Sea Porto Hotel is the newest hotel in the center of Matosinhos. The four star hotel with 57 rooms and five meeting rooms opened its doors at the beginning of August and represents an investment of around five million euros. Each of the six floors of the Sea Porto Hotel offers a triple room, making this hotel the appropriate choice for both a family stay and business guests. By the end of this year, Sea Porto Hotel expects to achieve an average occupancy rate of 70%. José Armando Ferrinha, an investor in this hotel, highlights “the choice made for the hotel’s creative concept – the naval tradition and the connection to the sea of Matosinhos. In addition to the geographic location of the hotel, very close to Porto and the Leixões Cruise Terminal, the sea and ships are part of Portuguese history and culture and this is what we wanted to transport to our Customers, creating a warm and sophisticated environment . ” The service offer at Sea Porto Hotel also includes the “Deck Bar”, open to hotel and external customers, with its own cultural program. The five meeting rooms – Farol, Boa Nova, Bombordo, Porto and Leixões – provide a total of 560 seats in audience, the last two can be used separately or together (Porto de Leixões, with 200 seats). The Sea Porto Hotel team, made up of 20 people with higher education and experience in hotels and restaurants. In order to optimize its customers’ stay experience, Sea Porto Hotel is organizing a series of partnerships with cultural operators from both cities. This hotel unit also did not neglect environmental issues, investing in LED lighting, environmentally responsible materials, optimizing resources through recycling and raising awareness of the importance of conserving water and energy. The Sea Porto Hotel also offers charging points for electric vehicles in its private garage.

The Sea Porto Hotel, in Matosinhos, opened its doors on the 7th of August, and in the second week it reached its maximum occupancy. The new unit, with reservations already made for 2018, expects to reach an average occupancy rate of 70% by the end of the year.

Concept based on the sea and naval tradition.

Located in the centre of Matosinhos, the concept of this new hotel unit is based on the sea and the naval and port tradition of Leixões and Matosinhos. It also includes references to the work of Siza Vieira and the landscape of the city of Porto.

100% national project that represents an investment of around five million euros, the Sea Porto Hotel offers 57 rooms including 5 premium, 1 executive suite and 1 family suite. All rooms are equipped with a complete bathroom, hairdryer, air conditioning, digital LCD TV, telephone with direct line to the outside, security safe, minibar, electric kettle. USB / HDMI connection and free wireless internet.

Each of its six floors has a triple room, making this hotel ideal for both a family stay and business guests.

The services offered at Sea Porto Hotel also include the “Deck Bar”, open to hotel and external customers, with its own cultural program. The five meeting rooms – Farol, Boa Nova, Bombordo, Porto and Leixões – provide a total of 560 seats in audience, the last two of which can be used separately or together (Porto de Leixões. With 200 seats). The rooms are fully equipped with the most modern technical equipment for light, sound and image.

The Sea Porto Hotel team, made up of 20 people with higher education and experience in hotels and restaurants, will be focused on providing an excellent service to all customers, national and foreign, showing the best of the cities of Matosinhos and Porto have to offer in terms of culture, historical and gastronomic heritage. In order to optimize its customers’, stay experience, Sea Porto Hotel is organizing a series of partnerships with cultural operators from both cities.

This hotel unit also did not neglect environmental issues, investing in LED lighting, environmentally responsible materials, optimizing resources through recycling and raising awareness of the importance of conserving water and energy. The Sea Porto Hotel also offers charging points for electric vehicles in its private garage.

The Sea Porto Hotel is strategically located in the heart of Matosinhos. Well in sight of the Port of Leixões and its logistics platform, it is less than 1 km from the Cruise Terminal.

57 rooms, five meeting rooms with total capacity for 560 people. An investment of five million euros and 20 new jobs. These are some of the numbers that describe the Sea Porto Hotel, the new space that Matosinhos must receive its visitors. José Armando Ferrinha, mentor of the project, tells us about the origin of the project and its plans for the future.

Located in the middle of Av. D. Afonso Henriques, one of the most central and oldest areas of Matosinhos, the Sea Porto Hotel has been open since the beginning of August. The space was born with the intention of supplying a need that José Armando Ferrinha, investor of the enterprise, indicates to have identified. “I wanted to respond to the needs of our land, in satisfying the needs that it has and in an economic and financial aspect. I had to analyse the opportunity and profitability. We must minimize the risks, which I tried to do due to the location, which in tourism is fundamental. I think this unit is therefore well located. It is served by metro, is in the heart of Matosinhos and has a view of the sea”, he said. The new hotel in the municipality was financed entirely by national private investments and is responsible for the creation of 20 new jobs. This investment in space, which takes place in an old housing building, the construction of which was unfinished, was five million euros. The entire concept of interior design of the hotel is based on the naval and maritime tradition of Matosinhos and on national culture. The decoration even has references to the work of Siza Vieira, as explained by the person in charge. “Being a son, grandson and great-grandson of shipbuilders and carpenters, linked to naval art, it couldn’t be different”, said José Armando Ferrinha. The establishment is classified with four stars and has 57 rooms, whose prices vary between 70 and 148 euros, depending on the time of year and the desired comfort. In addition, the space is also equipped with a Deck Bar with terrace, where it is possible to taste various types of snacks and drinks. In addition to these facilities, the project has five different event rooms, with the names of Farol, Boa Nova, Bombordo, Porto and Leixões, which can accommodate up to a maximum of 560 people. Another point worth noting is the fact that the construction of Sea Porto considers new environmental concerns: the hotel is fully equipped with LED lamps and focuses on waste separation.

AN ANSWER TO THE COUNCIL’S NEW NEEDS

The appearance of the Sea Porto Hotel is part of a period of growth in tourist activity in northern Portugal. According to data from Turismo do Porto and North of Portugal (TPNP), tourism in the Porto region recorded an average growth of 10.70% last year. This growth in tourist activity also extends to the neighbouring areas of the city of Porto, in which Matosinhos assumes a prominent role. The numbers of the new cruise terminal, as mentioned in an announcement by the Administration of the Ports of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo (APDL), amount to a volume of 107 ship calls in 2017.

It was in this context that José Armando Ferrinha saw the opportunity to gather private investment for this new space. In the mentor’s opinion, the hotel will be mostly used by business travellers, although they believe in the city’s tourism potential. “I think it will be perhaps a little more for businessmen. But we have a lot of Spanish visitors, since we have a twinning relationship with Vilagarcia de Arousa, a Galactic community located on the North Atlantic axis, which brings many customers from that area. They are a demanding people, which is good for us. It is in the degree of demand that we grow”, he says.

BET ON SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Although he defines himself as a discreet man who does not like to publicize his activities or media coverage, José Armando Ferrinha already has extensive experience in the hotel industry. The person in charge is also an administrator and shareholder at the TRYP Porto Expo Hotel, in Leça da Palmeira. An experience that leads the investor to highlight the difficulty that it represents to work in this sector. “It is an investment of millions with the use of pennies. You have to work through day and night, 24 hours a day,” he says. In this follow-up, José Armando referred to our magazine that although he is concerned with the growth in the occupancy rate of space, the highest priority is to fine-tune the quality of the establishment’s service. “This service depends a lot on us, but also on our customer’s behaviour.

We must be very well prepared to serve each other. Not everyone can be, the people in the hospitality industry must be people who like people. We are the hosts”. Despite this, the owner is satisfied with the demand for guests that has so far flocked to the Sea Porto Hotel and believes that it will continue to evolve favourably until the end of the year.