2025 in Review: Excellence, Evolution and Purpose

2025 IN REVIEW: EXCELLENCE, EVOLUTION AND PURPOSE
By Cláudio Santos, CEO of PortoBay Hotels & Resorts

 

The beginning of a new year always brings an inevitable moment of pause and reflection. And looking back on 2025, I see a year shaped by steady evolution, strategic decisions, and experiences that stayed in the memories of those who chose PortoBay.

This review carries a special meaning for me. In 2025, António Trindade took on the role of Group Chairman exclusively, and I had the honour of succeeding him as CEO. I assume this role with a deep sense of responsibility and a quiet confidence: what sets PortoBay apart is its culture, its consistency, and the people who uphold it every single day. It is with respect for our history — and ambition for the future — that I embrace this new cycle.

And it was precisely with that calm ambition that we took some of the year's most significant steps.

One of the major milestones of 2025 was the opening of PortoBay Blue Ocean, our new 4-star hotel in Olhos d’Água, Albufeira, in the Algarve. A project with a natural connection to the Atlantic and the surrounding landscape, just a few steps from Falésia Beach — a hotel designed for those seeking tranquillity, comfort, and a premium location. The pedestrian link to PortoBay Falésia, through the gardens and along wooden walkways, creates an integrated seafront stretching over 700 metres, offering the possibility to enjoy a rare kind of infrastructure in the Algarve.

Alongside growth, 2025 was also a year of renovation and continuous improvement, because we know excellence is built both through what is new and through what we care for and elevate over time. In the Algarve, PortoBay Falésia reopened with an even stronger focus on wellbeing, sport, and outdoor activities. We created a wellness area featuring an indoor pool filled with natural light and views onto a garden, which we will continue to enhance with native species. The gym was also refurbished, with state-of-the-art equipment, a dedicated yoga and Pilates studio, and an outdoor area — reinforcing our commitment to an active and balanced lifestyle. In Madeira, even with very high satisfaction levels, we moved ahead with the refurbishment of rooms at the Porto Mare hotel, introducing a more contemporary décor, lighter tones, and materials that align with the resort's surroundings.

If there is one area where PortoBay continues to assert its identity and differentiation, it is gastronomy. Once again, 2025 was a year of affirmation and creativity, combining consistency with recognition. Il Gallo d'Oro, in Funchal, retained its two Michelin Stars and its Green Star, reaffirming a path of sustained excellence where technique, imagination, and responsibility go hand in hand. The Michelin Guide also recognised the restaurants Avista, Avista Ásia, and Horta in the Recommended category, which fills us with pride and motivates us to keep moving forward. In the Algarve, Flor de Sal, at the new PortoBay Blue Ocean, embraced the brasserie concept through the lens of regional products and flavours from an area exceptionally rich in high-quality ingredients, both on land and at sea.

As if all these initiatives were not enough, our gastronomy team still found the energy to launch a summer pop-up restaurant at PortoBay Santa Maria, where we brought together food, art, and music in a collaborative, idea-incubating project that will lead to more developments in the future. Between June and September, we created a shared-spirited experience, with a Mediterranean-inspired menu, using pieces of furniture with stories and works by local artists. And most importantly, we strengthened the Group's social responsibility by donating proceeds from the artworks to the HOPE charity project.

Our energy also shone through in how we made every stay richer and more memorable. Throughout 2025, our events programme gained new relevance, with gastronomy and music at the heart of the experience: themed dinners, special moments, and live performances that brought our guests closer to local culture — adding rhythm to life in our hotels and creating many memories they took home.

At the same time, we continued to strengthen our relationship with those who choose us time and again. Our loyalty programme, Prestige by PortoBay, consolidated several initiatives to recognise returning guests, and the digital experience became more engaging: we updated the PortoBay App with features such as pre-check-in, detailed service information, a 24-hour virtual assistant, and Prestige benefit management.

These signs of trust are clear: in 2025, one in three of our guests were returning to PortoBay, and 24% were experiencing a second property within our brand — a reflection of the strong relationship built over time.

Our everyday commitment to sustainability continued to be lived and integrated into operations and decision-making. During Sustainability Month, our teams took part in hands-on initiatives in close contact with nature, including visits, awareness activities, planting endemic species, and eradicating invasive ones. And on the social front, we channelled more than €82,000 to HOPE, supporting institutions with direct impact in their communities, signaling our belief: growing responsibly, aligned with the future, and recognising that our success increasingly demands greater responsibility towards the communities where we operate.

When our product and service translate into recognition, everything takes on an even greater significance. In 2025, PortoBay received 130 national and international awards, and we achieved a Global Review Index (GRI) of 93%, calculated from 13,500 online guest reviews — a clear reflection of the trust and quality we strive to deliver every day.

 

We enter 2026 with the desire to continue surprising, welcoming, and creating memorable experiences — but also with the ambition to take new steps, with discernment, consistency, and purpose. And for me, that means something very concrete: being worthy of the responsibility of leading this Group, preserving what defines us, and accelerating what can take us further.

That is exactly what I want to talk about next: some of the goals we are preparing for 2026.

We have an ambitious plan for the continuous refurbishment of our properties, anticipating the wear and tear that naturally comes with use, while introducing new features aligned with what we learn from our guests and from the attentive observation we make of their evolving interests. Much of this work will be carried out quietly, which makes the challenge even more interesting — but also much more difficult.

We are also significantly increasing training initiatives for our teams, instilling in everyone — from long-standing colleagues to those just starting in our hotels — ever more demanding service standards and, above all, an attitude of availability and generosity towards our guests that we want to be increasingly evident.

We will begin construction of another luxury property in Madeira, in the heart of Funchal's old town. It is a highly ambitious project, as we chose to invest in generously sized rooms, noble materials, highly differentiated social areas, and high-quality architecture integrated into a place where history deserves to be respected, rather than maximising the hotel's size and perhaps short-term profit potential. It is a bold step and a clear investment in the future, in close harmony with the area that best represents Funchal's origins, and it will surely be valued by those who create new memories there, as well as the local community.

From the end of the year, we will also begin a major renovation at PortoBay Falésia, reconfiguring the property we were already operating, and where we established an investment partnership with the former owners, who have now become, proudly, our business partners. I say proudly because this was not merely a financial decision, but the culmination of a relationship of trust that began in 2007 and has evolved over the years into something much stronger: a true union of values and alignment of long-term objectives.

We are also undertaking a deep review of our social commitment strategy and intend to evolve the HOPE programme into something new and, above all, more meaningful. Around the middle of the year, we expect to share news on this topic, which will make our employees and guests proud while significantly expanding our capacity to act in the field of social responsibility.

Finally, we continue to seek investment opportunities not only in Portugal, as we would like to offer our guests the chance to experience our hospitality beyond the regions where we are currently present, while also challenging our teams with new and motivating professional adventures, which ultimately depend on the growth of the Group.

So many opportunities this legacy brings us. Wishing you happiness in 2026!