Tourists and hotel staff were ejected from Tavira’s prestigious 4-star Porta Nova hotel on Thursday morning as Novo Banco sent in a team of legal representatives to seize and close down the property due to a failed leasing agreement.
Hotel staff were unaware of the situation that management has been battling with as the bank, which has a sale and leaseback agreement with the hotel company, pounced and took control in the most undignified manner possible.
The normal process would be for the bank to go to court and if successfully argued, the bank would duly be provided with a possession order and, if needed, a police escort. Lawyers and private security guards turning up and changing the locks is irregular, if not illegal.
Guests apparently had been told on Wednesday that they had to leave but with hotel management unable to find places for all of them in two sister hotels in the Albufeira area, many have been left having to make expensive alternative arrangements.
The staff had been told little and found themselves on the street without jobs this morning as TV crews arrived.
Staff "did not know what happened nor were they given any justification for the closure," according to one displaced worker.
A burly security team was installed at the hotel’s front entrance with one commenting that "customers were informed of the situation on Wednesday night and the deadline is today.”
Those phoning the hotel for essential information were diverted to a hotel in Albufeira with reception staff failing to answer basic questions.
Another worker said that staff "have never had problems with the payment of wages, which are all up to date and already in our accounts for Setember so we were caught by surprise with this closure.”
The union coordinator Tiago Jacinto said he is aware of the situation but has yet to receive complaints from workers. In the meantime he is trying to find what is going on.
The Resident’s Natasha Donn found out exactly what is going on and managed to contact one of the hotel company's owners Eng. Manuel Simões who accused Novo Banco of stealing his hotel and treating his guests “worse than pigs.”
Legal representatives from Novo Banco walked into the hotel this morning and closed it, leaving 140 guests in bewilderment as to where to finish their holidays.
The Resident reports: “Novo Banco, the former Banco Espírito Santo, has shown Portugal and the rest of the world an image of “porcaria” (filth). A bank of bad faith. A bank that has already stolen from small investors, emigrants and now this.
“But this isn’t the worst of it,” Simões continued. “The worst is that Novo Banco has now put another 48 people - that’s 48 families all told - out of work.
“I have spoken to all the workers. None of us had seen this coming. We will do our best to integrate people into other hotels we have, but we cannot possibly offer everyone work.
Simões’ bewilderment was palpable. He told us the seizure of Porta Nova on Wednesday followed two leasing agreements that his company had entered into.
“It was a leasing to pay financing that had already been made. We were paying a kind of rent,” he explained.
“We are civilised people,” he added. “I am not a violent man. We just have to hope that Portuguese justice will do the right thing.”
Simões’ lawyers are now presenting a case against Novo Banco, he told us, saying we were at total liberty to call him in the next few days to hear what if anything has changed.
With thanks to The Resident
See also:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/6845-owners-of-siezed-tavira-hotel-to-take-novo-banco-to-court
