Climate Refuge Hotels in the Canaries: How Ashotel’s New Network Works

You know those heavy August afternoons when the calima haze sits over the islands and the air feels thick enough to chew. The official advice is always the same: stay indoors, seek out air conditioning, drink plenty of water. But what if your apartment has no AC, or you are out exploring and suddenly feel dizzy from the heat? That is exactly the gap Ashotel wants to fill with its brand-new “Hoteles Refugio Climático” network.

The concept is refreshingly straightforward. Instead of constructing new cooling centres from scratch, the hotel association has asked its member establishments across the four western Canary Islands to designate at least one indoor, air-conditioned area as a public refuge. When AEMET issues an extreme heat alert, those spaces open up – not just for paying guests, but for anyone who needs a safe, cool place to sit down and rehydrate. It is tourism infrastructure doubling as community resilience, and the first hotels are already on board.

What exactly is a climate refuge hotel?

Let us be clear: this is not about building new hotels or adding extra wings. A “hotel refugio climático” is simply an existing hotel that has signed up to a specific protocol and meets a short list of minimum requirements. The scheme was presented to the regional government’s ecological transition department, with the aim of weaving tourist accommodation into the Canary Islands’ official heat-wave response plans.

To join the network, a hotel must provide at least one indoor, climatized space that is accessible to people seeking shelter during an alert. That could be a lobby lounge, a conference room kept cool, or a dedicated seating area away from the main reception hustle. The space must have free potable water available – a simple but vital detail when dehydration is the biggest short-term risk during a heat wave. Staff receive training on the refuge protocol, and each participating hotel appoints a specific person responsible for the service. Official project signage goes up, so anyone walking past knows the establishment is part of the network. There is also a sustainability angle: hotels must show they have calculated their carbon footprint or are in the process of certifying it, linking the refuge concept to broader climate and decarbonisation efforts.

What the sources do not specify – and what we should therefore treat as unconfirmed – are details like maximum capacity, exact opening hours during an alert, or whether there is any registration process at the door. Those practicalities will likely vary by hotel and municipality, and Ashotel has not yet published a full operational handbook for the public.

Who is behind it and where is it starting?

Ashotel, the main hotel and extra-hotel employers’ association for Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, is driving the project. They have already presented it to the Consejería de Transición Ecológica y Energía del Gobierno de Canarias, seeking formal integration into the region’s climate-resilience strategy. The ambition is to make hotel refuges a recognised part of municipal heat-wave planning, alongside libraries, community centres and shopping malls that already serve as informal cool spots.

The first phase is concentrated on Tenerife, in the municipalities of Adeje, Arona, Puerto de la Cruz and Guía de Isora. Four hotel groups have stepped forward: Canarian Hospitality, GF Hoteles, Macaronesian Hotels & Resort and Hotel Tigaiga. These are well-known names in the Canarian tourism landscape, operating properties that range from coastal resorts to urban boutique hotels. Ashotel says the network will progressively extend to other associated establishments, and several more groups have already expressed interest, though no additional names or islands have been confirmed yet.

Why now? Heat waves are getting serious

If you have spent a summer in the Canaries recently, you have felt the shift. The islands have always been warm, but the frequency and intensity of heat waves have ticked up noticeably. The regional government operates a full heat surveillance and prevention plan, with four risk levels coded from green to red, based on temperature thresholds in different “MeteoZonas.” Health authorities repeatedly urge people to stay in cool, climatized spaces and to limit outdoor activity during peak heat hours.

Ashotel’s move plugs directly into that official framework. The association has stated its objective clearly: to integrate tourist infrastructure into the regional climate-resilience strategy and to make conditioned spaces available to municipalities when official high-temperature alerts are activated. It is a pragmatic response to a problem that is not going away. Rather than waiting for public budgets to fund new cooling centres, the scheme leverages buildings that already exist, already have air conditioning, and already employ staff who know how to look after people.

There is also a reputational dimension. By tying the refuge label to carbon-footprint measurement or certification, Ashotel is signalling that the hotel sector wants to be seen as part of the climate solution, not just a high-consumption industry. It is a small but meaningful shift in how tourism and local life intersect.

Who benefits – and what to expect during an alert

The primary beneficiaries are local residents in the municipalities where participating hotels are located. During an official heat alert, if your home lacks air conditioning or simply becomes unbearable, you can head to a designated hotel refuge, cool down, and drink free water in a safe, staffed environment. It is not a replacement for medical care – there is no mention of on-site health staff in the sources – but it is a practical, immediate option when the heat plan is active.

Tourists staying in these hotels also benefit, of course. Even if you have air conditioning in your room, having a clearly marked, staffed refuge area with free water adds a layer of reassurance. If you are out and about in Adeje or Puerto de la Cruz and start feeling the effects of the heat, knowing which hotel lobbies are officially part of the network could make a real difference. The scheme also helps municipal authorities by expanding the number of formal refuges without requiring new construction, particularly in tourist zones where public cooled spaces might otherwise be scarce.

Vulnerable groups – elderly people, children, those with chronic conditions – are not explicitly named in Ashotel’s materials, but they are the people the Canarian health plan identifies as most at risk from heat. By providing cooled spaces open to the general population, the network indirectly serves these groups too. However, it is worth repeating that the scheme is not described as including transport, food distribution, or medical support. The confirmed benefits are cooled shelter, free drinking water, and trained staff presence during alerts.