"Pestana hotels and resorts"
The Pestana Group is Portugal’s largest international tourism and leisure group and one of the largest in Europe where it ranks 25th.
There are eight business divisions operating under the Pestana brand including; Hotels & Resorts, Pousadas de Portugal, Holiday Ownership, Gaming, Travel, Golf and Residence, Industry and International Business Centre of Madeira.
Starting with a 300 bedroom hotel in Madeira Island in 20th November 1972, the family owned Pestana Group has grown steadily and currently includes in its portfolio of nearly 90 four and five star hotels worldwide with two brands: Pestana Hotels & Resorts and Pousadas de Portugal.
In 1985, the Pestana Group began an expansion drive in mainland Portugal that was then followed by Africa and South America.
In 2010 the Pestana Group opened its first hotel in a European capital outside Portugal, in London, the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel & Spa. In May 2011, it reached Berlin with the Pestana Berlin Tiergarten. In 2012, Pousada de Cascais is inaugurated and 3 new hotels: Pestana South Beach Art Deco Hotel, in Miami, Pestana Bogotá 100, in Colombia and Pestana Casablanca, in Morocco, continuing its ongoing global diversification process that has taken the Pestana hotels to 3 continents and 13 countries in the world: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Portugal, Germany, England, Cape Verde, Morocco, Mozambique, S.Tomé & Principe, South Africa and United States of America.
In the leisure area the Group currently owns and manages, besides the 47 hotels (9 in Madeira, 10 in the Algarve, 1 in Lisbon (the Pestana Palace - a Leading Hotel of the World) 2 in Cascais and Sintra, 1 in Oporto, 1 in England, 1 in Germany, 9 in Brazil, 3 in Mozambique, 1 in South Africa, 1 in Cape Verde, 1 in Argentina, 1 in Venezuela, 3 in S. Tomé e Príncipe, 1 in Miami, 1 in Casablanca and 1 in Colombia), 37 Pousadas de Portugal, 15 Holiday Ownership units , 6 golf courses, 3 real estate ventures, two casinos (Madeira and S. Tomé e Príncipe), an air charter company and one tour operator. In 2003 the group was awarded an international tender to manage the Pousadas de Portugal chain adding to its portfolio 44 unique properties located in converted monuments, palaces, convents and castles spread across the country.
In 2005 the Pestana Group internationalised the Pousadas de Portugal brand with the opening of the Pestana Convento do Carmo, by Pousadas de Portugal, a Leading Hotel of the World property in S. Salvador da Bahia in Brazil.
