Highgate Portugal to invest €40 million in hotels revamp

Highgate Portugal, the company which manages the Hilton Porto Gaia & Hilton Vilamoura hotels in Portugal, is to invest €51.5 million in repositioning the group’s hotels in an ongoing modernisation and refurbishment project running since 2023.

The multinational hotel management, investment, and development company, has already invested €10 million, and this year will invest a further €40 million to refurbish and reposition the portfolio of hotels that it began to manage at the end of 2022 according to the CEO of Highgate Portugal, Alexandre Solleiro in an interview with business daily Negócios.

The US group’s first year of business has been “quite positive” since 2023 was “a wonderful year in tourism for Portugal and also for the company’s portfolio with an above expected performance”, he said.

The company manages 18 hotels purchased by the US fund Davidson Kempner Partners. Prior to that the hotels had been held by the banks in a portfolio of NPLs and other assets called Project Crow.

The deal with Davidson Kempner Partners had been the biggest in 2022 involving €850 million, giving rise to a new hotel group and the entry of Highgate in Portugal in partnership with the fund. Highgate also owns another 500 hotels around the world.

Last year Highgate renovated a hotel in Sesimbra and the São Rafael Suites in the Algarve, and is now preparing to spend 80% of its total budget stipulated when it entered the Portuguese market.

It will close the hotels it has in Praia dos Salgados in Albufeira in October to refurbish them and reopen them in April or May, 2025 with new brands.

Highgate has a portfolio of 18 hotels and 3 golf courses, spread across the Algarve, Lisbon, Porto, and several other regions in Portugal. The portfolio includes hotels operating under the brands of the Hilton and IHG groups, as well as several notable independent hotels, such as the Cascade Wellness Resort, and NAU Hotels & Resorts, such as the NAU Salgados Palace and the NAU Sao Rafael Atlântico (In the Algarve). Assets under management include boutique lifestyle hotels, full-service city hotels, luxury seaside resorts, and large convention spaces.