Benidorm's tourism sector fears a new scare from the Government in full recovery after the coronavirus crisis, which hoteliers have ironically dubbed Pedro Sánchez's "Big Fiscal Brother", by applying new surveillance supported by new technologies for inspections Finance and labor.

«There is a good part, with a little more control in everything, because there is a lot of intrusion, and we all put the sector in the same bag as a few who do not pay taxes, do not pay workers well, make part-time contracts when it is complete, they represent unfair competition, the laws must be complied with and there must be no underground economy”, clarifies the spokesman for the regional association of Abreca restaurants, Alex Fratini.

In this guild, they are clear that if everyone complies with their legal obligations "everyone will be able to live better" and ensures that "the vast majority do pay."

However, they are aware of the novelties that have begun to be applied in the Basque Country, where they have already "focused" on the sector with greater rigor. «With so much control, so much Artificial Intelligence, it has to be done well, because in some cases the algorithms make an estimate and fine you when, in reality, they are defrauding you: for example, you have bought 2,000 cones, they have sold 1,600 and you have another 200 left, where are the others?” Because these automated systems do not take into account that some of these items are broken, others are placed in the decoration of the establishment, there is the staff's own consumption... «There are details that must be ironed out before labeling the hotelier as a fraudster», Fratin points out.

The regulations that support this new surveillance from the Administration derive from several aspects, there are controls derived from the labor reform, on overtime and part-time contracts, an algorithm processes the billing data and calculates how many people the establishment needs to work. This is an estimate, but "Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, is a technology that is not fully adjusted yet, although in the future it will be the order of the day," according to Abreca's spokesman.

The first notice - for which they have coined that term of "Tax Big Brother" in radio talk shows - was given by the Treasury in the Point of Sale Terminals with "a much deeper control in the printers of the POS, not only of the quantity that is sold, but also of the products that are being served, in real time, not only at the end of the day, but there are complications, because if an establishment indicates 'Coca-Cola' and another 'soft drink', for example , the data does not agree, it is not generalized for everyone ».

The POS companies have had to adapt, and the hoteliers have had to update these devices all six months ago because the authorities were pursuing the so-called double accounting fraud.

There are not many large companies in this sector, and they are not as computerized. "With digitization it would be faster, but the aid from the Digital Kit program, with European funds, is going very slowly," explains Fratini. At the moment, establishments with more than ten employees, who benefit from 12,000 euros, have approved this concession, but they cannot apply it yet, and for the smallest ones, it has not yet been processed. This financing is paid directly to the companies that provide this technology, to digitize the POS, use the Internet, new software (not hardware), CRM and other digital tools. "And now, in the middle of the summer season, it's impossible to embark on these changes," he says. Abreca offers support to its partners to manage these funds.

Fratini knows the reality of other places, in Nice (France), where there are already more digitized controls that give rise to inspections and these conflicts arise due to details such as the consumption made by the staff of the establishment -simply the water or soft drinks they drink in working time-, which must be indicated so that the real figures of the cash that is made, of the volume of business, are not distorted. And sometimes it is small family businesses run by older people who do not pay attention to this data.

"In addition, there are many interests behind not implementing payment only by cards, although since the pandemic it has tripled, but there are also consumers who are reluctant: the State knows where I have set foot every second," stresses Fratini.

However, in Abreca they are because it is universalized as the best mechanism to tackle the shadow economy, and they have achieved cheaper commissions, so they no longer ask for a minimum to pay by card, and people "are getting used to it."