4froale

Hi all and thanks I'm advance for any help.

Me and my friend (two males aged 25+26) are planning to move to Benidorm in March next year. We plan to save around £3000 between us before then to help us pay for accommodation for the first two months whilst giving us a bit of leeway to find a job.

We both have experience of working on bars and I can speak a little Spanish( family have a place in Estartit so have picked up bits).

firstly how easy is it to pick up bar work over there?? We planned to maybe start messaging bars through Facebook nearer the time or would it be better to wait until we're over there and simply go bar to bar??

also would it be better for us to get accommodation when we land or get it in ad vance. I have been told it can cost more on the internet.

Basically we are just looking on what is the best way to hit the ground running. I appreciate you have probably had this question many times so I apologise but we want to make sure we have everything down to a t before we move.

Thanks
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missile

If I were you I would search online for a cheap hotel and try to negotiate a deal for a month whilst you search for accommodation and employment. Chicken and egg, you want accommodation near to employment. It will be a struggle to find employment and personal visit is your best chance. Good luck :-)

4froale

Cheers for the reply. Is it hard to find even cash in hand work in the bars?.

Loafing Along

Incredibly seasonal as you would expect. Summertime not enough people available winter excess staff laid off, you can see it in the fluctuations in the Spanish unemployment figures.
Without Spanish or only limited Spanish you are restricting your potential employment opportunities.

4froale

Thanks for the response. We are both planning on learning basic Spanish before then(like ive said I do know some). We were also planning on moving until the end of September initially so may be in luck if there is plenty of work over the summer.

In regards to the first reply to my op, would we go about emailing the apartments directly to see if we can do a deal with them for the first month?? Ive seen some that were looking For £780 for a month, would be offering something like £600 be reasonable?

Thanks for all this.

Loafing Along

Trawl through AirBnB or ownersDirect and similar webs that offer short term rentals and look for the ones that have no bookings for several months. They will probably offer deals

missile

If you are not moving until September, you will have missed summer season. You will have two hopes of finding employment = Bob Hope and No Hope.
I don't know where you are looking, but £780 + utilities?/ month seems expensive for a long term rental. Few owners will be interested in a discount for 1 month ……. that is short term, as I suggested look for a cheap and cheerful hotel or on AirBnB / Booking.com and Trip Advisor. There are many other sites, even RyanAir offers accommodation.

spainrico

Sorry guys but just trying to set your expectations at the right level - the rental market here is very buoyant both long and short term - just don't expect landlords to be queuing to bite your hands off especially as you won't be working and won't have any NIEs or bank accounts etc.

Yes of course there is black money around but working on the black again gives you a potential problem with a rental contract, as landlords will want some guarantees.

All I am trying to say is yes doubtless the idea seems great but there are some issues you need to research and think through.

Moses2013

Why not work hard in a country where you speak the language, save more money and go to Spain for the summer without having to find work?

4froale

On the wages we are on and with the rent we are paying it is nigh on impossible.

mikelincs

Cash in hand jobs will pay very little, jobs in bars etc the same, most employ family members so pay below minimum wage and you have to look and think about the effect Brexit will have, you may need a visa to work in Spain once we are out of the EU.

spouse of scouse

Your cheapest accommodation would probably be something like a room on Airbnb - this is typically a bedroom in someone's house/apartment and you share the kitchen and bathroom facilities. Some offer two single beds but others only a double, so unless you and your mate are particularly close check the fine print. I'd reserve a month's accommodation in advance and then see how you go.

It actually sounds like a great thing to do - you're both young and the time to do stuff like this is now, before you get weighed down with life's responsibilities! The only two bits of cautionary advice I'll offer are be prepared to return home early if you can't get work, and if one or both of you have good jobs at the moment then at least sound the boss out about being open to employing you again.

Best of luck, hope it works out for you!

4froale

Thanks for all the help so far. We fly out from leeds/Bradford on March 15th so have plenty of time to get our plan in place. Is March when business starts picking up?? I think we will probably go with paying a month's holiday type accommodation and then trying to find somewhere for the longer term once we arrive. Looks as though we're going to relax and enjoy our first week before searching for work after that.

I'm regards to some coments, we are aware that a lot of the jobs don't pay much but taking into account the cheaper cost of living we think we could live comfortably enough.

Monkey104

Loafing Along

Business in bars, restaurants etc will pick up later in April as people head to the coast for Easter which is late April.