➠This means that the distribution of the courses will also make more sense.
What sets Villa Padierna apart from other resorts with golf courses on the Costa del Sol? What we offer is a very defined product that focuses on a high-end clientele and luxury product. We offer top-quality facilities, from the hotel to the restaurants - and the golf courses, of course - and we focus a lot on customer service, with a great welcome and constant attention from entering our resort until leaving. What we are offering is not simply to come and play a golf course, but a very pleasant experience in every way. You could say that excellence is our hallmark. In the residential sphere, what real estate products does Villa Padierna have available? When the resort was purchased, around five million square metres were acquired. We developed the first and second phase, which is where the hotel and the golf courses are located, and all the real estate products, which represent around 1,000 homes, both single-family and Mediterranean villages and apartments. Now the future is the development of the second phase, comprising 192 single-family plots. It is a concept that we want to develop in an urbanisation within an
urbanisation, thus enhancing the safety and privacy of residents. We are receiving a lot of demand from both foreign and national investors. The starting price will be between €600 and €800 per square metre and we are talking about plots of 2,200 square metres or more. Felipe Arranz tackles the issue of the Costa del Sol’s future when it comes to tourism and the residential market with optimism despite
“We are well positioned and we have to know how to take advantage of Marbella as a brand. We have to develop this rough diamond that we have, and I think we are still not aware of that.” signs of an economic slowdown that could even prelude a period of recession, according to different sources. “We are well positioned and we have to know how to take advantage of Marbella as a brand. We have to develop this rough diamond that we have, and I think
we are still not aware of that.” In his opinion, “It is necessary to work together, with the other businesspeople, which in a way is what we have lacked in recent years. We must try to join forces, strengthen the brand and develop everything at the level that it warrants. And not focusing on facile and shortterm businesses but on long-term strategies where we all head in the same direction and we all empower each other, because surely, as my father says (Ricardo Arranz, president of Villa Padierna Group), the best years of Marbella are coming and that is when we have to be attentive and not miss the opportunities.” With his extensive work and responsibilities as executive consultant to the Villa Padierna Group, Felipe Arranz does not play golf as much as he would like, but he hopes to reverse the situation slightly. “The truth,” he says, “is that last year I was a little obsessed because, considering that we own several courses, we had to perform, so to speak, on the golf courses. My goal then was to get below two digits and last summer I managed to reach a handicap of 9.2. Now I clearly do not maintain that but I will have to take up the challenge again for summer, as friendships and commitments are renewed, and I’ll need to be in form again.” ■
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