Spain 
Italy 
Greece 
Pestana Group’s Revenues Grow by 14% to 40 Million Euros in 2017
25 February 2018
The Pestana Pousadas Group earned revenues of 40 million euros in 2017, 14% more than in 2016, partially the result of a 50-million-euro reorganisation of the brand’s network in the last years, the group’s president told the Lusa news agency.
“The year 2017 went well, we had global revenues of 40 million euros, a 14% increase over 2016, which corresponds to a 15% increase in accommodations and growth of 13% in food service,” Luís Castanheira Lopes stated in an interview with Lusa. He added that he believes that “2018 can be even better.”
The president of the group explained that the food service segment within the pousadas is “benefiting from an improvement to the situation in Portugal,” translating into “more weddings and other events” in those places.
“Pousadas (inns) are places for parties, celebrations, and the market had slipped in the past years. We have seen a recovery in this segment, namely weddings, which in the smaller pousadas play a significant role. Playing host to one or two weddings a month is critical to the pousadas overall activity for the year. As there is some seasonality, and some slow down in the period from January to April and from October to December, marriages end up making up for some of that,” he said, noting that “weddings involve food service, but they also leverage accommodation.”
In addition, in the first period after the concession of the pousadas, which were dedicated to a reorganization of the network, now “we have pousadas that are more centred on historic buildings, with bigger pousadas and better offerings in terms of product”, and that now our “global offer is significantly better.”
“When the demand returned, from 2014 forward, we had done our homework and prepared ourselves well, and in 2016 and 2017 we have been reaping the rewards,” Mr Lopes reasoned.
The Pestana Group, which has had the concession for the pousadas ” since 2004, in practice” – and that “while the restructuring of the network was underway, the crisis came,” leading to “major difficulties operating the concessions” in the following years.
At that time, they took the opportunity to make some changes: “The first and most important was to bring new, larger hotels into the network, which had better locations and products (spas, indoor pools, etc.), repositioning the brand. On the other hand, in some particular cases, we removed some pousadas from the network, always trying, to maintain the properties in the tourism sector. They were no longer pousadas, but they remained in operation. Examples include the Pousada de Santa Clara in Odemira, the Pousada de Vale do Gaio, the Pousada de Oliveira and the Pousada de Elvas. All of them continue as hotels.” he stated.
Thus, the group’s pousadas focused on historic buildings. “We have a smaller network regarding the number of establishments, though it is larger relative to the number of rooms, with better pousadas, which are better preserved,” he said. Mr Lopes also noted that the group had invested heavily in improving the properties: “For example, in Alentejo alone, we had the Jessica Program, in which we invested three million euros to upgrade the pousadas, without creating any additional rooms.”
At the start of the privatisation of Enatur, its network consisted of 43 pousadas with less than 1,000 rooms, an average of 25 per hotel, and currently, there are 33, and the Casa do Leão restaurant. In total, the network had more than 1,400 rooms in 2017.
Questioning the level of investment since the privatisation, he noted that the Pestana Group built “four pousadas (Porto, Viseu, Lisbon and Cascais)” from the ground up, improved and expanded others, in investments “worth over 50 million euros.” To that is added the Jessica Program, in which we are contractually obligated to invest three million euros a year conserving the properties.
“We are pleased to see that Enatur is auditing the quality of our operations. As the property owner, it performed ten inspections of pousadas in 2017. They are unannounced audits, which we think is fine. It gives us the guarantee that we are doing our work well and this is consistent with our quality ratings, the anonymous evaluations from our customers, which rate us above 90% on quality,” he said.
The Pestana Pousadas Group currently owns 49% of Enatur, the owner of the brand and of the group of pousadas that make up the network, while the Portuguese state, through Turismo de Portugal, holds the remaining 51%.
The Pestana Group owns roughly 95% of the Pestana Pousadas Group, while the Fundação Oriente holds the remainder.
Original Story: Jornal Econômico / Lusa
Translation: Richard Turner