Frenchmen Roman Carel, Romain Dian and Matthieu Begué, together with Athena Advisers, are rehabilitating the old Praia do Sol hotel, in Costa de Caparica, in an investment totaling 10 million euros. It is a project that is transforming the town’s first hotel, opened in 1934, into an affordable space to attract surfers, digital nomads and families. The opening of Praia do Sol by Paparica, as it will be called, is scheduled for spring 2026. It will have 51 rooms, a bar, restaurant, sauna and Scottish bath.
This bet, the first of three French investors in Portugal, was due to the tourist potential they detected in the region. “Costa de Caparica brings together a set of factors that are unique in Europe: sun, beach and proximity to Lisbon”says Roman Carel. In recent years, it has gained “a new energy, with the arrival of international visitors and residents, many of them young”. However, “the majority just come to spend the day” and this is because “there is little hotel offer and, above all, there is little differentiation”, he argues.
When they began to design the project, Athena Advisers carried out a market analysis and concluded that in Costa de Caparica there were 777 rooms spread across six hotels. In Almada, there were 459 Local Accommodation licenses and 201 in Costa de Caparica (2023 figures). An offer that “is clearly lacking and, more than that, is out of line with demand”, emphasizes Roman Carel. In your opinion, “the type of existing product does not respond to the new visitor profile that Caparica attracts”.
They decide to get to work. Which wasn’t difficult, since these three entrepreneurs live in Portugal. Romain Dian has even lived in Costa de Caparica for several years. And the opportunity arose. The Hotel Praia do Sol had been closed since the pandemic, in order to move forward with renovation works. It wasn’t even for sale, says Roman Carel. “We were the ones who approached the owner – the family company Bangex-Empreendimentos Turísticos, which had managed the hotel for several years – and we managed to reach an understanding”. The investment project was set up and a club deal was created, which attracted other private entrepreneurs, Portuguese and foreign, to which bank financing was also added.