Viceroy at Ombria Resort Marks Their Debut in Europe
Date: February 2018
Location: Quinta da Ombria, The Algarve, Portugal. 8 km north of Loulé and 20 km from the beaches and Faro airport.
Name: Viceroy at Ombria Resort and Viceroy Residences at Ombria Resort – five star, opening 2020
No. of Keys: 76 guest rooms and 65 branded residences, 18 hole golf course designed by architect Jorge Santanada Silva and clubhouse featuring a pro shop, restaurant, sports bar and grill with an outdoor terrace, swimming pool, gym, locker rooms with sauna and Jacuzzi.
Leisure and entertainment facilities, including an area for organic farming, honey harvesting facilities, astronomical observatory, heated swimming pools, beach club at one of the nearby beaches, paths for nature walks and mountain biking and other sports facilities.
Seller: Pontos Group bought Quinta da Ombria, now Ombria Resort, in 2008, from …..
Buyer: Quinta da Ombria is a major development project of the Finnish Pontos Group, headed up by Ilpo Kokkila and Timo Kokkila, the Chairman and CEO.
Their LAK Real Estate business (20% owned by Portos) owns the Hilton hotel at Helsinki Airport, and they own (100%) the Sokos Hotel Viru in Tallinn, Estonia.
Ombria Resort is a luxury development spread across 153 hectares of secluded and natural landscape of rolling hills, rivers and cork and oak forests, 8 km north of Loulé and 20 km from the beaches and Faro airport.
Julio Delgado will be CEO of the Resort, who brings experience from being the MD of Sotogrande for NH Hotels, and MD at La Manga.
The project first was proposed 20 years ago but was given a major boost in 2012 with a ‘Project of National Importance’ status handed out by the former Foreign Minister, Paulo Portas.
The development proposal attracted criticism from Brussels, as well as many of Portugal’s environmental NGOs, as it is in an ecologically sensitive area of the region and sits right on top of the Querença aquifer.
Viceroy Hotel Group will mange the hotel and the residences.
THPT Comment: Viceroy are a hidden gem, made up of three brands – The Viceroy Icon Collection, The Viceroy Lifestyle Series and the Urban Retreat Collection – 15 hotels open across the USA, the Caribbean and the UAE with new development in play in Vietnam, Serbia as well as the Algarve. The company is headed up by Bill Walshe, a veteran hotelier with experience from the Irish Doyle Collection, Jumeirah, Kempinski and Hilton
First Seen: Hotel Space Online