On July 14, 2014, the Hotel Santa María de El Paular , economic and labor engine of Rascafría, closed its doors. The emblematic establishment is located next to the Carthusian Royal Monastery of the same name, a building from the 14th century declared a Site of Cultural Interest with a monument category in 1876. Since the 1970s different hotel facilities have exploited its facilities, the last one being the Starwood chain , which managed it under the Sheraton brand. Five years after its closure and the auction of its furniture, paintings and other decorative objects, its former workers with the neighbors and mayors of the Lozoya Valley ask the Ministry of Culture, since then owner of the place, their conversion into a Parador National to revitalize these rural municipalities.
"We want to give life to the town and the hotel, former hunting palace of the Trastámara," says Juan Carlos Galán, a hotel worker for 42 years and retired just one year before its closure. «Scratch as such is losing neighbors. There is less and less employment and young people have to leave because they only have weekend work in restaurants and bars, ”continues this 68-year-old neighbor. «Logically, if the population drops there are services that are lost. That is why we ask that it become a hostel, ”he adds.
The truth is that the Lozoya Valley, or El Paular, languishes without this hotel , which employed more than 50 families, in addition to the permanent stationary contracted and indirect jobs. In total, 20% of the active population of Rascafría was affected by the closure, which are directly related to the population decline: according to the Madrid Community register, the municipality has lost more than 200 neighbors, passing from 1,893 in 2013 to 1,663 in 2018.
To recapitulate, when the Sheraton Hotel closed, the State assumed ownership and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports commissioned the management of use and exploitation to the public company Tragsa. At this time, attempts have been made to capture private interest to reopen the establishment, but there has been no success. Hence the insistence that the solution involves converting the monumental complex into a hostel. « Now, unfortunately, in the hotel car park are the sheep grazing . After five years closed it needs a large investment, I calculate that between eight and 10 million euros. No private company will invest that amount of money for a short-term usufruct. The State is the only one that can cope with this cost and the maintenance of the hotel with solvency, ”says Galán, who adds:“ Once opened, the hotel always made profits ”.
The mayor of Rascafría, the popular Santiago Marcos, offers another argument in favor of the conversion of the Santa María de El Paular Hotel into a National Parador. «97% of the territory of Rascafría belongs to the Guadarrama National Park or is an area of influence, so that all our activities are controlled or protected . Here it is unthinkable that we have a plastics factory or a cement factory, industries that we don't want, but that's why we have to develop activities such as tourism, ”he says.
On November 10, the Municipal Corporation of the City Council of Rascafría approved in plenary and unanimously a motion requesting Paradores to exploit the complex. Five months ago Galán picked up this petition on Change.org, getting more than 5,000 signatures. On Friday, August 2, and with the support, again, of all the local parties, the former hotel worker and Antonio Giménez, a lawyer who defended the employees during the closure, read a manifesto for the same purpose. «A National Parador located in a Property of Cultural Interest such as the Royal Monastery of Santa María de El Paular, efficiently managed and with the controls guaranteed by the Administration, would be an indisputable engine of the economy of the Valley , a focus of attraction for the Quality tourism that we need, willing to share with us our air, our light, our peace ... and the local initiatives of gastronomy, crafts, customs, parties, etc., which would be reinforced by their presence ”, reads the text.
The mayors of Rascafría, Alameda del Valle, Pinilla, Lozoya and Garganta de los Montes, the Commissioner for the rehabilitation of rural municipalities and the neighbors and friends of the Lozoya Valley and El Paular have signed this manifesto together with different personalities such as the mayor from Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida; Foreign Minister Josep Borrell; the first vice president of the Senate, Cristina Narbona; the painter Luis Feito, the former national soccer coach Vicente del Bosque or the journalist and writer Manuel Hidalgo.
By the way, speaking of revitalizing the rural municipalities of the region, the text also states: “Although we belong to the most dynamic Community of Spain, Madrid, we are in the Sierra Norte and the proximity to the capital, although it involves specific moments of high occupancy temporary, it is not a guarantee of sustainable development of our Valley ». In this sense, Santiago Marcos recalls: «We understand that we are small, remote populations, but from Madrid they should make the effort to cover the deficiencies we have», the main one being transport. «The bus, which stops in all villages, takes two and a half hours to go to Madrid», 100 kilometers away. "This happens here and throughout the Valley," he concludes.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more