Be Responsible
Community
A hotel that gets involved is a hotel the community recognises as its own
Being present in a place also means contributing to its development. That is why we favour suppliers, producers and partners based in Portugal wherever possible, supporting the economy of the regions where our hotels stand. We also seek to support cultural, social and community initiatives that strengthen the identity of these territories and contribute to the well-being of local populations.
We believe the success of our business is intrinsically tied to the prosperity of the communities that host us. By building close, lasting relationships of collaboration, we seek to generate a positive impact that goes beyond the hotel experience, creating economic, social and cultural value that stays in the territory and benefits everyone involved.
It is this continued commitment to local communities that allows us to build relationships of trust, promote the sustainable development of the destinations where we operate and strengthen our role as an active agent of positive transformation.
Our relationship with the local community
A hotel group present across different regions of Portugal carries, in each of its units, a responsibility that goes beyond hospitality. Every Real Hotels Group hotel sits within a concrete community, with its own institutions, traditions, challenges and opportunities, and it is in that closeness that part of the Group's identity is built, year after year. Through 2025 this commitment took the form of stronger partnerships with social organisations, of valuing the cultural and economic heritage of the territories where the Group is present, and of adopting initiatives that encourage a more responsible use of resources.
Hospitality that takes up causes
Stays and experiences given to partner institutions
The most natural way for a hotel chain to support a cause is, very often, the thing it already does best: to host. In 2025 Real Hotels Group made stays and spaces available to a set of institutions working in fields as distinct as paediatric oncology, the inclusion of people with disabilities, animal protection and support for the school community.
To Fundação Rui Osório de Castro, dedicated to paediatric oncology, the Group offered three nights of accommodation at Holiday Inn Express Porto Exponor, in support of the Iberian Congress of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology and of other initiatives of the institution, at an estimated value of 255€.
To Associação Salvador, which promotes the inclusion and autonomy of people with motor disabilities, seven nights were given at different moments in the year, at Hotel Real Palácio and Holiday Inn Express Porto Exponor. The total support, estimated at 628€, was divided between the National Accessibility Day, the Face to Face project and the association's Christmas campaign.
To Grupo Cancro da Mama Portugal two nights of accommodation were offered, at our Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel Spa and Real Marina Hotel & Spa units, at an estimated value of 307€, direct support for a health cause that affects thousands of Portuguese families.
Brunch Solidário
At Hotel Real Palácio's now traditional Brunch Solidário, held on Sundays, 10% of takings goes to an institution. For two months the initiative supported Animalife, an association that works against animal abandonment in Portugal and helps families in vulnerable situations who have companion animals. This collaboration brought together, in a single gesture, social solidarity and animal welfare, resulting in a donation of €938.
In the same year the Brunch Solidário also joined the Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses, in recognition of the essential role firefighters play in protecting and supporting communities. That cause received a donation of €1,366.40, helping those who are on the front line in the service of their communities every day.
Other support
The Group's hotels also make occasional donations to civil-society organisations. In 2025 we highlight the following:
The Group's solidarity calendar also took in animal protection: SOS Animal was honoured with a Christmas brunch at Hotel Real Palácio, for fifteen adults and five children, at an estimated value of 280€, in recognition of the work of its team and its volunteers.
The Parents' and Guardians' Association of Escola Básica de São Sebastião da Pedreira received a family brunch voucher for two adults and two children, at an estimated value of 84€, at Hotel Real Palácio. With this initiative we sought to strengthen this hotel's relationship with the school community around it.
At Real Marina Residence, a pet-friendly unit, a charge of 25 euros per animal per day applies. For each night, 2 euros go to ADAPO, the Olhão association for the defence of animals and plants, contributing to the work it does in the local community. In 2025 this partnership resulted in a donation of 104 euros.
Donations, tackling waste and food support
A significant part of the social impact of a hotel operation lies not in grand gestures but in how it treats what would otherwise be discarded. In 2025 Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel Spa donated to Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Albufeira a total of 400 textile pieces - 100 bath towels, 50 face towels, 100 single sheets, 100 pillowcases and 50 cushions - from the hotel operation but in perfect condition for use.
Donation of televisions to the Silves prison
The solidarity response took other forms too. Seventy-two televisions resulting from room refurbishments at Holiday Inn Algarve Albufeira were donated to the Silves prison, extending their useful life rather than sending them for disposal.
Bread donated to MAF and snacks to Banco Alimentar de Faro
In the Algarve, Real Marina Hotel & Spa offered snacks to the Christmas campaign of Banco Alimentar de Faro, at an approximate value of 360€. Beyond this support, it maintained another daily commitment: donating unconsumed bread to Movimento Pró-Alimentar de Faro (MAF).
Árvore Solidária
All our employees at the Lisbon and Algarve units kept the Group's traditional Árvore Solidária alive, albeit with a new partner. The collection of donations from employees, held over the Christmas season, now supports Associação APAV, delivering hygiene and cleaning products identified as priorities by the institution.
ReFood partnership
For the second consecutive year the partnership with Refood remained active at Grande Real Villa Itália Hotel & Spa: through 2025, volunteer employees continued to fight food waste while supporting people in vulnerable situations in the communities near the hotel. An average of 12 meals were donated daily throughout the year. At a valuation of 2 euros per meal, this initiative has an annual valuation of 8 760 euros.
Shared responsibility
Recycling coffee capsules turns coffee grounds into food crops
The partnership with Nespresso and Banco Alimentar for recycling coffee capsules also remained active: 622 557 Nespresso capsules were recycled through 2025, across 12 of our hotels, a gesture that, as in previous years, turns an everyday hotel waste stream into food support for those who need it most.
Under this partnership Nespresso sent 5 of the hotels taking part in the initiative a declaration of delivery for a total of 2 965 kg of Nespresso capsules, during 2025, by the hotels Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel, Grande Real Villa Itália Hotel & SPA, Holiday Inn Algarve Albufeira by IHG, Real Marina Hotel & SPA and Real Palácio. The declaration states that the contribution of the Nespresso capsules sent for recycling contributed to the global donation of around 1 000 toneladas of coffee grounds for growing food produce.
Our hotels as a stage for the community
The social impact of our hotels is also tied to an operation that hosts and makes known, within its own walls, gastronomic heritage and cultural traditions. In 2025 we opened the doors of several units to local artisans and painters and promoted gastronomy and popular culture, celebrating our identity with our guests.
Valuing gastronomy and preserving the history of the murejonas
For more than a decade Real Marina Hotel & Spa has been present at the Festival do Marisco in Olhão, strengthening its bond with the community and the identity of the region. The hotel's participation has given value to Algarvean gastronomy through dishes made with fish, shellfish and other local produce, helping to spread the flavours of the Ria Formosa and to stimulate the local economy. In August 2025, during the Festival do Marisco, Real Marina Hotel & Spa hosted the exhibition “Murejonas do Ti Chico”, by Francisco Valério, an 80-year-old retired fisherman who continues, with his own hands, to keep alive a craft that would otherwise be lost. Before they were decorative objects, the murejonas were tools of the trade: artisanal fishing traps used in the Ria Formosa until the 1990s to catch small fish.
In each murejona on display, a piece of Olhão's memory reaches guests and visitors of one of the region's most emblematic events, helping to preserve and share a craft knowledge deeply bound to the history of the men of the sea and to the cultural heritage of the region.
Painting and artisanal pieces on show
Real Marina Hotel & Spa regularly hosts a painting exhibition by a local artist in the lobby, dedicated to the landscapes and identity of Olhão, with depictions of the islands, the boats, the town and the Ria Formosa. Beyond this lobby gallery, the paintings are also shown in the Marina com Noélia restaurant. Occasionally other spaces receive smaller works by local artisans, including sculptures inspired by the fauna and natural heritage of the region, such as birds and fish. In 2025 a group of artisans from the Pólo de Educação ao Longo da Vida saw their handwork integrated into the decoration of the sculptures in the lobby of Holiday Inn Algarve Albufeira, giving visibility to work that would otherwise have remained confined to the association's own space. These initiatives give visibility to local talent, bring guests closer to Algarvean culture and contribute to valuing and sharing the identity of the territory.
Also in the Algarve, Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel Spa hosted, between July and August, a painting exhibition by contemporary Portuguese artists, developed in partnership with an art gallery. Promoted for several years now, this initiative helps give visibility to national artistic creation and bring guests closer to Portuguese culture, integrating art into the experience the hotel offers.
Santos Populares: a singular experience for guests that values local tradition
The valuing of local traditions was felt too at our Amazónia Jamor Hotel, Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel Spa, Real Marina Hotel & Spa and Hotel Real Palácio units, which marked the Santos Populares with a street party inspired by one of the most emblematic celebrations in Portuguese culture
Through the initiative, guests and visitors enjoyed an experience marked by traditional gastronomy, with live grills and typical dishes, popular music, decoration evoking the season and an atmosphere designed to bring different generations together around one of the country's most deeply rooted festivities. This celebration strengthened our hotels' bond with national traditions, offering an authentic experience that brings visitors closer to the culture and identity of the territories where the Group is present.
Support for the local economic fabric
Local promotion: produce from the region
Our policy is to favour buying products from suppliers based in Portugal, because we believe in the positive impact it has: it stimulates the regional economy, creates closeness with the communities where we are, and helps preserve the traditions and the balance of the territory, contributing at the same time to a unique experience for guests.
Suppliers based in Portugal (%)
The proportion of suppliers based in Portugal in 2025 held level with 2024, at around 93%, showing a strong preference for national trade.
Split of suppliers based in Portugal and international suppliers in 2025
Based in Portugal, International
* Purchase values in this section refer to purchases of stock-managed materials.
Offering unique products and promoting local culture to guests
At Real Hotels Group we give priority to products of local origin wherever feasible, particularly in the categories where provenance is a genuine differentiator, capable of adding value both to the guest experience and to the business. Working with nearby suppliers is not only a way of supporting the regional economy and valuing the cultural, historical and gastronomic heritage of each territory; it is also a strategic choice, bringing us more operational agility, greater reliability in deliveries, and cost advantages. This closeness also lets us offer our guests genuine regional products, reinforcing the distinct identity of each destination where we are present.
This is a commitment we maintain wherever possible, operationally and financially: buying locally and responsibly. In 2025 purchases from suppliers based in Portugal accounted for 93% of the Group's total purchases*. The volume of purchases from national suppliers was 9 798 949 euros.
Examples of Portuguese product categories we favour across our hotels
- Wine
- Fish
- Bivalves (oysters and clams)
- Aromatic herbs
- Mushrooms
- Textiles
- Algarve confectionery
100% of the textiles bought by the group are Portuguese, from Guimarães. This is 3% of the total purchase value.
Where our national suppliers are
In 2025 purchases from Portuguese suppliers accounted for 93% of the Group's total purchases. The network of direct national suppliers is concentrated above all in the regions where we have hotels: Lisboa leads with 46.8%, followed by Faro with 24.5% and Porto with 11.6%. Even so, the reach of our purchasing goes beyond these areas, extending to companies in Setúbal, Santarém, Coimbra, Braga, Aveiro and Madeira, whose business fabric benefits equally from our activity. In Setúbal we have a fish supplier, buying for our hotels across the various regions. In Braga we have our main textiles supplier and, in Aveiro, one of our main office-supplies suppliers. In Coimbra we buy dried fruit and small appliances, in Leiria aromatic herbs and maintenance materials, and in Santarém yoghurts, truffle and mushrooms, and kitchen materials.
National suppliers by district
Intensity< 0.25%≥ 32%
Districts, ranked · 2025
Where our international suppliers are
The Group works with around 39 direct international suppliers, spread across various countries in Europe and the U.S.A. None of them is based in countries flagged as having high environmental and/or human-rights risk. Spain accounts for most of this network, representing 49% of the Group's international suppliers. Some of these international suppliers are referred to us by IHG, for items we must purchase for our Holiday Inn branded hotels.
Other countriesEurope and the U.S.A.Spain