“Because it’s in the city center, it becomes part of the city’s heritage. It was part of our vision to restore the building as much as possible to how it looked before, so that took a lot of time, effort, and work to replicate its original style. Every detail took time to work. We have paintings and murals on the wall, and all of that required patience for it to come together exactly as we envisioned.”
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the hotel’s grand opening by a year, but the Conquistador Palace has put up a strong showing in the 12 months since it began welcoming guests, many of whom have followed Sousa through his 15 years on the ATP tour.
“They’ve enjoyed being able to see my trophies, which we feature in all of our rooms,” said Sousa, who has won four ATP singles titles and completed a ninth season ranked inside the Top 100 in 2022.
“The building itself It offers a lot of history within its walls, and with the themes of the room and the artwork throughout the hotel, it all tells a story to our guests. We find that they feel really special to even be able to stay in such an old building with such immense history, and we’ve been able to blend that history with my own tennis history and my career. That makes it even more special.”