Located in Vera (Almería), close to one of the best beaches in the area, the Valle del Este resort has been under new and enthusiastic ownership since the end of last year.
Pedro Lope, a Zaragoza lawyer who arrived in the area 10 years ago, is currently in charge and the person who – personally – embodies the spirit of innovation, transformation and change that has now been impregnated into this tourist complex, the standard-bearer in Almería province and one of the most important in Andalucía – as one of the few to have its own hotel and golf course.
Lope has developed an ambitious plan of renovations and improvements aimed at positioning Valle del Este among the best tourist and residential resorts in southern Europe.
“I fell in love with Vera and Valle del Este as soon as I arrived,” he says, “and that was one of the reasons why I embarked on this great tourist and real estate project with two other business groups.
We built the golf course, a beach club and a 142-room hotel. It was a complicated development, just as the general economic situation has been difficult in recent years. And, as a result of that, there was a change of ownership last year.
“I’ve taken it on myself, the whole complex, with the idea of undertaking a major financial investment, something we are already doing, to regain the lost years and return Valle del Este to its original splendour and once again take up the initial idea behind the project’s creation.”
- What renovations will you be undertaking most urgently?
- The project’s two locomotives are the hotel and the golf course, which are linked and one can’t be looked at without the other. We began renovating the hotel last December, just one month after taking over the ownership, changing rooms, communal areas, redecorating, etc… and now we’re starting on the course.
In that respect we’ve placed a lot of importance on the course’s shop, because we believe it will be a great source of business creation, so we’ve remodelled it completely with the collaboration and support of Holiday Golf. We are also paying urgent attention to the academy and, of course, the actual course.
There is no need for major changes to the layout at the moment, just to give urgent attention to the maintenance and ensure the product is in the best condition possible. The design, by José Canales, is a good one, but if in the future we had to do any fine-tuning I would like to bring in José María Olazábal.
Photo: Pedro Lope (right), owner of Valle del Este Resort, with Andrés López from Holiday Golf
