Hotel wise Benidorm is certainly raising its profile. Next year the hotel Villa Venecia, located in the Old Town is to be included in the 2014 Michelin Guide - something that will hopefully attract a new breed of clientele to the resort. The Town Hall are certainly trying to attract the Russian market and next year there are more flights coming in from Moscow and St Petersburgh. You will also notice many restaurants have menus in Russian in addition to English and Dutch.

Beautiful interior of the Venecia

It is one of the only two 5 star hotels here - the other is the Barcelo Asia Gardens, located on the back road near the Terra Mitica theme park. It was the hotel of choice for Joan Collins when she was filming for the Benidorm series in the summer! Security is certainly very tight and only hotel guests are allowed in.

But for the millions of holiday makers that flock to Benidorm year after year, the Servigroup chain rates highly - at the beginning of the month the Venus Hotel was awarded with a certificate of excellence by Jet2 Holidays for customer satisfaction for 2012. It is certainly a very popular choice and ideally located in the centre - close to both the nightlife and weekly market.

However, many hotels have closed up for the winter season, as they do every year and will re-open in the Spring just before Easter. The hoteliers in Benidorm were trying to put pressure on the council to petition the Government to reduce the IVA rate to 4% over the low season, which they said would enable some of them to keeps their doors open during this period. This would in turn benefit everyone and keep many local people in work too - obviously this will not happen this year but perhaps something worth pursuing for next year and beyond.