Construction starts this year, Mercan tells ECO. One of the new projects is the first Hard Rock Hotel in the country, to be built on Vau beach. The Canadian group is opening three hotels this year.
The Canadian group Mercan continues to invest in Portugal and will invest 450 million euros to build eight more hotels in the country, mainly in Lisbon and the Algarve.
As Miguel Gomes, Construction & Development General Manager at Mercan Properties, told ECO, construction will start in 2024. However, “predicting the exact start of construction is always a challenge” given that “the start of construction is directly related to the licensing processes”, recalls Miguel Gomes, who is in charge of one of the largest real estate developers in the hotel segment in Portugal.
In total, these eight new hotel units will have 1,400 rooms or accommodations.
For the time being, Mercan Properties refuses to reveal the exact locations of the new eight hotels, but one of the projects is the first Hard Rock Hotel in the country, which will be built on Vau beach in Portimão.
The new hotel, scheduled to open in the summer of 2026, will create 400 jobs and will consist of around 452 luxury rooms and suites. As well as direct access to Vau beach, guests will be able to count on the Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club, three restaurants, three bars, three outdoor swimming pools, a Rock Spa, gym, a Rock Shop, a sports area and a beach club, and the new Hard Rock Hotel Algarve will also have a conference room.
In addition to these new constructions, before the summer of 2024, Mercan Properties will inaugurate three hotels with an investment of around 54.6 million euros.
These include the Holiday Inn Express Porto-Boavista, with 91 rooms and an investment of 21 million euros, the Holiday Inn Express Évora – Mercan’s second unit in this city – with 76 rooms and an investment of 16.8 million.
The Holiday Inn Beja will have 95 rooms and an investment of 16.8 million euros. These three units will be managed by AHM – Ace Hospitality Management, a Mercan group company.
With the new projects, Mercan Properties – which entered Portugal in 2015 – will now have a portfolio of 30 hotels in various locations across the country such as Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Lisbon, Amarante, Santiago do Cacém, Évora, Beja, the Algarve and Madeira.
In addition to Portugal, the Canadian group Mercan is present in China, India, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.