Hoteliers to Theocharis: Quarantine hotels are not hospitals

A letter to the Minister of Tourism, Haris Theocharis, was sent by the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation (PHF), in which it refers to the lack of available rooms in quarantine hotels and asks tourists who are positive for the virus to be isolated in the places they have rented.

On the occasion of the recent reports of hoteliers for shortages of available rooms in quarantine hotels, PHF sent a letter to Mr. Theocharis noting that the shortages are due to the fact that “during the relevant design the required number of rooms was calculated based on the total number of beds. in tourist accommodations.” The letter emphasizes that the largest percentage of quarantine rooms “is practically used by tourists who lived in apartments, villas, etc. without a license, rented in the form of short-term rent”.

“Quarantine hotels are not hospitals, nor do their owners have any intention of turning them into such. They were found with great effort, in order to be used to serve tourists who are diagnosed positive for Covid-19, do not need hospitalization and can not be isolated in the tourist accommodation where they were staying,” PHF emphasizes.

Following the letter, the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers points out that the legally licensed tourist accommodation has the right to have isolation rooms for their customers who are positive for Covid-19 (for this reason, when they contact the competent services, their advice is continue to host their isolated customers), however not all of them have the ability to support this service, given that the proper observance of the isolation process in a place with so many residents is not an easy case.

Referring to the tourists, the hoteliers report that, “tourists who have chosen to stay in short-term accommodation and are positive in Covid-19 of course can and should be isolated in the space they have rented and there is absolutely no reason to charge quarantine hotels.

This also applies to all Greek citizens, who go through quarantine, in case they get sick from Covid-19, in their privately owned or leased (as in this case) residence.

We therefore suggest that tourists staying in unlicensed accommodation rented in the form of a short-term rental and being positive for Covid-19, inform EODY (National Public Health Authority) and / or the General Secretariat of Civil Protection about their place of residence and to pass the obligatory quarantine there “.