The future luxury hotel Pestana Quinta da Amoreira, in Alvor, whose foundation stone was laid yesterday in the presence of the Minister of Economy, is doubly pioneering: it will be the first «all inclusive 5 stars» built from scratch in Portugal and includes the construction of 100 accommodation units for a third of the workers it will employ.
Because the skilled workforce, and in quantity, that the new hotel will need is a problem to be solved until its opening, announced by Dionísio Pestana for «the summer of 2019».
Minister Manuel Caldeira Cabral said that in the Algarve, "the instability of employment marked by seasonality is a problem."
And what is intended here, in the future Pestana Quinta da Amoreira, is precisely to counteract this seasonality, creating permanent employment throughout the year.
But, taking into account the shortage of labor in the Algarve – which the stores about to open in the new Mar Shopping and Designer Outlet Algarve, next to IKEA are complaining about – it is necessary to attract workers from outside the region… and settle down in one fell swoop two of its main problems, accommodation and transport.
But it is also necessary to bet on the training of these future workers. “300 direct jobs is not insignificant”, highlighted Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, at the ceremony of the first stone. "But the Institute of Employment and Professional Training will have a lot of pedaling, in order to have properly prepared assets, quality workers in a 5-star hotel," added the mayor.
The future Pestana Quinta da Amoreira, which represents an investment of 50 million euros by the Pestana Hotel Group, will be a hotel divided into small buildings, of one or two floors, spread over the 12,8 hectares of the former Quinta da Amoreira, near Alvor .
The new 5-star hotel, which will have a capacity of 450 accommodation units (388 rooms and 62 suites), has a project by the in-house team, coordinated by architect Iliana Rosendo França, will make a «strong investment in renewable energies», and within the complex “you can only walk on foot or with electric vehicles”. It will also have «large green areas» and «the large mulberry tree that gives the place its name will be preserved», together with «most existing trees», as announced by Pedro Lopes, manager of the Pestana Hotel Group for the Algarve.
«Portugal is experiencing a good moment in Tourism, which is growing and making important contributions to exports and employment», said Manuel Caldeira Cabral, adding: «projects like the one we are announcing here guarantee that we will still grow with more quality'.
But even in the ceremony of the first stone of the complex, there were those who wrinkle your nose to the concept of «all inclusive/all-inclusive”, although for the luxury and family segment, announced by the largest international hotel group of Portuguese origin for this new investment of 50 million euros.
And administrator Pedro Lopes explained the bet: «it will be a all inclusive 5 stars, like the Caribbean», a concept that the Pestana Group has already experimented with in Porto Santo, with great success, both in terms of occupation and business, and in terms of prizes won at national and international level. "This is the bar that we have to reach or surpass", said the administrator, turning to those who work with him in the Algarve.
The new unit, the first of its kind built from scratch in the whole country, «will attract customers from Algarve and Portimão. all inclusive 5 stars that are now spread across resorts from all over the world», guaranteed Pedro Lopes.
And, taking into account all that the future Pestana Quinta da Amoreira will have to offer – four restaurants (including two themed), three bars and six swimming pools, which includes a children's pool, inserted in the large Kids Club area. for the little ones, and an indoor pool in the hotel's Spa, gym, four massage rooms, sauna and Turkish bath – guests, as in any all inclusive, even in luxury, they won't even have to leave there…although they have the beach of Alvor or the Alto Golf course within walking distance, accessible on foot.
And, judging by the images in the video presented, guests will even think they are in any resort from the Caribbean, not even realizing that they are actually in the Algarve, in Portugal, such is the amount of palm trees that it seems they will be used in green spaces.
This is despite the administrator Pedro Lopes having guaranteed that the landscape integration project, under the responsibility of landscape architect Fausto Nascimento, will preserve most of the trees existing in the old farm, in particular the mulberry tree, which gives it its name. How the mixture of carob and palm trees will result is something to see in two years' time when the luxury hotel opens its doors.
At the ceremony at the Hotel Alvor Praia, which preceded the visit to the place where the new unit is now being built, the mayor Isilda Gomes, turning to the businessman Dionísio Pestana, told him: «daring projects of this quality and dimension is a challenge. huge upgrade to Portimão».
But the mayor also pointed out that, after 50 years no luxury hotel has been created in Portimão, now the council is about to «double the number of 5-star hotels».
The Pestana Race opened a year ago, at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, which, according to Pedro Lopes, "works very well outside of the summer, especially with the motorized world, which is a segment that we are developing", now it's gone. The foundation stone of the new luxury unit of the Pestana Group was laid, and there is also another major investment in the pipeline, by another business group, also for the Alvor area, but in the area of Health Tourism.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
Presentation video of the new Pestana Quinta da Amoreira:
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