Soho Boutique has sold the 17 vacation hotels it operated under the Moon Dreams brand, four of which are in Malaga.

The Malaga-based hotel chain Soho Boutique has sold the 17 vacation hotels it operated under the Moon Dreams brand to Bluesea Hotels, owned by the ... Portobello fund, as confirmed by Soho Boutique. Four of these establishments are located on the Costa del Sol. Specifically, two in Torremolinos, one in Fuengirola, and another in Rincón de la Victoria.

The transaction involves a total of 1,811 rooms. From Soho Boutique Hotels, it has been assured that "the chain is beginning a new stage" in which it has decided to focus its growth strategy on the urban sector, its original business line after a two-year foray into the vacation segment. The idea of the Malaga company is "to strengthen its position as a leading hotel chain in the urban area at a national level, with a consolidated presence in the heart of major Spanish cities." From there, they have advanced, "the decision to close the sale of the vacation brand."

Gonzalo Armenteros, president of the company, has assured that "during these two years, the vacation line has been a valuable opportunity to explore new business avenues. Today, after a responsible reflection and looking to the future, we have decided to focus all our resources on what really defines us: the urban hotel. It is there where we were pioneers, and it is there where we will be leaders."

Furthermore, he highlighted that this operation will allow them to continue expanding their leadership in the national panorama and strengthen their presence in new urban destinations. "It opens a new stage of international expansion, with active growth plans in markets such as Morocco, Italy, and Portugal," he stated, to reiterate the message that "we return to our origins to move forward with more strength. We bet on hospitality with identity, location, purpose. And we do it with the ambition to grow, yes, but also to do it well."

The decision to give up the vacation sector was made after a deep analysis of the strategic direction of the company in the medium and long term. "It represents a statement of intent: Soho Boutique Hotels redoubles its commitment to the urban traveler, the one who wants to get to know a city in a few days and live it intensely, designing experiences where a privileged location joins with high-level amenities and the professional and close treatment that distinguishes us," they advanced after especially thanking Andersen Law Firm and A&G Private Banking for their support in this operation, which has been considered "key to materializing this new business vision."

1,811

are the rooms totaling the 17 hotels acquired by Bluesea.

Soho Boutique has specified that this change implies not only a brand restructuring but also a statement of intentions. "Soho Boutique Hotels focuses its vision on what it does best, and what makes it different: leading the urban hotel sector, with its own style and international vocation," they detailed.

Strategic Company

It is worth remembering that last year was when Soho Boutique focused its expansion beyond the urban segment, in which they are strategic, to look at vacation complexes in prime beachfront locations. Businesses, which included tourist apartments managed under the Moon Dreams brand. Armenteros advanced at that time that "being our core business the urban, we have opened a new division for the vacation. We believe there is a huge opportunity and we are betting very strongly on the beach segment." A strategy that focused only on Spain and a sale with which they want to boost their original business.

The Malaga chain is in a process of constant expansion, which they will now concentrate in the urban sector, after a 2025 in which the challenge was to incorporate twenty establishments. Soho Boutique wants to have a presence in all the provincial capitals of Andalusia where they still need to conquer Almería, Jaén, and Huelva, and also continue with their expansion of horizons on the international stage.

It should also be mentioned that it was last August when Soho Boutique prematurely and voluntarily ended the rescue that in January 2022 it received from the Fund for the Solvency Support of Strategic Companies (FASEE), managed by the Spanish Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), of a loan of 30 million euros, which at the beginning of the year had been requested to overcome the impact of the pandemic and after demonstrating compliance with all the eligibility and solvency criteria of its viability plan for the following years. At that time, the Malaga group assured that "prematurely and voluntarily, and with the confidence of the banks, Soho Hotels concludes the temporary public financing that supported the hotel group during the Covid crisis, preserving its active hotel plant and maintaining the more than 600 jobs of that time and that now are already more than 2,000."

At that time, the chain, considered strategic at the level of urban tourism, had 34 hotels, was the one that concentrated the largest offer of beds in the capital of the Costa del Sol, with 1,070 places and twelve hotels, and the largest volume of establishments in Andalusia.