The Ashana will feature 29 rooms
Faro’s first luxury boutique hotel will open by 2027, built in a 16th century building in the historic centre of the Algarve capital, the project’s developers told Lusa news agency this Wednesday.
The Ashana will boast 29 rooms as well as an inside garden, a rooftop swimming pool, a gym, a multi-purpose meeting room and a restaurant and bar, said Tatiana Vieira, the project’s manager.
“If everything goes according to plan, we hope to open in late 2026, early 2027,” she said, adding that they also plan to host small events at The Ashana, such as art exhibitions, live music and other cultural initiatives.
The developers describe the five-star hotel as an “urban oasis”. It is the first to be designed and built from scratch in Portugal by Terra International, a family-owned company in the construction sector. Terra International has operated in the Algarve for 10 years and has hotels in Austria, Bulgaria, and the United States.
While Tatiana Vieira believes Faro “has a lot of potential” and a great “variety of things to offer,” she says it has taken a backseat to other destinations in the Algarve in terms of demand. Still, the project manager believes the city has begun attracting more tourists recently.
“Tourists come to Faro mainly because of its history, so making a conventional hotel wouldn’t make much sense. What’s fashionable now is the Scandinavian, minimalist style. But that’s not what we want. We want to embrace the city’s history,” she added.
Thus, the new hotel, the second five-star hotel in the city, will aim to celebrate Faro’s heritage, combining historic Moorish architecture with modern Portuguese architecture, said Nelson Gaitinha, the architect responsible for the project.
“We didn’t want it to be a project for mass tourism, but something with more character than the standards set by the big chains,” the architect said, stressing that the goal was to “do something different from the ‘standard’ model because tourism has become very brand-oriented and standardised”.
But the difference isn’t just structural; with this new unit, the group says it wants to create a “different and creative” option for tourists, which includes more personalised customer service, including a “kind of butler” who supports guests during their stay.
“This difference has to do with the structure and the service we’re going to provide. We want to move away from the traditional concept of a receptionist, waiter or bartender and have a service in which the guest is welcomed by someone who accompanies them throughout their stay,” he explained.
The first five-star hotel in the Algarve capital opened in June 2021. It has 103 rooms, two restaurants, bars, a spa, an indoor pool, and an outdoor pool, the latter on the roof of the building overlooking the Ria Formosa.
Set in a 2,500-square-metre area in the city centre, the 3HB Faro is the result of the restoration of two buildings, one of which is centenary, in an investment by the 3HB Hotels group.
Source: LUSA
