Portugal's hotels prepare for a potentially busy summer season
Portugal’s hotels are back open for business as the country looks towards opening up once again for tourism.
This comes as potentially welcome news to Brits dreaming of a post-lockdown summer escape following the news that the government is looking into an air bridge with Portugal, which could come into effect as early as the end of the month.
An 'air bridge' will effectively mean a bilateral travel connection between the UK and Portugal, allowing quarantine immunity in both destinations. The agreement would, we can assume, by necessity involve a lifting of the FCO travel advisory for that destination.
While Portugal's hotels were never ordered to shut, many did due to little or no demand. The Portuguese Hotels Association (AHP) told Reuters that over 90 per cent remain closed after a lockdown was imposed in the country in March.
Now, the tides have turned. This week saw the country’s Discovery Hotels – which include the chic Vila Monte in the eastern Algarve and Douro 41, located on the river and surrounded by green meadows – reopen with new, flexible booking rates and discounts on rooms. Safety measures include conducting weekly Covid-19 tests on their staff and temperature checks for all guests, as well as keeping rooms unoccupied for 24 hours between guests for cleaning. Room service fees will also be dropped to allow for easier in-room dining.
On Saturday (June 6), family favourite Pine Cliffs Resort in the Algarve will also reopen once again to guests, with similar measures in place, including vapor machines using disinfectant to clean rooms and disinfection mats at entrances. Happily for guests, the golf clubs, pools, tennis academy and renowned kids’ club will be open.
Other properties in the region, including Tivoli Marina Vilamoura (June 8) and The Magnolia Resort in Quinta do Lago (June 22) are also gearing up to open. The latter will even be washing all guests’ travel clothes upon arrival.
Sean Moriarty, CEO of the Quinta do Lago resort, told Telegraph Travel: "We are absolutely delighted by the news that a potential air bridge is likely to be formed between the UK and Portugal. This will enable travellers to avoid strict quarantine restrictions and will also support us in reopening for tourism and welcoming back the UK market to a safe destination. People at this time are keen to visit places which they know and have visited before and Quinta do Lago is a well-loved, family favourite amongst Brits - so news of an air bridge should be music to their ears as it is to ours.
"Even with air bridges in place, we are aware that travellers are understandably going to be more cautious about going on holiday which will inevitably slightly affect our business. However, we are already witnessing a huge increase in bookings and enquiries for extended villa holidays at Quinta do Lago from July through to October," he added.
The Longevity Wellness Worldwide group, which has three properties in the Algarve, including a thalassotherapy and medical spa, will all be opening in the first week of July, with a host of new measures in place, including options of in-room dining and spa treatments in which therapists will be in PPE.
Nazir Sacoor, CEO of the group, told Telegraph Travel: "[We are] delighted to welcome back our guests both domestic and international, for what we hope will be a summer of wellness. As the Algarve is such a key wellness destination and the UK one of our key markets we would welcome a potential air bridge with the UK."
He continued: "We feel the quarantine measures in place at the moment for the UK will deter guests from visiting the Algarve, [so] we hope an air bridge would bring a safe solution to allow international visitors to once again enjoy the natural beauty of this region and all it has to offer."
In Lisbon, an eternal spring/summer city break favourite, hotels are also coming back to life. Palacio Belmonte, a 15th-century, 10-suite hotel in a former palace in the Alfama district, will open again in July. Guests can expect a hushed atmosphere and a black marble pool in a bougainvillea-framed courtyard.
Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon, a landmark hotel built in 1959 by the Dictator Salazar to prove Lisbon could compete with other cospmolitan European capitals, reopens on July 1. Four Seasons has announced a collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medical International to validate a new global health and safety programme, which will “provide ongoing real-time guidance on the evolving Covid-19.”
The Alentejo, home to wide plains, vineyards, cork and olive groves and unknown beaches (and also little affected by Covid-19), is also home to some of the country’s most beautiful hotels, many of which are back open.
The boutique beauty Sublime Comporta (which has both rooms and villas and sits among Comporta’s dunes and rice fields, steps from a rugged beach) opened at the beginning of the week. They’ve created new features such as in-villa check-in and -out and grocery deliveries straight to your villa.
Inland, L’And Vineyards, a design-forward property near Evora, has tweaked some of its features in order to welcome back guests: the restaurant is reservation only (to ensure social distancing), staff and guests must wear masks, and breakfast will be served in rooms. The pool will have a cap on people and loungers will be spaced out.
José Cunhal Sendim, owner of L'And Vineyards, told Telegraph Travel: "The type of hotel L'And Vineyards is – with only suites with private entrances and villas, large outdoor areas garden and pool – is [the] perfect isolation place for the current situation."
The Portugese Tourism Board announced in April a “Clean and Safe” stamp, which would mean companies – including ‘tourism enterprises, tourist entertainment companies and travel agencies’ – will be able to request certification that they are fit to open.
The Directorate-General for Health has set out the hygiene and cleaning requirements necessary to achieve the kitemark, which is valid for one year. Many of the hotels mentioned above, such as Palacio Belmonte, Sublime Comporta, L’And Vineyards and Longevity, already have this stamp.
Portugal’s approach to the virus has been hailed as a success – its government declared a lockdown in mid-March when there were only 112 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Portugal also has one of the highest testing rates worldwide with 37,000 tests per million people. Its reproduction rate of Covid-19 sits at 0.94, meaning that each person with the virus passes it onto less than one other person. Portugal will be randomly testing passengers and carrying out temperature checks at airports. The latter are already being carried out at Lisbon airport.
