Portugal
Simon George fish prepping in Cascais
events in the city and that ’ s something that ’ s not going to change . Sometimes these things can be cyclical though .”
It is notable that Lisbon has secured second place in the recently released ICCA City Rankings .
Dias is confident that booking visibility will improve and that the economic headwinds facing the hotel ( i . e . inflation ) will ease , giving event planners more confidence in terms of advance booking . “ Last-minute business will always happen . But last-minute business for large events is not normal . It is difficult to manage . Our strategy is to book large events first and then the smaller events come and fill in the gaps ,” she said .
Atlantic ambition Known as Portugal ’ s Hamptons , Estoril-Cascais is moneyed , exclusive and down the years has been the haunt of Portuguese royalty , spies , writers ( Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale in the Hotel Palacio ), Hollywood A-listers and famous footballers ( Ronaldo is building a huge house in the vicinity ).
On entering the InterContinental Cascais-Estoril , you are struck immediately how different it is to its Lisbon counterpart . Close your eyes momentarily and you could be in the south of France given the light and the sense of relaxation engendered by the
All events on deck at the Inter-Conti in Lisbon
seaview , the hotel ’ s spa and two swimming pools . In terms of MICE space , the hotel has two event rooms ( Monte Estoril and Cascais ) with natural light and , significantly , Villa Atlântico , a separate venue next door overlooking the Atlantic , which is ideal for bespoke events such as corporate offsites and weddings .
InterContinental Cascais-Estoril ’ s head of sales and marketing , Pedro Lopes , who previously worked at the InterContinental Lisbon , told CMW this summer ’ s refurbishment plan is to create a separate restaurant next to the outside swimming pool , which would be open all year round .
High demand , high pricing policy Lopes stressed that the hotel adopts a risk-based approach to pricing : “ We keep our prices rather high , helped by the very strong business demand the hotel is experiencing . “ If we don ’ t put our prices up , in a few days our hotel will be fully booked for the whole of the summer , which is something we try to avoid .” Neverthelelss , buyouts , board meetings , weddings and car launches provide the strategic event staple of the hotel . “ The ideal group size for the property is for up to 30 guests . However , recently we have seen increased interest in doing a buy-out of our property as with 59 bedrooms , clients can easily privatise the hotel . For this reason , as well as for the rates we set , we aim mostly to host company board meetings or senior management meetings .” The hotel has already held two buyouts this year , and last July it hosted a big incentive for a major US beer company .
Sector wise , the hotel mainly does business with pharma , technology and banks , while car launches are also a key revenue driver , especially given the driving attractions of the region and no doubt the Estoril Grand Prix !
Post pandemic , the hotel has experienced a strong recovery in demand , Lopes explained : “ We have seen double-digit revenue growth , mostly from our two strongest markets , the US and the UK . Given the first two months of this year and comparing them to 2019 and the same period prior to the pandemic , we have seen overall revenue growth of 11 %.”
The strong local rebound in MICE demand was also borne out by André Rei , who runs shortcuts , a private Cascais-based tour operator which has been working closely with Intercontinental Hotels since 2017 and which organised our group ’ s visits to Palacio da Pena at nearby Sintra , our culinary skills test at Cascais Food Lab , and a sunset cruise operated through Palmayachts . n
ISSUE 125 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 19