Portugal: After four years of work, Aethos Hotels has opened its latest hotel, Aethos Ericeira, close to Praia da Calada in Portugal.
Located on a 40 metre-high cliff, Aethos Ericeira offers 50 rooms and suites, a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the sea, a spa with hammam, sauna, jacuzzi and treatment rooms, a gym, a heated saltwater pool and a yoga deck.
The project has been led by Portuguese architect Luís Pedra Silva, who converted and restored the former farmhouse, in partnership with Barcelona-based Astet Studio.
ONDA, the property’s main restaurant, is led by executive chef Afonso Blazquez. The menu promotes conscious eating and ingredients are sourced locally.
A daily surf school is offered to guests, and additional surf lessons for groups can be booked through an experience platform. A dedicated surf concierge is on hand to share information and recommendations about local surf spots.
Complimentary e-bikes and beach buggies are also available for guest use, and whilst staying at Aethos Ericeira guests will receive the same benefits as Resident Members, meaning they can participate in all cultural and social events.
“We are creating culture,” said Benjamin Habbel, founder and CEO of Aethos. “We have a community of influential change-makers and entrepreneurs, and we use Aethos as a platform to drive positive change for both our guests and the overall setting as a whole.
“We want to be an authentic reflection of the local environment, so every destination is very different from the others. What is true in all of our properties is that there’s always something happening, and there’s a reason to be there.
“I think what is exciting about Aethos for everybody is our ability to listen to the local community, to listen to our guests, and to just get on with it. And a lot of the ideas we implement come from what we picked up in conversations with the local community. And, of course, our global cluster of guests. As entrepreneurs, we try to find common-sense solutions to annoyances. And this is the beauty of building a hotel from scratch. We’re not traditional hoteliers. We’re owner-operators who can look at a hotel as a completely white canvas, since we have no brand standards dictated by anyone, and there’s no one telling us what to do — we can just do what we think is the best experience for our guests,” Habbel added.
Aethos Hotels is a collection of clubs and hotels in Europe. The brand has locations in Italy, France and Portugal with upcoming destinations in Spain and Switzerland opening soon.
