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Sofitel Luxury Hotels has this week announced a new management contract with Carrasco Nobile S/A, a consortium managed by the Spanish group Codere, to manage the Casino Carrasco Hotel in Montevideo which will become the Sofitel Montevideo Casino Carrasco and Spa.

Sofitel intends to transform the symbolic building located in the Uruguayan capital into the region’s premier luxury address, with restoration and construction work in preparation for the hotel’s reopening in 2011 expected to take 27 months.

Just 30 minutes from the international airport, this historical building enjoys a privileged location facing the beach. It is located near the La Plata River, one of the city’s most prized locations. Moreover, Montevideo is close to Buenos Aires (30 minutes by plane) and Brazil (two hours flight from Sao Paulo).

The future Sofitel Montevideo Casino Carrasco and Spa will offer 116 rooms, a lobby bar, a 450-seat conference center, an indoors and an outdoors swimming pool and a fitness center. It will also be the brand’s first hotel in this region to have a casino. This address will also offer a French gastronomic restaurant named the 1921, which refers to the date the hotel was founded. The address will also offer the new exclusive So SPA by Sofitel concept, a modern 515 sq.m. space for well-being and beauty.

According to Nagi Naoufal, Sofitel South America’s General Manager, “Montevideo is an important destination in Latin America due to its potential for growth, its tourist attraction and its stable economy. We will be working fervently to restore the inside of this establishment and to preserve its cultural and architectural identity. Since the city does not have a luxury hotel of this standing, our objective is to position it as the best in the region, including a luxury casino with an events space.”

History

The Casino Carrasco Hotel was designed in 1912. After construction came to a stand still because of the First World War, the Chamber continued the construction process, which was finished in 1921. This majestic building, surrounded by gardens and Carrara marble sculptures, soon became the place to be for high society.

From a construction point of view, the hotel reflects an era that accorded a major place to symbolic values, combining diverse architectural styles, all in a very avant-garde spirit.

Sofitel in Latin America

With this location, the Sofitel Luxury Hotel brand strengthens its presence in South America. It will now have nine hotels in South America (Argentina, Brazil and Colombia), including the last one in Cardales, located just 40 minutes from Buenos Aires, which just celebrated its first year of operation.

Sofitel, World Class Hotels & French Elegance | Sofitel is the only French luxury hotel brand with a presence on five continents with 130 addresses, in more than 50 countries. Sofitel offers contemporary hotels and resorts adapted to today’s more demanding and more versatile consumers who expect and appreciate beauty, quality and excellence. Whether situated in the heart of a major city like Paris, London, New York or Beijing, or nestled away in a country landscape in Morocco, Egypt, Fiji Islands or Thailand, each Sofitel property offers a genuine experience of the French “ art de vivre”. Discover Sofitel on

Rodolphe Moulin-Chabrot
Sofitel Press Relations Worldwide
+33 (0) 1 61 61 23 88
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