Eastern Algarve beach town to get €158M luxuryspa hotel

Lota beach, in Manta Rota, in Portugal’s eastern Algarve district of Vila Real de Santo António, is to receive an investment of €158 million to build a luxury hotel, the Algarve council announced on Monday.

The project will be developed by the company BodyHoliday, considered a “reference in the Wellness and Spa tourism sector”, and includes the construction of 220 accommodation units of three types (singles, doubles and suites) and the creation of 337 jobs, the Vila Real de Santo António council said in a statement.

The new five-star hotel will offer services for luxury tourist segments and will be built in the Lota beach area, in the town of Manta Rota, a bathing area in the parish of Vila Nova de Cacela, in the district of Vila Real de Santo António, the local authority also emphasised.

“This investment, worth €158 million, will create around 337 direct jobs in the region. Construction is scheduled to take place between 2025 and 2026, with the opening scheduled for 2027“, the Algarve council estimated.

The hotel will have 40 single rooms, 160 double rooms and 20 suites, five restaurants and a wellness and spa centre with 50 rooms for massages and treatments, as well as a gym, three outdoor swimming pools, one indoor pool and gardens with “direct access to the beach via wooden walkways”, the local authority added.

“This is a structuring investment for local economic development” that “will change the tourism paradigm of Vila Real de Santo António, strengthening the quality of the supply and attracting visitors from luxury segments” from countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the Nordic countries, considered the mayor, Álvaro Araújo (PS), quoted in the statement.

The Vila Real de Santo António council also quoted the vice- mayor, Ricardo Cipriano, for whom “the project aims to diversify and qualify the district’s tourist facilities”, promoting environmental sustainability by using the hotel’s “best practices for the environmental performance of buildings”.

“The project includes cutting-edge technological solutions, both in terms of materials and construction techniques, as well as systems and equipment, reinforcing its impact on the innovation and development sector“, emphasised the council.