Refurbishment of Maltese-owned five-star Lisbon hotel on schedule

Work on the refurbishment of the Maltese-owned 516-room high-rise Alfa Hotel and Congress Centre in Portugal is on track, and the hotel is scheduled to reopen in April.

The Alfa, located in Lisbon's financial district, was acquired by International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) in 2001 and was subsequently shut down in February 2003 to make way for a total refit and refurbishment programme aimed at upgrading this landmark hotel to international five-star standards.

The refurbishment project involved the stripping down and refurbishment of some 25,000m2 within the hotel as well as a restyling of the hotel's façades, IHI said.

Over 65 tenders were issued for various works packages. When completed, the hotel will feature 516 rooms, supported by the city's largest hotel conference facilities, several restaurants, a panoramic executive lounge floor overlooking the city, and a state-of-the-art gymnasium and spa to be operated by third parties.

The reopening of the hotel will come in time to tap into the substantial demand for hotel accommodation anticipated in Lisbon in June and July, when Portugal hosts the European Football Nations Championship.

The Alfa has entered into a guaranteed agreement with UEFA to allocate over 400 bedrooms to accommodate officials and other participants of the tournament.

The Alfa Hotel and Congress Centre is one of four hotels owned by IHI, which also has five-star hotel properties in Budapest, St Petersburg and Malta. IHI was set up in March 2000 and floated on the Malta Stock Exchange later that year.

The shareholders of IHI, who to date have invested €120 million in the company, recently empowered the directors to further expand the equity base of IHI by issuing in 2004 €150 million in fresh capital to international investors to fund further expansion.