Portugal: First five-star hotel coming to Leiria

Lisbon: The first five-star hotel, with 100 rooms and an events centre, is expected to open in Leiria in summer 2027, according to businessman José Frazão.

“The expected completion date is summer 2027”, José Frazão, owner of the “Hotel Lis” brand, told Lusa news agency. He has a hotel unit in Batalha and two in Lisbon, one of which is being completed and is expected to start operating in September.

After the ceremony marking the start of construction work on the future hotel, located near the Polis route in the city of Leiria, the businessman said that this investment, which will be called “Hotel Lis Garden”, will be his first five-star hotel and the first with this classification in Leiria.

A press release stated that “Leiria is preparing to receive a new tourism investment worth over 15 million euros (ME), the Hotel Lis Garden, which promises to strengthen the city’s positioning on the national and international map in the tourism and corporate events and conferences sectors”.

In addition to the construction of a hotel unit with 100 rooms, the project includes an “events centre with capacity for 450 people, distributed in multiple meeting and training rooms, totalling 7,500 square metres”. “With the support of the Compete 2030 program [Thematic Program for Innovation and Digital Transition] and Turismo de Portugal, the project aims to boost the economic attractiveness of Leiria and the Central region, putting the city on the corporate events map”, explained the same note.

According to the same source, “the turnkey concept will provide permanent technical infrastructures, ready for use, including sound systems, video wall, streaming and digital access control”. “The events center will be prepared to host small fairs, exhibitions and corporate conferences, supported by teams with experience in organizing large events,” he added.

Quoted in the press release, the businessman, director of Exposalão, an exhibition center in Batalha, highlighted that “business tourism is a strategic opportunity to diversify the regional economy and combat seasonality,” believing that “this project can be a real lever for the sustained growth of the territory.”