With its long-term future still shrouded in secrecy, Vila Real de Santo António’s crumbling but elegant Hotel Guadiana at least looks like it will be getting a makeover.
Months after the council announced the ancient building was about to be taken over by a South African leisure chain, it has now revealed that the council itself is launching a €2 million public tender for rehabilitation of the hundred-year-old building.
“We are going to refurbish its interior and get it back to being a five-star hotel, putting an end to the scenario of degradation,” said mayor Luís Gomes, making no reference at all to the announcement in February that the hotel was being leased to the Grand Africa group.
Along with repairs to the emblematic hotel, designed by architect Ernesto Korrondi and closed for years – the council has announced that it will also be repairing a municipal building at Ponta da Areia.
