In Antalya, the licenses of some hotels have started to be suspended because they do not have fire-resistant doors during inspections by fire brigade teams. Small hoteliers and boarding house owners in Antalya gathered in front of the governor's office and requested additional time due to supply and installation problems for door replacement.

According to Article 50 of the Fire Regulations, the licenses of some hotels have started to be suspended during inspections to ensure that the entrance doors, corridor doors and shaft doors of hotels, motels, boarding houses and guesthouses are fire resistant. In the city with the most hotels in Turkey, inspections were first started from small hotels. Hoteliers, who also want 4-5 star hotels to be inspected, requested additional time for fire-resistant door replacement at the information meeting of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department teams. After the tense meeting, the hoteliers first gathered in front of the governor's office. After making a statement here, the small hoteliers gathered in front of the Muratpaşa District Governorate.

LICENSES ARE BEING SUSPENDED

In the statement made on behalf of the Antalya Tourist Hoteliers and Boarding House Owners Association (AKTOB), it was stated that the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department started inspections from simple accommodation establishments with the decision taken by the governor's office and the provincial tourism directorate in the city. The statement said, “Control teams check businesses with the list they received from the provincial directorate, and after identifying the deficiencies, the relevant letter is sent to the governor's office, district governor's office and finally the district municipalities. As a result of this letter, the licenses of many hotels have been suspended. The implementation of the regulation, which has been going on for years, has been changed, and additional measures have been requested in addition to the measures we have already taken. It is almost impossible to complete the additional measures, which we were not previously aware of, in a very short time after the control. A certain period of time for the completion of additional measures was not specified in the letters we received."

LARGE HOTELS WERE NOT INSPECTED

In the statement, which stated that the risk that may occur in small businesses is much lower compared to star hotels, it was stated, “Hotels with high risk levels have not been inspected yet and time has been saved. We have reports from the fire department of the facilities we operate with our licenses obtained from official institutions. All the measures and practices requested from us during the report were taken, and the 'approval' report we received during the license was sent to the district municipalities and the provincial tourism directorate. Inspections were started from small businesses, and deficiencies were identified by the fire brigade in the records to the businesses. Some of the equipment mentioned as deficiencies are produced by certain companies in our country or supplied from abroad," it was stated.

'GIVING 6 MONTHS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT REQUEST'

In the statement, which emphasized that especially the change of room doors requires serious construction and renovation, it was stated that there are not enough technical personnel to do this job in Antalya. It was stated that even if the delivery dates given for the fire-resistant door replacement and the supply of the door are completed within 2 months, no company can give a definite time for the installation phase. The hoteliers made the following request:

“For this reason, especially regarding room doors, considering the supply, installation times and the end date of the tourism season, if there is only a deficiency in the door, giving 6 months to correct this deficiency as a simple defect is our most important request."

'THERE IS A QUEUE IN 4 COMPANIES PRODUCING DOORS'

Speaking on behalf of the hoteliers in front of the governor's office, Yasin Salim stated that there are approximately a thousand hotels and boarding houses in the city center and said, “Currently, municipalities have started closing our hotels. The reason is; everyone has done everything, there is only one thing we cannot fulfill. Just a door that is resistant to fire for 30 minutes in each room. There are at least 40-50 doors in each hotel, and in some it goes up to 200. The normal door price is 5.5-6 thousand liras. The price of these doors starts from 18 thousand 500 liras and goes up to 28 thousand. In addition, everyone inflated the prices. The reason is that there are 4 companies in Turkey that do this job. We placed orders with these companies, the minimum delivery starts from 1 month. Since a queue has formed, the doors of so many hotels will not be changed at the same time, so 2-3 months are given," he said.

24 HOURS WAS GIVEN

Salim stated that the letters of closure of the hotels as a result of the municipal inspection have reached everyone as of today and said, “They are giving 24 hours and will be closed tomorrow. Now it means closing a thousand hotels. At least 5 people work, 5 thousand employees. We have our rent, electricity, water, other expenses and we will have to lay off our workers. If we buy 50 doors for 15 thousand TL today, it will cost 750 thousand TL. We broke gold, borrowed money, and queued for the door. They are closing our hotels, but we ask the authorities to give us time. Only the door, let them close immediately if there is a problem with the fire alarm and other systems on the other side. We kindly request that we be given time to replace only the fire-resistant doors," he said.