The Sonae group, through Sonae Capital, will enter the hotel industry in Madeira, through the operation of the former Hotel d’Ajuda.
At the beginning of January, DIÁRIO revealed that the hotel would be recovered by Interpatium and that it would be operated by a national group. Now, it is confirmed that it will be the Sonae group.
Last Monday, the newspaper ECO reported that Sonae Capital was going to open a hotel in Madeira and add a unit in the Algarve.
“The debut in Madeira is scheduled for February 2025 with a luxury unit with 98 rooms in Lugar da Ajuda, in the Lido area, which will allow the creation of 30 direct jobs. Sonae Capital will take over the hotel operation of The Editory By The Sea Funchal, whose works started in December and which results from the rehabilitation of a building that was abandoned and which in the past was occupied by tourist accommodation.”
However, DIÁRIO confirmed that the unit in question is the former Hotel d’Ajuda.
Still at ECO, Isabel Tavares, director of marketing and sales at The Editory Collection, justified the option for regional tourism: “Madeira is performing very well from a commercial point of view and is a very popular destination throughout the entire year. This opportunity arose and we made the decision in record time. We had been looking for some time and had no major doubts that we would like to operate there. We are really looking forward to this project.”
The investment in hotels by the SONAE group began 35 years ago and the brand The Editory Collection Hotels, which aggregates the units operated by the group, emerged in 2021.
Today the group operates 1,300 rooms in ten units, spread across Porto Lisboa, Troia and Lagos. The units in Madeira and Algarve will add 300 beds to those currently available.
The Hotel d’Ajuda was acquired by the Interpatium Group from Tomé Brazão, for 5.3 million euros. The overall investment should be between 18 and 20 million euros.
The hotel is expected to go from being a four-star hotel to a five-star hotel.