Holidays on the State

The food tasted horrid. It may really have been horrid but I think it was probably right enough given that it was mass catering. My recentish bouts of radio and chemotherapy have mashed up my taste buds and almost everything tastes odd. In fact until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't tried eating, by putting anything in my mouth, for a bit over three months but, when the oncologist said there was no sign of cancer, it seemed about time to stop messing around and get back to normal. I'm still taking most of my sustenance through a stomach tube though. Whether the food was foul or not it came as part of the package and so, come hell or high water, I was definitely going to force some of it down my gullet. Anyway I'd also promised the nutritionist I'd try. 

Mealtimes, not eating much, I had the opportunity to look around at my fellow travellers. I felt for the few young people who had, mistakenly, booked into the hotel. It was full of holidaying pensioners. Most of us were overweight and a bit doddery. Many of us were rude or at least a bit selfish and unthinking. I'd watch as someone stopped to chat blocking up the narrow aisles between the tables, I'd watch as someone hogged the coffee machine to make just the right mix of coffee and hot milk in blissful ignorance of the ever extending queue behind them. The coffee had, after all to be just right, the wife had been sent for the coffee, the husband expected it just so and the little woman knew her place (presumably at some subservient time during the last century). At least we were the walking wounded, the ones who are still upright. Ah, the delights of old age.

We've just done one of the IMSERSO (Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales) holidays. Eight days away in a hotel in Roquetas del Mar on the Almeria coast for 228.93€ per person. That includes the coach from Alicante to Roquetas, full board and travel insurance including private health cover. The hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Bahia Serena - one of those enormous four star coastal hotels with pools and gyms and entertainment. The photo is of the interior patio of the hotel. 

The Imserso holidays are, essentially, subsidised holidays for pensioners resident in Spain who are enrolled in the Social Security System - there are other groups of people who are eligible too. If you qualify, but your partner doesn't, because they are too young for the scheme, they can also go along. I thought that to be eligible you had to have a Spanish State Pension but English speakers on the same bus as us to Roquetas assured me that wasn't the case. The people we talked to had registered through a travel agent and then used the same travel agent to book them the holidays. Each year there is a period to register and later there is a period to book the holidays. For this season I think that people can register on the scheme through till May (registration opened in November) but the periods seem to change so it's worth checking the Imserso website for up to date information. There is also information there about who qualifies with a points system based on age, income, levels of ability and the like. If you register now it is unlikely that you will be able to book a holiday this season but your eligibility will roll over into the 2025/2026 season.

There are lots of destinations to choose from divided into three categories - coastal holidays, island holidays and short breaks. In our first year of registration we were not able to book the island holidays. I had to wait till the second year. I'm not sure if that's because I didn't have enough points or if it's a general rule for all participants. The main group, the coastal holidays, are along the Mediterranean coast from Cataluña down through Valencia, Murcia and onto Andalucia. There is always a scramble to book up as the new season opens in Autumn. I booked us up online and didn't worry too much about the race to get to the islands. Once we'd found a place that looked OK we considered the job done. There are plenty of people who are hardened Imsersoers. When the booking period opens they hover by their computers with their options well researched. They target what they consider the best deals in the best hotels in the best locations and book multiple holidays. The next time you need Taylor Swift tickets they may be available as subcontractors!

The principal idea behind the scheme is that it helps to maintain the wellbeing of older people who get to relax, to see a bit of Spain and to decrease their potential isolation by mixing with other pensioners in the participating hotels. Philosophy aside it's also a scheme that supports the tourist industry by offering a steady flow of clients in the low season. I think how it works is that the Government guarantees a certain price, for their services, to the airlines, coach firms, hotels etc. Whether the providers sign up or not is a choice for them and their accountants. If, for instance, a hotel decides that there is enough money in the offer they can keep open without having to temporarily lay off staff. 

This was our second Imserso holiday. Last year we went to Cataluña in May when the resort was back in business for the summer but this time, with going in January, the part of Roquetas where the hotel is was, more or less, closed down for the winter and it was a bit desolate. 

I don't remember it as being a particularly difficult process to sign up though going through a travel agent sounds as if it would have been easier. I suppose that, like the hotels, certain travel agents deal with Imserso holidays and others don't. To be honest, I've forgotten a lot of the detail about exactly how I signed up and applied the first time. Nonetheless, like all bureaucratic processes, I'm sure there are slight changes from year to year. That being the case don't take my word for any of this and have a look at the Imserso website if you want to know the truth.

IMSERSO

I'm not sure why but I have trouble remembering the word IMSERSO - it doesn't flow off the tongue somehow. The word is a name, it's the initials, plus some vowels, of the Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales or The Institute for the Elderly and Social Services. It's a Spanish Government Agency that manages the extras behind the headline services of the Seguridad Social or Social Security System, namely free healthcare, disability care, unemployment payments and retirement pensions. Mention IMSERSO to a Spaniard and they will instantly think cheap holidays for old people.

The idea is simple enough. IMSERSO negotiates rates with the tourist industry and then offers low-price package holidays to pensioners living in Spain. It has the twin advantages of keeping us oldies more active and less isolated while providing low-season business for the tourist industry. Our eight days in Cambrils in Cataluña, with coach travel from Alicante to Cambrils and back and with full board in the four-star hotel cost 228.93€ per person. 

Each year, sometime early in June, IMSERSO tells the press its schedule for the year; how many places there will be and when the successful applicants will be able to start booking their holidays. In order to have a chance of getting one of the spots on the programme, you have to be a resident in Spain and then to fulfill one or more of a series of conditions. Typically that means you're over 65 and in receipt of a Spanish State Pension. There are other things that make you eligible like being over 55 and having a widow's/widower's pension or being over 60 and in receipt of other state benefits. There are other groups that also fit the criteria like returning emigrants. To know whether you're eligible, you'd need to check the website or even apply and see whether they accept you or not. Oh, and partners get to go with successful applicants even if the partners don't meet the criteria - space for Trophy Wives and Toy Boys and whatever the non binary equivalents are.

The holidays are, obviously enough, only in Spain and not everyone can book up all of types of destination when they first apply. Most people get access to the 8 or 10-day stays on the coast in Andalucía, Murcia, Valencia, and Cataluña and there are also 4, 5, and 6-day holidays grouped together as cultural circuits, rural tourism, trips to Provincial Capitals and to the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. There are also 8 and 10-day holidays in the Balearic or Canary Islands and those are the ones that are initially limited. It's possible to book up multiple holidays with IMSERSO provided that you meet the criteria and that there is availability.

What you get is full board in a double room (there's a single room supplement) in hotels selected by IMSERSO. In Provincial capitals, it's half board and, for most holidays, the package includes transport there and back, even if that's a plane or boat. Travel and medical insurance is included in the package.

The prices are standard for each type of holiday so ours of 228€ was the coach, full board and insurance trip to the coast. If we'd gone to the Balearics it would have been 267€ and to the Canaries 355€ while a four-day city break would be 124€.

You can apply online if you have a digital signature, or you can download the form and fill it in with a biro and either take it to specific offices or send it by post. Once you've made your application someone at IMSERSO determines whether you're eligible or not and where you are in the pecking order. You'll get told in October by email or letter and you'll be given a time from when you can start booking. There's a system of grading that gives you preferential status, or not, and which includes a bias for where you live - people living in some areas get preference over others and, as I said above, not everyone gets the right to all the destinations right from the get go.

I understand that in some cases the old hands are sitting at their computers waiting for their time to click over so they can go for what they consider to be the best hotel in the best location on the best dates. It's a bit like the scramble to book Taylor Swift or Beyoncé tickets. Unlike buying concert tickets for those who have trouble with pesky computers lots of travel agents will do the work for anyone who has the letter telling them they can book places on the scheme. A couple of weeks after the start date for bookings the holidays that haven't been sold are thrown open to anyone.

As in all my blogs of this sort don't take what I say as gospel. The devil is always in the detail and what I write is pretty much broad stroke. If the IMSERSO website says one thing and I say something different then, obviously, IMSERSO is right!