Hotel Monte Palace in the Azores, Closed for Over 20 Years, to Reopen in 2021

30 April 2018

The Monte Palace Hotel, in the Seven Cities, the Azores, which has been closed for 27 years, is expected to reopen in 2021 as a five-star hotel. The establishment will maintain its current architectural design, the Chinese group Level Constellation announced today.

In a note sent to the Lusa news agency, Level Constellation stated that “will soon submit the building project, which aims to maintain the existing architectural profile, to the municipality of Ponta Delgada.”

The real estate developer said that the president of the Chinese group, Wen Yong, is visiting the Azores and has scheduled an audience today with the Regional Government Vice President, Sergio Ávila, who “will announce the opening of the new hotel in 2021 “.

According to the same document, the president of the Chinese company Level Constellation “will inform the authorities of advanced negotiations with prestigious hotel operators, with the selection of the operator of the hotel by June 2018.”

Thus, “the Monte Palace brand will likely be removed,” the note added, indicating that Wen Yong will also meet with José Manuel Bolieiro, mayor of Ponta Delgada.

The hotel, located in Vista da Rei, Sete Cidades, in the Azores, was previously owned by BANIF following a foreclosure on the SIRAM Group. The hotel was inaugurated in 1989 on the island of São Miguel and employed more than 100 people, but closed shortly after that due to financial reasons.

The five-storey building had two restaurants, three conference rooms, a nightclub, a store, 88 rooms, 52 junior suites, 27 double rooms, four double rooms with parlours, four luxury suites and a presidential suite.

Located next to the Vista do Rei, overlooking the Lagoa das Sete Cidades, the hotel had on-site security until 2010, but was later abandoned, vandalised and looted.

Monte Palace, the first of five-star hotel in the Azores, won the 1990 Best Hotel of the Year award in Portugal.

At the end of 2017, Level Constellation acquired the former Monte Palace hotel. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.

The property developer Level Constellation informed that the new hotel unit will have five stars and will be “totally oriented to the natural environment in which it is located.” The hotel “will incorporate a science center, which is being negotiated with two well known institutions in the sector, as well as a spa, a rooftop and areas to aimed at supporting nature activities such as hiking and birdwatching.”

During the purchase of the former hotel, Level Constellation noted that the investment follows their previously announced intention to diversify their investments in Portugal and the beginning of the real estate developer’s incursion into the tourism sector.

The group also noted that the Monte Palace building “has 14,000 square meters of construction area, together with 50 hectares of natural vegetation, consisting mostly of conifers, with breathtaking views of the Seven Cities Lagoon, the most iconic area in the Azores,” which confer “international notoriety” to the establishment.

Original Story: Dinheiro Vivo / Lusa

Translation: Richard Turner