RIU Hotels has just opened the Riu Palace Boavista, which is its fifth hotel in Cape Verde and its third on the island of Boa Vista, following a total investment of 70 million euros.
The five-star hotel is located by Praia das Dunas and it offers the exclusive all-inclusive 24-hour service of RIU together with the sophistication of the elegant Riu Palace range. The hotel, which has 505 rooms, three pools and a broad range of cuisine on offer, opens ten years after the launch of Riu Karamboa, the chain’s first hotel on the island.
RIU arrived in Cape Verde in 2005, when what is now the Riu Palace Cabo Verde opened on Sal island and just a year later, what is now Riu Funana opened its doors. The CEO of RIU Hotels, Luis Riu, saw the enormous potential of the destination from his first visit, due to its beauty and its beaches, but above all, its peacefulness, exoticism and the charisma and happiness that the people exude in every corner of the islands. RIU’s great commitment to the destination has resulted in a total of five hotels, which together have 3,480 rooms and 2,500 directly-employed members of staff. Every year, RIU’s Cape Verde hotels receive more than 235,000 guests and the total investment in the islands comes to more than 340 million euros.
“Cape Verde has been a unique experience. We faced all kinds of logistical and infrastructure challenges there, which we tackled using our accumulated experience and Cape Verde’s own determination to develop its tourist industry. We have also been inspired by all of our employees there. We can now say that we have an excellent professional team, who more than make up for their lack of experience with their enthusiasm and appetite for learning. In fact, the new hotel will be managed by local staff who have grown professionally in our Sal and Boa Vista hotels, and who are now at the stage where they can open and manage the various departments of this category of hotel, which is something I am particularly proud of. From the first day, the Cape Verdean people have won the hearts of our guests. When we built the first hotel in 2005, no one expected the destination to have this level of success. This fills us with satisfaction and renews our desire to carry on committing to Boa Vista and Cape Verde,” explains Luis Riu.
The Riu Palace Boavista’s 505 rooms are fully-equipped with facilities including free WiFi, a complete minibar and drinks dispenser. They are all decorated in a style that combines the classic sophistication of the Riu Palace line with the tranquility and simplicity of furniture with clean lines and blue and earth tones. The hotel also offers more than one hundred swim-up double rooms, an exclusive category of rooms with private pools.
As with all hotels in the Riu Palace range, the range of cuisine available at the Riu Palace Boavista is designed to satisfy the most demanding tastes and needs. The main restaurant, ‘Africa’, offers a wide and varied live-cooking buffet, and it is joined by the fusion cuisine restaurant, ‘Krystal’, the Japanese specialities available at ‘Mitsuki’ and ‘Sai Rei’ restaurant, which serves up classic steakhouse dishes in the evenings.
As for bars, the Riu Palace Boavista has a great variety to offer: from two swim-up bars, ‘Grogue’ and ‘Pontchi’, to the 24-hour ‘Sports Bar’, as well as the elegant lounge bar and lobby bar, ‘Kizomba’ and ‘Muscat’. This new RIU hotel also has a classic feature of the new and renovated Riu Palace hotels: the coffee shop and patisserie, ‘Capuchino’.
The new hotel has a space for art in Riu Art, a club for kids to enjoy in RiuLand, as well as a complete gym and the extensive range of beauty and wellbeing treatments of the new Renova Spa. Guests can also enjoy Pacha nightclub, located in the neighbouring Riu Karamboa.
The RIU Group has an ambitious expansion plan for the next five years, with a strong commitment to new destinations, especially in Asia and Africa, and large global cities where it plans to open Riu Plaza urban hotels. The hotel chain, which goes back more than 65 years, is characterised by its strong commitment to the destinations where it settles, investing in long-term projects that involve the local community through its purchasing, employment and sustainability policies. RIU is also making a big investment in the development and improvement of an increasingly sustainable operation, and all of its projects are guided by respect for the environments and the local culture and environment.
