The Fuerte and Barceló hotel chains are competing for the Marbella Free Time Residence.

The future of the Marbella Free Time Residence is a matter for two. Ritusa SA, a company based at the five-star El Fuerte hotel in Marbella, and the hotel chain Barceló are the only two offers on the table from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and European Funds to take over the hotel operation of what was the last of the three Union Holiday Cities built in Spain for the family rest of public company workers, and which later closed its doors.

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The Board extends the deadline for submitting offers for the hotel operation of the Marbella Free Time Residence

The Marbella company and the hotel giant, which is participating under the name Barceló Arrendamientos Hoteleros SL, have remained as the only contenders to take over the management of this complex—inaugurated in 1962—for the next 75 years, with the possibility of extending it to reach 99 years. The decision will be made through an auction process, which will be held on the 21st. This occurred after the contracting board disqualified a third contender: the Marbella developer Sierra Blanca States Epic SL. The company submitted its offer through the company Leisure City Management SLU, sole partner of Sierra Blanca States, and tried to demonstrate financial solvency through the developer, but the contracting board rejected it as it is expressly prohibited in the terms of reference "the possibility of integrating solvency with external means".

The deadline for submission of proposals was open a month longer than planned after a resource from Castillo de San Luis SL, a company owned by Fuertegroup SL, the company behind El Fuerte Marbella, the Olée Holiday Rentals vacation apartments in Torrox Costa, and three other four-star hotels in the provinces of Huelva and Cádiz (El Rompido, Conil de la Frontera, and Grazalema). Finally, the offer did not come through this company, but through Ritusa SA, whose sole administrator is the president of Fuertegroup, which also owns Amare Hotels, a brand that includes establishments in Marbella and Ibiza, with a third announced for next spring in Sancti Petri, in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz).

Investment and fee

Whoever takes over the management of the Marbella Free Time Residence will have to make an investment of at least 50 million euros during the first fifteen years, in addition to starting the operation of the property within three years from the signing of the contract. They must also pay the fee offered, which has a minimum amount of 4 million euros.

The investment will be made within the framework of the agreement signed by the Ministry of Economy and the Marbella City Council to change the use of the plot to hotel use, allowing an increase in buildability of 30,000 m2t over the current built surface (23,395 square meters on land of almost 197,502), and must comply with the regulations for the protection established for the Andalusian Historical Heritage.