As from 2013, Belo Horizonte will have a hotel from the Fasano chain. In a consortium also comprising JHSF Incorporações, the famous luxury hotel chain has acquired the concession rights for the building formerly used by the Pension Institute of the Servers of the State of Minas Gerais (Instituto de Previdência dos Servidores do Estado de Minas Gerais - Ipsemg).
This consortium was the only company to make a proposal for this tender, and will invest a total of around R$ 52 million to exploit this location for the coming 35 years.
One important fact here is that the Ipsemg building is facing onto Liberdade Square, which is one of the main tourist attractions of the capital of Minas Gerais. In an interview granted to the local Estado de Minas newspaper, the partner in the group, Constantino Bittencourt, said that the idea is that of offering a service with a difference. “Many people come to the city but do not stay due to a lack of choice. There is a repressed demand for luxury hotel accommodation. Hence, we now bring to BH what made us stand out on the market: high-quality service”, he commented.
Minas Gerais Bottleneck
One of the main areas of criticism to the structure of Belo Horizonte has always been the city’s limited supply of hotel accommodation. However, the problem of constantly full hotels showed a market with great potential for expansion, especially with a World Cup on the horizon.
According to Mr. Bittencourt, the expectation of the Fasano in Minas Gerais is to have an average occupancy of 80% in the 80 hotel beds that are planned. “Nowadays, Belo Horizonte can easily charge a daily room rate of between R$ 700 and R$ 800, which is what we are expecting. Here we are not just talking about business tourism, as leisure is becoming more and more valued in this region”, he says.
Other large companies have followed this trend. According to the City Hall, Belo Horizonte has eight three- and four-star hotels under construction, of which three are located next to the Mineirão stadium.
In addition, there is an expectation that there will be another 33 developments up to the World Cup, and, if this is confirmed, this would provide the city with seven new five-star hotels and twelve new four-star hotels. The hotel chains that have recently come to the city include the Maio/Paranasa Group in partnership with the Accor hotel chain, and also the Bristol chain which has announced the construction of a luxury hotel of the Stadium chain, in the neighborhood of Pampulha.
According to the President of the Executive Committee for the World Cup of Belo Horizonte City Hall, Tiago Lacerda, the new developments will serve a demand in the city that does not depend on the World Cup. Out of these new developments that are being expected, 22 are being licensed and 11 are being negotiated.
“Negotiation is when the investor seeks out the City Hall to present a hotel development. If feasible, the City Hall informs the owner or investor, who then decides to lodge a request for licensing. Licensing is the stage to obtain the construction permit and start work. The requirements for this are the land use and occupancy standards they should follow, and which vary between different regions, and also obtain all necessary permits (environmental, BHTrans, Assets and the like)”, explained Mr. Lacerda.
The forecast is that all these developments will be completed by the World Cup.
highlights
04/05 | News
