Visitors from more than 50 countries have checked in to the five-star Onyria Palmares Beach House Hotel in its first 12 months of operation.
Located adjacent to the multi-award-winning Onyria Palmares Beach & Golf Resort, in Lagos, on Portugal’s Algarve, the boutique hotel was an immediate success when it opened in May 2017. The first visitors to check-in, on the opening day, were French, which set the tone as travellers from 55 different nations have enjoyed the luxury and panoramic sea views on offer since.
Their experiences appear to have been overwhelmingly positive, with the hotel recording a maximum rating of five on TripAdvisor, while, on Booking.com, visitors have given it a rating of 9.5 out of a maximum 10. And the hotel has been running at an average annual occupancy rate of 85 per cent – an excellent performance for a new facility.
The resort’s operations director, António Pinto Coelho, has been delighted with the hotel’s first year and said: “Initially, I think people were swayed to come here because the golf course has won so many awards, and that helped with the launch because golfers were already keen to visit.
“But, as the first year wore on, the hotel gained a reputation of its own and the number of non-golfers checking-in increased as we went along. Now we are receiving plaudits for both the hotel and the golf course – often simultaneously – which is hugely satisfying.
“Now our aim is to establish Onyria Palmares Beach & Golf Resort as one of the very best golf resorts in Europe. And I believe we’ve made excellent progress in that ambition.”
The Onyria Palmares Beach House Hotel has 18 rooms and two suites, each with a panoramic sea view and a balcony or terrace, and is within easy walking distance of the tees and practice area of the ever-popular golf course. The hotel also enjoys an outdoor swimming pool and a 180° bar and restaurant, with an expansive ocean vista – and all just 700m from the beach.
Palmares is ranked in Portugal’s top three courses, by the world’s best-known golf title, Golf Digest, at 26 in Golf World‘s benchmark Top 100 Golf Courses in Continental Europe 2017/18, and is expected to be a new entry from the same magazine in its next Top 100 Golf Resorts rankings, following the opening of the on-site boutique hotel.
What’s more, Palmares recently claimed a sixth successive Publituris Portugal Travel Award – created by the country’s leading travel trade magazine to reward the best in Portuguese tourism – for Portugal’s best golf course.
The 27-hole Robert Trent Jones Jnr golf course – comprising three loops of nine holes: the Alvor, Lagos and Praia courses – enjoys expansive panoramic views across the Bay of Lagos, with each lay-out offering a different kind of golfing challenge in a glorious and natural environment.
Onyria Golf Resorts www.onyriaresorts.com