The AP Dona Aninhas Hotel is a jewel in the heart of the historic city of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. Located along the picturesque northern coast of this vibrant country, Viana do Castelo’s medieval architecture, colourful culture, breathtaking beaches, and stunning natural beauty sees it attract more than a million visitors every year.
AP Dona Aninhas Hotel is nestled in this beautiful setting, just two minutes away from the bustling city centre. It is part of the AP Hotels & Resorts Group, a major local chain whose portfolio includes nine outstanding hotels. With its privileged location and meticulous attention to detail, AP Dona Aninhas has become a benchmark in the region's hospitality industry. Every room and suite has been carefully designed and decorated to immerse guests in the enchanting world of Viana culture, paying homage to three distinct themes – the navigators, filigree, and Viana embroidery.
In addition to its cultural richness, AP Dona Aninhas stands out for its wellness and relaxation facilities. Guests can keep up their exercise routine in the well-equipped gym or relax in the contemporary spa, which includes an indoor pool, sauna, Turkish bath, and jacuzzi, as well as massage and treatment rooms. Meanwhile, the hotel’s modern meeting room provides the perfect venue for business meetings and conferences.
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We recommend Salto for the quality of its equipment, which combines modern and sophisticated design. In addition, the entire sales and support team has shown exemplary professionalism, always ready to offer the best service.
We are deeply grateful for the AP Hotels & Resorts Group's vote of confidence in Salto's solution. With the AP Dona Aninhas Hotel, we have now successfully implemented our seventh hotel. We are excited about the prospect of continuing this fruitful and collaborative partnership, offering innovative solutions adapted to the ever-evolving needs of the hotel industry
Launched in 2023, AP Dona Aninhas has grown to become one of the top four-star hotels in Viana do Castelo. It was created by refurbishing a historic building in the city, establishing a unique location that blends modern convenience with cultural charm.
However, transforming a heritage building into a state-of-the-art boutique hotel came with specific demands, chiefly the need for a unified but scalable management system. Besides the complexities of such a refurbishment, the hotel faced challenges in delivering efficient and secure access management throughout its facilities.
With 68 thoughtfully curated rooms and suites, alongside wellness facilities, a gym, spa, indoor pool, and conference room, a modern, integrated access control solution was crucial. Such a solution would have to take into account the diverse security and access needs of each area, while also providing a regular, detailed audit of access records.
In addition, hotel management was committed to providing a secure yet personalised guest experience, making the requirement for different and customisable access levels essential. These considerations were key when selecting the best access control solution for AP Dona Aninhas.
With a cutting-edge smart solutions ecosystem, Salto was the right partner to bring AP Dona Aninhas’ vision for robust, comprehensive access control to life. This is the seventh AP Hotels & Resorts Group location equipped with Salto’s advanced solutions. To meet the AP Dona Aninhas Hotel’s unique needs, Salto implemented a fully integrated access control system powered by Salto Space – a flexible, easy-to-manage platform designed for complex hospitality environments.
This solution features a variety of advanced technologies and devices, expertly hand-picked to address the hotel’s specific challenges. To start, the Salto Space platform connects all users and doors in the hotel through an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Its ease of use ensures system administrators can control and monitor all access devices in the system, configure personalised access levels, and manage guest and staff access rights efficiently. Booking information is also seamlessly integrated into the access control system, which means guests can receive secure, custom access credentials in real-time.
At the same time, Salto’s Ælement electronic locks were installed on all 68 room and suite doors. Each lock features an elegant design combining flat white readers with a brushed brass finish. Besides giving each room a sleek and harmonious look, this solution guarantees keyless convenience. Now, guests can access their rooms using smart, contactless key cards, boosting security with personalised authorisations while ensuring a smoother check-in experience.
Guests and staff can also enjoy peace of mind from knowing they are contributing to sustainability efforts every time they enter or leave a room. At AP Dona Aninhas, each room and suite is equipped with Salto’s universal Energy Saving Devices (ESD) in a metallic blue finish, designed to provide savings of up to 65% on electricity consumption. These ESDs work by turning off lighting and climate control systems when a room is empty for extended periods. They only recognise authorised cards, thus ensuring efficient control of energy consumption.
Salto’s innovative access solutions extended to service doors, too. Here, XS4 Original+ wireless locks – with a black reader and brushed stainless-steel finish – offer controlled access to the hotel's restricted areas. Salto Mullion Wall Readers and a standard Wall Reader were also installed at strategic points to facilitate access to back-of-house and service area by authorised personnel, all while maintaining the hotel's design and aesthetics.
The implementation of this powerful and integrated Salto solution elevates this hotel’s guest experience and day-to-day operations to new heights. Now, AP Dona Aninhas can not only meet its unique security and access management needs, but also offer guests a superior stay, combining advanced technology with a sophisticated and functional design.
- Intuitive, user-friendly interface, offering centralized access management throughout the property.
- Ability to configure personalized guest and staff access levels, with system administrators providing custom access to different user groups.
- Keyless access, with administrators granting and revoking access in real-time, ensuring improved security, flexibility, and convenience from check-in to check-out.
- Energy efficiency, cutting electricity costs by at least 65% in each room and throughout the hotel.
- Dedicated infrastructure provides easy access for authorised staff to restricted areas.
- Digital key and contactless smart key cards cut long wait times, ensuring an improved check-in experience for hotel guests.
- Unified access control solution, delivering flexibility and scalability in a system that evolves with the hotel’s needs.
Launched in 2023, AP Dona Aninhas has grown to become one of the top four-star hotels in Viana do Castelo.
