The old Monchique Longevity Wellness Resort is scheduled to reopen this month after a €5 million refit, claims the new operator, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts.
The original resort, built on a bend in the road below Caldas, closed in 2014 and is said to have been taken over by ‘a consortium’ with the Scottish hotel and leisure group managing the new business.
This reopening of course is welcome news for the local area with many basic wage jobs on offer as well as lower management, and more specialist staff for the spa.
The operators “expect to have an average occupancy rate of around 54%, and in the peak summer months, reach 83%.”
The operators claim that income from June 2016 will be €4.5 million and that it will clear a profit of €1 million in the half year.
There has been no further news whether or not Macdonald Hotels & Resorts are involved in the Vale d'Oliveiras Quinta Resort and Spa near Carvoeiro or Vale de Ribeira in Portimão, both of which need similar treatment.
The original Monchique hotel and spa opened in 2010 at a costs of €40 million. It closed in 2014 and the estimated €5 million deal to bring it back to life is said to be a partnership between the State-led Discovery Portugal Real Estate Fund which has been involved in property deals since September 2012, the Fundo Revitalizar Sul which somehow got to own the site, and includes ‘additional funding’ from Millennium BCP and, most surprising of all, Turismo de Portugal whose budget traditionally has been spent on promoting tourism rather than funding individual hotels.
Pedro Seabra from the Discovery Portugal Real Estate Fund noted in February that support was needed from the ‘various partners’ to raise "the necessary capital to invest in the infrastructure.” This seems to have happened although the amount of taxpayers’ money involved remains unclear.
For the hotel website, see:http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/our-hotels/macdonald-monchique-resort-spa/
