A bid by four Murcian businessmen for Hotel Cenajo has been accepted by the owners, the Segura Water Board, and after five years of closure the hotel is expected to be open by Christmas.
Over the next month the four businessmen will complete the paperwork and form a cooperative which will begin to restore the buildings which have deteriorated due to time and vandalism.
The cooperative is expected to invest an intial 2.00,000 euros in the hotel, restauant, the sports facilities and surroundings.
«It will not be a luxury hotel. It is no our intention to provide accomodation of three or four stars,” said a spokesperson. “We want to offer good quality at competitive prices for clients who enjoy the beauty of the natural area around the hotel.”
The cabins and surrounding area are expected to be used for schools and camping.
The hotel will be open from June to September and outside these months will only
function at weekends, fiestas and Christmas and Easter.
The promoters envisage a Nature Study Centre and a Sustainability School for ecological activities. There will also be a multi-adventure centre offering mountain biking, fishing, riding routes, canoeing and paintball..
The Segura Water Board conceded the complex to the Regional Government of Murcia which converted it into a hotel in 1991. It functioned until 2009 when it closed. The Department of Tourism attempted to reopen the hotel but failed and returned the complex to the Water Board.
Hotel Cenajo is situated in a local beauty spot on the banks of one of the largest and most spectacular reservoirs in the region. The reservoir was built by Franco´s political prisoners and a giant cross, a common symbol of Franco´s repression, still stands on a high rock towering above the reservoir.
