1996–2000

A homeowners' association without money

For many years, a large proportion of the apartment owners had not paid their administration fees. Some had stopped coming, others were nowhere to be found. The result was that in the late 1990s, money was lacking for both buildings and furnishings, and many apartment periods stood empty while debt accumulated.

The idea of the right of use

In 1998, the board of Club Andalucia came up with an idea: What if Playa Tropical could offer interested parties the use of the empty, debt-burdened periods – until the original owner éventuellement turned up and paid their debt? That way, people would come to the apartments, and they would pay both the annual and daily fees.

The idea was presented to the then administrator, Manuel Fernández Rodríguez, and Playa Tropical's board adopted the scheme:

• For a deposit of 1,250 kr. for a 14-day period, one could obtain a right of use.
• A contract described the terms – including what happened if the rightful owner returned: Then one was offered another apartment as far as possible, or in the worst case, got one's deposit back.
• One was therefore a tenant of an apartment at Playa Tropical – not an owner.

In December 1999, the first right of use was transferred to one of the club's members. After that, things moved quickly: Within a couple of years, more than 300 rights of use for 14-day periods were established for club members alone – and Club Andalucia gained many new members.

Meanwhile in Spain

In February 1996, the Alpine Ski World Championships were held in Sierra Nevada – the mountains seen from Almuñécar on clear days. The championships were supposed to have been held the year before, but were postponed due to a lack of snow. On 1 January 1999, Spain adopted the euro as its accounting currency, but pesetas remained in pockets until 2002.

Do you have memories or pictures from 1996–2000? Then we would love to hear from you.