The corner portal of the new hotel is inconspicuous, but the address is one of the best in Madrid.
"CR7" has opened a new branch on Gran Vía 29, the large boulevard in the heart of the Spanish capital.
The abbreviation stands for the initials and the jersey number of the Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has long since ceased to be only active in sports.
In Spain and Portugal he invests in hotels and hair clinics.
Hans-Christian Roessler
Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.
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With the new “Pestana CR7 Gran Vía” Ronaldo is returning to Madrid on business, where he played for Real Madrid from 2009 to 2018 before moving to Juventus Turin. The hotel has 168 rooms in the white building from the 1920s, decorated with columns and turrets. On the lower floors it houses one of the largest bookshops in the city.
But many are now drawn to the ninth floor.
There is the sports bar next to a pizzeria and the roof terrace with pool.
It goes without saying that the guests in the four-star footballer's house can also play sports.
Due to the corona pandemic, the opening was delayed by almost a year.
The "soft opening" is not a problem now either, because tourists are only slowly returning to the Spanish capital.
Cheap rooms are available almost everywhere.
100 million euros a year
The “CR7 Gran Vía” is the first hotel outside of Portugal, and in June a fourth hotel opened its doors in New York's Times Square. Ronaldo had started the partnership with the Portuguese Pestana group in his home country. There he picked up on his own roots: The first “Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotel” was built in 2016 at the port of Funchal on Madeira, where the footballer grew up in simple circumstances and has his own museum to remind him of him. That same year, the CR7 Hotel opened in a renovated old building on Lisbon's Baixa. Projects in Marrakech, Manchester and Paris are to follow next. Pestana and Ronaldo have an equal share in the company.
In Madrid, the world footballer, whose annual income Forbes estimates at around 100 million euros, invested in a completely different industry some time ago. He is a partner in “Insparya”, a chain of hair transplant clinics. The first clinic opened in a prime location on Madrid's Calle de Joaquín Costa. The second clinic in Spain is currently being set up in the fashionable coastal town of Marbella, where footballers like to go on vacation.
Since Insparya took over the Saúde Viável clinics in Portugal, there have also been branches in Lisbon, the Algarve, Braga and Porto - with more than 60 operating theaters and over 300 employees and a total of 40,000 transplants to date. According to press reports, a new clinic is planned in Milan with the slogan: “Get your hair back now and forever.” Ronaldo not only gave money for it, but also inspired people with his role model, the “result of effort , hard work and the spirit of sacrifice, ”as it says on the Insparya website.
When it comes to growing his wealth, the multiple Champions League winner is indeed tireless and creative. With his brand CR7 he already sold underwear, shoes, perfumes, sunglasses and duvets. Fitness centers also bear his abbreviation. According to Forbes, it's his lucrative advertising deals that help him become a billionaire. Five years ago he was awarded a $ 1 billion lifetime contract from sporting goods manufacturer Nike. It is speculated that he has long been making more money with advertising than on the football field - especially on the Internet.
According to the annual “Instagram Rich List”, Ronaldo has more than 300 million followers, more than any other Instagram user in the world.
He's making the most money there now with his commercials: According to the list, every post makes up to $ 1.6 million, which puts actor Dwayne Johnson ("The Rock") in the shade.
Lately he seems to be thinking more about his athletic retirement.
According to media reports, he bought one of the most expensive apartments in Lisbon last year, a 288 square meter penthouse.
In addition, there was a plot of 10,000 square meters on the coast in Cascais.
He's slowly starting to enjoy the idea of “seeing himself outside of football.
Who knows what will happen in the next year or two, ”he said in an interview with SPORTbible.
He seems to have reconciled himself with Spain. He was charged with tax evasion in Madrid in 2017. He was accused of having concealed income from image rights through a network of mailbox companies and not paying more than 14 million euros in taxes. In the end, he pleaded guilty to several counts, received a suspended sentence of two years and had to pay almost 19 million euros in taxes.
Apparently none of this did any harm to his love for the country. This summer he cruised again with his large family on his yacht off Mallorca, as shown by pictures that he published on social networks. After Portugal's early elimination from the European Championship, he suddenly had a longer vacation. According to information from the newspaper Última Hora, he was driven to the luxury finca Castell de Manresa in Alcúdia in a blue Rolls-Royce.