Fladgate Partnership mulls luxury partner for sister hotel

The Fladgate Partnership is considering a strategic partnership to operate its planned second luxury hotel in Vila Nova de Gaia, the sister hotel to The Yeatman. 

Speaking to db recently, CEO Adrian Bridge said that the new hotel, which has been in planning for several years, is due to start construction next Spring after some delay on the back of the worldwide shift in construction costs, which resulted in renegotiations with the contractors.

“It is taking a bit of time and then, because the phase one is excavations and retention of the hill, that is not a project that you start in the winter. So the breaking of ground is really going to be in the late spring of 2026,” he said. “It took a long time, and we fully intend to make the most of that and make it all happen.”

He said that Porto and as a destination for tourists was moving into “phase three” in terms of the hotel development, following the establishment of pioneers such as The Yeatman, the luxury hotel in the historic heart of Vila Nova de Gaia that opened in August 2010.

“Everyone considered [it] a crazy idea and couldn’t understand why anyone would build another five star hotel in a city that wasn’t a tourist destination, especially as the five star hotels that existed [at that time] were only managing 48% occupancy, which is considered not a break-even proposition for five stars now,” he said.

Phase two was marked by the opening of boutique hotels by people who had a building and the capacity to renovate, but who didn’t have the capacity to generate demand to fill the hotel themselves, relying on demand being generated by the city itself, with phase three commencing post-COVID.

He described this a “where you have had international hotel brands that are being asked by their customers what their offer is in Portugal and in Porto is, so  they’re not people who are looking to satisfy demand being created by others.”

“A lot of hotels at the luxury end that are looking seriously at Porto and obviously, some of them are simply trying to buy the existing leaders,” he says. “My phone rings very regularly, ‘Would you like to sell The Yeatman and create X, Y and Z, a major international brand, and want a hotel at luxury to fill the gap?’ The answer is ‘no; it’s not for sale’. But certainly, we are entertaining the idea that it may well be stronger to partner with somebody for The Yeatman’s sister hotel. It would overall enhance the destination and… would perhaps allow us to make that hotel more of a success, helping the overall destination.”

Any partner would have to share similar values and ethos, he added, but it would circle back to a “positive cycle of creating good demand, introducing people to this beautiful destination, having them fall in love with it, with the wines and the ports, the food and the culture”.

For db’s interview with Adrian Bridge, see the July issue of the Drinks Business

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