Live from Brussels – Issue n°102

Mar 31, 2021

A message from Ms. Marie Audren, Director General of HOTREC

Dear reader,

It’s been over one year since the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed our lives, reshaping our habits and putting the European hospitality sector and its value chain under unprecedented pressure. Twelve months and yet most hospitality establishments all over Europe are still closed in a collective effort to fight the virus.

We have worked hard with our membership and EU policymakers to ensure a seamless exchange of information, best practices and a fast response to the crisis. We joined forces with other industry partners calling for measures and initiatives to help the industry, and we are still urging for increased coordination of travel restrictions at the EU level, accessible funding and more predictability for businesses.

Now it’s time to bring our commitment a step further in making the voice of European hospitality heard. Today is a special day for HOTREC, as we proudly present you our campaign: #TogetherForHospitality.

It is impossible not to feel a sense of loss reflecting on all that we are missing without hospitality. Not only from an economic perspective but also at a personal level: the feeling of community when sharing a meal, the life-changing experience of travel, of visiting new places and meeting old and new friends. The road to recovery will be long and challenging, but if we stand together we can persevere and go back to our favourite hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes.

We want to support the industry at the most critical time to help millions of businesses, SMEs, owners, staff, managers and chefs.

We want to help hospitality thrive because it’s a central pillar in the European economy, culture and society.

We want to protect the sector because helping the industry recover and secure a better future isn’t just crucial for the economy. It’s also the only way to protect our way of life. A better future for hospitality is a better future for all!

Help us bring hope to the industry. Commit to hospitality. Join our campaign.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Interview

Interview with Kęstutis Sadauskas, Director Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth at the European Commission (DG ENV)

Competition

State Aid temporary Framework extended!

Data protection

E-privacy Regulation: Council reaches mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament

Digital

Live from the network

Joining forces with industry partners to fight devastating effects of COVID-19

Social Affairs

Statistics

Hospitality statistics in Q4 2020 show huge impact of Covid-19 “second wave”

Taxation

EU Member States adopt new taxation rules to tackle lost fiscal revenues of sales generated through digital platforms

Tourism

Interview

Interview with Kęstutis Sadauskas, Director Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth at the European Commission (DG ENV)

Mr. Kęstutis Sadauskas is a Lithuanian national. He holds Master degrees from Vilnius University in Political Science/International Relations and Geography. From 1993 until 2006 he worked at the Lithuanian Foreign Service on multilateral issues. In September 2006, Kęstutis Sadauskas was appointed Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Vilnius. From April 2010 until October 2014 he was Head of the Cabinet of Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta responsible for Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud, Audit, and Statistics. Since November 2014, Kęstutis Sadauskas has been the Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth at the DG Environment of the European Commission.

Competition

State Aid temporary Framework extended!

On 28 January 2021, the European Commission announced the following changes with regard to the State aid Temporary Framework.

Data protection

E-privacy Regulation: Council reaches mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament

On 10 February 2021, Member States agreed on a negotiating mandate for the revised ‘ e-Privacy ‘Directive. The rules define cases in which service providers are allowed to process electronic communications data or have access to data stored on end-user's devices. HOTREC supports the Council’s mandate.

Digital

European Platform Observatory clearly identifies how OTAs exercise their market dominance

HOTREC notably welcomes the conclusions of the Analytical paper: “Multi-homing: obstacles, opportunities, facilitating factors”. It extensively covers how and why, despite the fact that hotels can ‘multi-home’ on several OTA platforms, the benefits of such multihoming are limited for hotels, exposing the many ways in which OTAs exert their market power over hoteliers, including imposing price parity clauses and only sharing limited data with hotels about guests.

HOTREC underlines negative effects of narrow price parity clauses in reply to consultation on Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER)

The European Commission opened a public consultation on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) at the end of 2020, as the current set of rules will expire in May 2022 and will need to be revised. Hoteliers see the revision of the VBER as a major opportunity to request end to narrow price parity clauses imposed by OTAs such as Booking.com and Expedia on hoteliers.

Live from the network

Joining forces with industry partners to fight devastating effects of COVID-19

Twelve months after the first hospitality establishments were forced to close or drastically reduce their activities due to COVID-19, businesses in the sector are still facing severe hardships. With so much uncertainty ahead, the beginning of 2021 was a crucial time for HOTREC to join forces with its industry partners.

Social Affairs

Pay Transparency: a Directive is on the way

On 4 March 2021, the European Commission launched its proposal for a Directive on Pay transparency (COM(2021)93with the aim of ensuring that women and men in the EU get equal pay for equal work.

Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights is out

On 4 March 2021, the Commission launched the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan outlining concrete actions to further implement the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Statistics

Hospitality statistics in Q4 2020 show huge impact of Covid-19 “second wave”

Recent statistics published by Eurostat for turnover for accommodation and food service activities in Q4 2020 show the drastic impact of COVID-19 induced measures restricting tourism and the opening of hospitality establishments.

Taxation

EU Member States adopt new taxation rules to tackle lost fiscal revenues of sales generated through digital platforms

On 22 March, the Council adopted amendments to the directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation in order to address Member States’ loss tax revenue through digital platforms selling goods or providing service and the unfair advantage this creates traditional businesses.

Tourism

EU strategy for sustainable tourism: European Parliament calls for reduced VAT and stimulus package for tourism SMEs

MEPs have called on the European Commission “to encourage Member States to temporarily set reduced VAT rates on travel and tourism services, accompanied by a special stimulus package for all micro enterprises and SMEs for the 2020-2024 period, in order to minimise the number of bankruptcies and preserve jobs and workers’ rights in the European tourism industry, while utilising investments to foster the transition towards a more digital and sustainable tourism ecosystem” in a Parliamentary Resolution adopted on 25 March.

European Commission proposes Digital Green Certificate

On 17 March 2021, the European Commission presented its proposal to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate the safe free movement of citizens within the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021/0068 (COD). The text needs to be approved both by the European Parliament and the Council.