Renata Leal appointed new General Secretary of APR

Renata Leal has been appointed the new General Secretary of the Portuguese Association of Resorts.

The Portuguese Association of Resorts (APR) promotes the development of Portuguese companies and projects in the Residential Tourism sector. Its Managing Director is Pedro Fontainhas and its President is Carlos Leal.
It represents and promotes its members both in Portugal and overseas. Currently its members include such flagship resorts as Ombria Resort, Onyria Palmares, Pestana Alvor Atlântico, Pestana Gramacho, Pestana Palm Gardens, Pestana Porches Praia, Pestana Tróia, Pestana Vale da Pinta, Pine Cliffs Resort, Praia D’El Rey, Quinta da Marinha Resort, Sheraton Cascais Resort, The Crest, The Lake Spa Resort, Tróia Design Hotel, Tróia Resort, Vale do Lobo, Vilalara Thalassa Resort, Vilamoura World, West Cliffs Resort, Amendoeira Golf Resort, Belmar Spa & Beach Resort, Castro Marim Golfe, Herdade da Aroeira, Herdade da Comporta, Herdade Monteverde, Quinta do Lago and Quinta do Pinhão.
With a long experience in client services, Renata Leal joined the team in June 2020 and has her own property business after working for 14 years with Deloitte in a senior partner capacity.
Renata’s company has bought, renovated and sold on apartments with the use of contractors. She was also one of the first movers in the Portuguese local accommodation market (Airbnb guest house market) which took off at the end of the Great Recession from 2012 onwards.
“As the business began to grow, I felt the need to get more involved in the work and built a team of my own. In 2011, with the housing mortgage crisis. I noticed a great demand for smaller properties and a big drop in demand for the larger properties with several bedrooms,” recalls Renata.
“I directed my business towards the rental of furnished apartments from 2012, clocking up over 1000 reviews on Airbnb, communicating with clients in English, French and Spanish, working in a multicultural customer service environment which gave me a broad experience in contract management,” she adds.
Before that, from 2005, Renata Leal worked as a management consultant for Deloitte Portugal for which she participated in varied projects from implementation of management applications to the implementation of shared services. She joined what was then known in Portugal as Arthur Andersen, gaining experience in implementing ERP Oracle Applications, but in terms of software she did projects with ERP JD Edwards. Leal was involved in several projects related to Shared Services in various sectors working with CUF, Aenor, Portugal Telecom and several Portuguese State public entities, working in the government area by the time she left Deloitte. It was the last two years in the company that she became aware that she had a talent for the commercial aspect of the business.