Living on the costa

Marbella town exceeds 1,000 million in hotel investment in recent years between reforms and new openings of tourist establishments, as well as aspiring to attract American tourists with the arrival of large chains such as Four Seasons, W, Hard Rock or Hyatt, as highlighted by the Director of Tourism of the City Council, Laura de Maple.

The town is experiencing a shock after the Covid-19 pandemic in which the commitment to the renovation of hotel floors is the order of the day, with the aim of increasing the category thanks to the decree of modernization of the Junta de Andalucía, highlighting the municipal manager the “courage” of local companies to catch up with the big international brands that are about to arrive in Marbella, which “are preparing to be no less when they land.” The first of these was the Lima hotel, which became a 4-star hotel after modernizing its facilities with a “quality offer”.

Is the case from El Fuerte Marbella, which opened its doors last June as a 5-star hotel after undertaking a reform of 31 million euros, being the only one in this category “within the city”, has highlighted Arce, who has valued the work he is undertaking the San Cristóbal hotel to obtain the 4 star, which will be renamed Óbal urban hotel, for which it has allocated more than 6 million euros. In addition, last May La Fonda opened in the old town after a reform that has had more than 11 million investment.

To this are added the 5 stars Grand Luxury Los Monteroswhich remains closed with a work that will begin shortly after the City Council granted the building license this July and an investment of more than 10 million euros, as well as the hotel guadalmina, which will allocate 55 million euros to reform and expand its facilities, with which it will increase its category from 4 to 5-star Grand Luxury. In addition, de Arce has indicated that the 5-star Don Pepe Gran Meliá hotel plans to carry out a renovation of its floor in autumn.

Another milestone is the purchase of the Incosol hotel last year by the Ilanga Capital chain, recalled the municipal manager, stressing that the group has acquired the building with the aim of making it “a benchmark in the segment wellness 5 stars”, for which an investment of more than 150 million euros will be allocated. Its opening is scheduled for the last quarter of 2025 and it will have an offer of 140 or 160 rooms, as well as specialized treatments and a clinical area.

As for the hotels that already opened their doors last summer, the director of Tourism has recalled the renovation of the Hard Rock Hotel in the facilities of the old Andalucía Plaza, which has gone from 4 to 5 stars; or the opening of the all-inclusive Club Med Magna Marbella hotel in May 2022.

Landing of the American chains

He Landing of the big American chains It is pending for the next few years, as is the case of the Four Seasons, the W hotel in Las Chapas or the Hyatt in Puerto Banús, the latter being the one that “is furthest behind” in terms of its processing, since at the moment it is only ” the purchase of the plot”, in which it is planned to build a hotel for convention tourism with “250 rooms”, he recalled.

In her opinion, the arrival of these large chains will mean “having a greater clientele from the US and Canada with whom we have been working for years, but which has not yet grown as we would like”, said the Director of Tourism, although has qualified that the American tourist “It has grown by 20% compared to 2019”.

In this way, he has indicated that the presence of these chains in the city will generate an effect called “at the American level”, since “Marbella is a benchmark in Europe and it is very well positioned as a benchmark for quality tourism”, but the client from the US and Canada was the “Achilles heel” and with which “most of the promotion of the last two years” is being developed, he has assured From Maple.

In this sense, it has opted for the air connections that exist with the US from Malaga Airport “They should be kept all year”, as is the case of the flight with the USA, which is why he hopes that these chains will reinforce the arrival of these markets, which “are so necessary due to the profile, which is very adapted to what Marbella is offering”.

The Four Seasons brand plans to build a 5-star Grand Luxury hotel to the east of the city, which will have 200 rooms and 486 homes, of which more than half will be single-family free-standing and the other semi-detached and in the category of Mediterranean towns. To do this, the chain will invest more than 650 million euros, the project of which is still being processed after the City Council Plenary approved the El Pinar Partial Plan in October 2021, although the first stone was laid in 2018.

Platimun adds 8 years of processing for the W hotel

Another big project is the 5 star Grand Luxury W hotelwhich projects Platinum States, a resort that will have 186 rooms and suites74 tourist apartments, 108 private residences with the right to the services of the establishment and a beach clubfor which it is expected to allocate an investment of “380 million euros” as production costs increase, said the representative of the brand in Spain, Juan Luis Segalerva.

The project is waiting for the Junta de Andalucía to definitively approve the punctual modification of elements of the sector URP-AL6 ‘Las dunas club’, after the City Council completed the processing, to which the promoter has also sent the projects of “parceling and urbanization”, of which the Consistory has already informed of the “modifications” that must be carried out and that will be approved in the Local Government Board once it has the green light from the Board, he pointed out. Subsequently, the building permit may be requested and the work started, which has been estimated for “Holy Week 2024”.

“Now this has a rhythm”, Segalerva has remarked in relation to the processing, which now adds up to 8 years, highlighting that a agreement with Millennium that “it is not deeded”, to sell the company the “hotel plot” to build the hotel, although it must be subrogated to the W contract; Meanwhile he resort It will be operated by Marriott. For its part, Platinum will build on the rest of the land, he added.

The works of the Óbal urban hotel, executed at 70%

Another major project is the reform of the San Cristóbal hotel, in the heart of the city, which will be renamed Óbal urban hotel, with some works that are “around 70% of the execution is pending, areas of new construction in the future hotel and the final furnishing of rooms and public areas are pending”, according to the general director, Manuel Murga, declared.

The integral reform of the building “involves the modernization and updating of the internal and physical facilities of the hotel, seeking with this the greatest possible energy efficiency, that we are respectful for the purposes of sustainability and care for the environment aimed at our impact on the local society and economy be the most beneficial possible”.

This reform supposesa product update, presenting a modern and avant-garde hotel in which soft, subdued colors will predominate and that the guest feels and perceives the luminosity of the Mediterranean”. With it, Murga has specified that the hotel floor will have “110 rooms, and new gastronomic spaces and for meetings or social events”, increasing capacity by 10 rooms.

As he recalled, this project of change and transformation “entails a category increase to 4 stars, therefore, the services offered will be those typical of an establishment of this category” and with respect to accommodation it will offer “new superior rooms, junior suites and suite room spacious and bright”.

In the area of restoration and gastronomy will feature the Alameda restaurant, which will have an updated menu with a Mediterranean influence and zero kilometer, accompanied by a rooftop or terrace on the fifth floor where “concerts and live music” will be held.

Murga has stressed that after the reform, the hotel will position itself in the urban tourism segment thanks to its central location, and just 200 meters from the beach, which “will imply that we are a multi-segment hotel, with holiday and leisure clientele in the summer months and weekends; company clients who come to Marbella for business and have to move throughout the municipality and with the new meeting rooms and gastronomic spaces, we will serve the MICE market for conventions, meetings and incentives”, as well as the golf tourist.

Marbella stands out as a benchmark for luxury

For her part, the director of the El Fuerte Marbella hotel, María José Antúnez, highlighted that “it was the first luxury hotel in Marbella Pueblo”, so with the reform undertaken “we wanted to restore its splendor and that unique character that it had in its beginnings to position it as the best 5-star hotel in the center and a gastronomic benchmark in the city”.

As he has assessed, “the entrance to the Plaza de large international chains and the great effort in terms of investment and training that 5-star hotels like ours have made to improve hotel quality is making itself felt”, which is why “Marbella is recovering the magic that once positioned it as a point meeting of the jet set European and international at the highest level”.

Thus, he has pointed out that “Marbella is a destination that has everything you need to succeed in a big way: history, a unique climate, excellent connectivity with the main European cities, gastronomy with a star, and an unbeatable accommodation offer”. “If we do things right, and continue to bet on continuous improvement, a diversified promotion of the destination and an increase in specialized training, you will get to where you deserve, in the top 10 most exclusive tourist cities in the world”.

He Club Med Magna Marbella It opened its doors last year after a modernization of the old Don Miguel hotel, with an occupation of “more than 80% filling on the annual average scale”, according to the director, Pierre Jean Montagné.

In its first year of opening, the clientele has been made up of tourists “in their majority French-speaking Europeanswith an alternation of a family clientele with an adult clientele and MICE”, he added, highlighting that “Marbella is the fashionable area with outstanding tourist, cultural and sporting attractions”.