He Grand Hotel Taoro It was a property that achieved worldwide fame for being the first luxury hotel in Spain and placed Puerto de la Cruz at the dawn of tourism. Its history began in 1890 and lasted until the 1970s, when it was converted into a casino. Its transfer to Lago Martiánez, in the summer of 2006, left this historic building, declared BIC, almost unused.
There were many attempts by the Cabildo de Tenerife, owner of the property, to lease it with deserted contests up to four times and for different reasons until Tropical Turística Canaria (TTC) succeeded in 2019. Yesterday he presented the works that have been carried out since the 30th and will end in June of next year, the date on which the Gran Hotel Taoro, a symbol of the city, will reopen its doors as a five-star establishment.
Its president, Ignacio Polanco, was accompanied by the insular president, Pedro Martín; the mayor of Porto, Marco González, and the architect Virgilio Gutiérrez, who together with Eustaquio Martínez are the architects responsible for the remodeling, restoration and modernization project of the building. It will be executed by a local technical team with the aim of modernizing it to give it the necessary standards that the luxury segment currently requires and, at the same time, maintaining the essence of the emblematic building.
The Gran Hotel Taoro will be managed by My Way Hotels, the TTC hotel operator, and its remodeling will involve an investment of close to 35 million euros, 15 of them provided by the island institution and the rest by the company. The lease between both parties will last for 60 years.
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The establishment will have 207 rooms (414 accommodation places), spread over the four floors in an unbeatable setting, that of the Taoro Gardens, and whose west wing will house three heated pools and a new wellness center, which will offer the latest advances and programs that They combine body treatments, healthy eating and planned physical activity.
Another of the great novelties will be its gastronomic offer, since it will have up to six different restaurant spaces, some of them with the signature of an internationally recognized chef, whose name was not revealed.
Sport will also be very important in the establishment’s vacation offer, as it has a complete indoor gym and takes advantage of the 100,000 square meters outdoors that the park offers with its three main areas, La Atalaya, the Taoro Gardens and the Camino from La Sortija, the latter being very popular among athletes and, therefore, ideal for organizing various running circuits and outdoor activities.
Pedro Martín stressed that “the rehabilitation and start-up of the Gran Hotel Taoro will have a great impact on the local economy, by adding, together, more than 1,000 jobs. During the next 22 months, close to 800 workers will contribute to developing the remodeling, restoration and modernization project of the property”. Later, when it is 100% operational, it will employ more than 250 people, also directly and indirectly.
“Puerto de la Cruz has returned with an emblem that is not only from the North, it is from the entire Island. A hotel that started in 1890, which was the first tourist reference when nobody was still talking about it, is finally going to be renovated. tourism and that it has already managed to get the whole area started to rehabilitate, even though the works have not finished. There are hoteliers who invest in improving their facilities because they will be next to this new Hotel Taoro”, declared the island president.
In addition, he added that “the Cabildo is committed because the facility is theirs. We make a contribution of around 15 million euros, together with the one that will be made by the company awarded the hotel lease, and, from here on, this is not going to stop”.
For his part, the mayor of the city, Marco González, emphasized the milestone that is the start of this comprehensive rehabilitation “of a symbol of the history of the pioneering city of tourism in the Canary Islands, which could not be understood without this emblematic hotel, which comes to reinforce the unstoppable hotel investment in Puerto de la Cruz, which is reflected in the high occupancy rate in recent months, welcoming both national and international tourism, attracting new markets, to continue on the path of growth of the profitability that shows that the tourist city is in a new era”.
porto identity
The Porto president highlighted the depth of the concept of Porto identity, and how it is closely linked to the history and development of the Gran Hotel Taoro, “a legacy that we now recover so connected to our local society and what we are and, above all, what we we want to be,” he said.
Ignacio Polanco stressed that the project with which they won the competition “seeks to care for and respect the essence of the Gran Hotel Taoro as much as possible” in order to “restore its former splendor”.
The president of TTC thanked the Cabildo and the City Council for “the continued collaboration and support”, in addition to extending his thanks to Cajasiete, the entity that finances the works for the company he presides over; to the Dragados construction company, which is executing the works, and to the Arum Group, project manager of the execution.
After its rehabilitation, the new Taoro will optimize the use of environmental resources to reduce the impact on the environment. Sustainability will therefore be one of the bulwarks of this hotel, which will have up to 700 square meters of solar panels on its roofs, the energy of which will mainly make it possible to generate Sanitary Hot Water and heat the pools in winter, pools that will be built with heat recovery and low salt electrolysis to avoid the use of chlorine and chemical products.
The commercial director of My Way Hotels, Brendan Green, was the conductor of the symbolic ceremony to start the works, which allowed attendees to check the state of the property, thus starting the countdown for the pre-opening of the Gran Hotel Taoro, scheduled for summer of 2024.
