The Club Bena Vista & Los Claveles Precis Minutes are now available

To read or download your copy – Please go to the Owners Log–In section

Owners will be aware that for those with an Escritura it is necessary to obtain an NIE Number for their villa(s) in Tenerife & Lanzarote and since it is a simple procedure to apply direct to a Spanish Consular General Office in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, I thought it would be of interest to relate my experience for the benefit of other owners who may be contemplating applying for an NIE Number.

My villa at Las Rosas is owned jointly with my wife and on 16th October last we visited the Consular General´s office at 20m Draycott Place, London SW3 2RZ, just a few minutes walk from Sloane Square Tube Station, where we met a Consular Officer – a lady, who was very courteous and helpful.

YOU MUST APPEAR IN PERSON AND TAKE WITH YOU:-

A) Form EX-14 IN DUPLICATE – two for each owner, this form may be downloaded from the Spanish Consulate´s website www.conspalon.org or alternatively obtained from WimPen´s Admin Office in Tenerife, and since this form is printed in Spanish and MUST be completed in Spanish online, PDF or on a typewriter, NOT HANDWRITTEN, I decided to contact WimPen whose Admin staff were very helpful and in addition to copies of the Spanish Form will also send you an English version as a guide, which will undoubtedly help facilitate your completion of the form.
Complete the Spanish form in front of the Spanish Consular Officer, who will then stamp the form and hand one copy of the form back to each owner. The retained copy will be forwarded to Madrid and in 1 – 3 months time the NIE Number will be forwarded to WimPen in Tenerife for personal collection in due course.

B) YOUR VALID PASSPORT and a photocopy of the page in your passport containing your personal details, but make sure you also copy the blank page opposite your personal details which will also be stamped and retained by the Consular Officer.

I am pleased to say that this service was provided completely free of charge. No passport size photographs were required, I did take my Escritura with me.

We arrived at the office at 10.50am and left at 11.00am – an excellent and efficient service, and we will collect the NIE certificates from WimPen when we next visit Las Rosas in August.

As indicated, the procedure is very simple and if any Las Rosas owner(s) would like to discuss the matter my email address is nallen772@btinternet.com

Nevilla Allen – Villa 50 – Weeks 35 & 36.

Now the dust has settled a little , we have been pleased to hear from many of you and thought we´d share some of the emails received:

“After travelling for 3 days – arrived home exhausted! Met some terrific helpful people on the journey, Saw a lot of Spanish & French countryside.
Thanks to everyone in the office, particularly those that helped with the “bodywork repair” to our hire car with a sink plunger!!
See you next year.”
Mr & Mrs Cox – Owner Las Rosas

“Josi at WimPen Sueno Azul was marvelous, she tried and succeeded in helping everyone. I thought the price charged for the additional week was fair, no attempt was made on your part to profit from the situation – took all the stress away for me and my grandchildren. Thankyou”
Mr & Mrs Barrett – Owner El Marques

“Thank you for all you help at a difficult time. This experience has not put us off our visits to Las Rosas we will be back” – Many thanks to all the staff
Mr & Mrs Howe – Owner Las Rosas

“We cannot express our gratitude enough as to how helpful & kind everyone was in such difficult circumstances. I would recommend Las Brisas to everyone as at no point was anyone trying to make a “fast buck”, like many others around the world.”
Sara Denton – Las Brisas

Dear Owners,

We are pleased to hear that many of you have now reached home safely.

Below are details of two web sites that you may wish to visit offering information on claims and entitlement

http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/protecting_your_travel_arrangements

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/travel/article.html?in_article_id=503227&in_page_id=1093

Make a date in your diary, underline it in pink, Sunday 13 December is the annual Tenerife Walk For Life to support breast cancer. The Spanish and British communities will come together in Playa de Las Americas to walk from Mediterranean Palace to Sal Y Tien, a mere 3.5 kms, starting at 11am.

Why should you be there? Cancer affects everyone, and devastates families, it is no respecter of age, sex or general health, but it can be beaten, and with increased support, the recovery rate will improve even more. Last year around 2,000 people turned out to support the Walk For Life, and some 20,000 euros were raised. The money this year will be split between Spanish cancer charity AECC and Tenerife breast cancer charity Amate.

Coaches will be bringing walkers down from the north, and stages at each end of the walk will present music and commentary in English and Spanish. The dress code for the morning is wear something pink, you might look out of place if you don’t! For more information try the website or call 600821100, you can also register your support at Facebook. This might be the most important walk you ever make.

The Canary Islands government launched their latest tourist campaign in London at the World Travel Market at Canary Wharf’s ExCel Centre, and they grabbed a lot of attention. The showpiece event for the travel industry ran from November 9 to 12 and the Canary Islands were promoted as a whole from a huge 823 square metre stand that cost 430,000 euros.

There were 4 interactive themes to the display, Volcanic Experience, Wellness Delight, Family Welcome and Water Sports Experience. They must have made a good impression, because the organisers voted the stand the best at the show. It wasn’t just inside the hall that the Canary Islands were turning heads, several London taxis were covered in promotional pictures, and Herons Quay Bridge, an important landmark in Canary Wharf, displayed a 50 metre billboard.

There is a further boost to come next year when the British Travel Writers Association will hold their annual AGM in Tenerife during  January. Around 100 influential journalists will attend, as they help to shape the trends for future holidays.

Mainland Spain and the Canary Islands have a big number of regular visitors, some who squeeze in as many holidays as they can, and some who have invested in a holiday home, where they spend part of the year. A Spanish pay as you go mobile phone is ideal for cheap calls when at their holiday home, but a new law may result in you losing that number.

As of November 9th 2009, the Data Retention Act requires that telephone operators register personal details of their pay as you go customers. That mobile that is slumbering in a cupboard in the UK may have already received a text to advise of this change, but will you read it in time.

Thankfully it is possible to get someone to register your mobile SIM card on your behalf in Spain. They will need your details and a copy of the inside back cover of your passport, it’s a FREE service from any Spanish shop that deals with your provider. The clock is ticking, so dig out that phone and if you are not returning to Spain in time to register the SIM yourself, get a friend to on your behalf.

A relatively small island, but bursting with major sporting events, that’s Tenerife, and september has a bumper bundle to offer visitors and long term residents. It starts with the Vuelta Ciclista, a cycle race that starts on the island of La Gomera, before taking in a wipe sweep of Tenerife. That is soon chased by the 2 day Adeje car rally, and the month closes with the Tenerife Ladies Open golf tournament in Costa Adeje.

The Vuelta Ciclista starts on September 2 in La Gomera, before winding through Tenerife to end in La Laguna on the 6th. On September 4th, the days stage will end up in Los Cristianos, a great chance for the good people of Los Claveles to enjoy some of the fun and celebrations.

The Adeje Rally zooms into action on September 11 and 12, and although it visits the neighbouring areas, Adeje will see the best of it. The action is more sedate from September 24, when the worlds best lady golfers descend on Golf Costa Adeje to compete over 4 days in front of the television cameras. Los Claveles is a short trip away, but this time Sueño Azul in Callao Salvaje is in a prime position to pop down and enjoy some top sporting action.

If that all leaves you hungry for more, don’t worry, Tenerife has plenty of action to keep everyone thrilled and entertained.

The Government of the Canaries, together with the Tenerife Tourist Board, hotel association ASHOTEL and the authorities of Adeje and Arona, have set up a committee to fight against the fraudulent activities of Discount Travel Membership Clubs (DTMCs) on the island.

This initiative is a direct result of the conference on the threats posed to tourism resorts by DTMCs organised in May, in which RDO’s Head of Enforcement, Alberto Garcia, called for their eradication. Both RDO and the European Consumer Centre will take an active part in the new committee.

The number of DTMC sales decks in Tenerife has decreased drastically over the past year, thanks to the co-operation of the local authorities, the police and the Enforcement Programme.

DTMCs demand high amounts of money from their clients in return for the promise of huge discounts on future holidays, which often don’t materialise. This kind of fraudulent practice can seriously damage the image of tourist destinations like Tenerife, something the new committee aims to address.

Looks like it’s going to be a hot winter in Lanzarote and Tenerife, and thanks to 39 new Canary Island routes from Ryanair, tourism will be boosted and holiday home owners will find it easier to pop back and forth from the UK and other key parts of Europe.

The winter flights start from October and will be reviewed in March 2010. The new routes split into 8 for Tenerife and 15 for Lanzarote, the Tenerife airports are Barcelona (Girona), Bournemouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Brussels, London – Luton, Madrid and Oporto. For Lanzarote you can add to those, Dublin, Dusseldorf, East Midlands, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Liverpool, London – Stanstead, Madrid and Shannon, but not including Oporto.

The   Ryanair move has been enabled by the AENA, the Spanish airport authority, scrapping airport charges for Spain. It will help to cement the Canary Islands reputation as the place to go for guaranteed winter sunshine.