Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
9 October 2018
The company that owns the hotel will end its contract with the Catalan group Ibersol, taking direct control of the hotel’s management.
The Alay de Benalmádena hotel will undergo a major investment of approximately three million euros in the coming months by which it plans to improve its facilities, especially its general electrical, water and air conditioning networks. The hotel’s management announced the plan yesterday, stating that the construction that will be executed next year will be “a new phase” in the hotel’s 50 years of operation since it opened its doors in 1964.
According to Juan Ramón Montoya, the architect who will carry out the renovation, the €3-million investment will be very focused on upgrading the hotel’s systems, especially air conditioning. “We want to make the hotel more sustainable, so there will be another series of renovations to our water supply and boilers, as well as our protection against fire,” he explained.
It is not, however, the first renovation to be carried out since the hotel’s inauguration in the 1960s. “There have been other interventions on several occasions, including an important one in 2015, which was more focused on the modernisation of our facilities and room design,” he added. This second phase will upgrade the internal networks and “some rooms, out of 250, that are still pending,” he clarified.
Mr Montoya stated that the construction is expected to start at the beginning of the year and should not last for more than three months. “We expect to have it done by just before the Easter holiday,” he said.
In addition to the renovations above, the statement by the hotel added that the other major change would be that the company that owns the establishment, Hotel Alay SA, will take over the direct management of the establishment. So far, the hotel has been leased for several years to an external operator belonging to the Catalan group Ibersol, according to the press release.
A reorientation
“In 2015, after having recently acquired the hotel, it was submitted for a major renovation focusing on the modernisation of its facilities, adapting them to the demands of an increasingly competitive market, which has maintained the establishment as one of the most important hotels on the Costa del Sol,” the press release read. The Alay’s management stated that the hotel’s “pre-eminent” position had led its owners to decide last year to “reorient” their activity to specialise in hotel management. “With this, [the company] began the preparations that will allow them to take charge of the hotel’s operation without the need for intermediaries after the liquidation of their contractual commitments as of January 1, 2019,” they added.
The document also, following the words of its architect, stated that “the idea of the people in charge of the project is to submit the hotel to an intensive reform to completely renovate its facilities and equipment, which will allow it to open its doors at the beginning of the 2019 tourist season.” The hotel’s owners added that they have the “firm intention” of offering its customers a whole new range of services,” by taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the Alay Hotel’s wide and varied facilities and premises.”
Original Story: Diário Sur – Iván Gelibter
Translation: Richard Turner