin, from Los Boliches.
“She doesn’t know how it works, all she knows is that the money gets paid to the hotel each month.

 

“This is no way to treat a lovely, kind lady,” continued Martin. “She doesn’t even ask them for a heater in the winter. She said ‘oh no, I wouldn’t want to demand that of them.’

 

“I just think it’s a terrible thing to do to someone who has made her home there.”

 

Federico López, Director Regional of the Hotel Monarque Fuengirola Park told the Olive Press: “Last Winter our company (Monarque Hoteles), decided to limit the long stay in our six hotels to 6 months per year, that change was caused not only by comercial reasons, the main issue was the special legal situation of these clients in the hotels.

“These situation was explained to the guests, last Winter and we agree with them a date term, according to the personal situation of each one.

“We keep the door open, and any of them have already booked new stays next year, always with that limit: 6 months per year.

 

“As is easy to understand, we have a very special relationship with that clients, being many of them as our “familia”, after many years living among us.”

 

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Ridiculous. They run a hotel, not a rest home. She has paid lots and has had the services associated with that payment. The hotel has given ample notice of the change and still people want to make them the bad guys. There is too much assumption of entitlement nowadays

    • Is PMR82 employed by the hotel? The lady has probably paid at least 100,000 euros in the past 12 years, bringing a steady source of income over that period, valuable during the quiet time of the year, with few clients.
      To say that the lady has been given ‘ample notice’ is nonsense. Does PMR82 (intelligence level?) know where this lady can go or how that can be achieved?
      The hotel should rescind the eviction order and reassure the lady of her year-round residence. Release the news publicly and the hotel will benefit from the publicity.

  2. Oh dear Anthony, personal insult rather than intelligent analysis?
    If you read the story properly it does already state that she has spent 150,000 euros since 2004 (13 years), so your guestimates of value and time were not only incorrect but unnecessary. The story also states that management discussed the changes with each affected individual “last winter”, that seems a perfectly reasonable timescale for other arrangements to be made.
    As to where she can go, or how, why is that my problem to suggest a solution, anymore than it is the hotel management’s? Perhaps you would care to offer her a room?

  3. As someone who currently contributes towards the £60,000 per year cost of having two elderly dementia suffering relatives in specialist uk care, (incontinence, confusion, violent spells etc etc), I would love to have a hotel willing to take on this responsibility for an average 1100 euros per month! In essence this seems to be what Anthony wants the hotel management to commit to… Perhaps not currently but at some future point. It must be a wonderful world where you can simply say “somebody (else) should sort this out”

  4. Obviously if a trust fund is in place then a trustee is in place who could perhaps resolve the accomodation problem better than leaving her in a Fuengirola hotel . There are several good tercera edad homes in the costs del sol offering wonderful accommodation with support networks in place for the vunerable .
    If she doesnt know who is looking after her money then surely her best bet is to employ a respectable lawyer to find out .

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