The hotel born from the sea and fishing

At the beginning of the 1960s, someone told Paco Lima to acquire some land in Marbella, which was still a fishing town but was starting to attract the first foreign tourists. Lima invested part of the capital he had earned from selling fish—he transported it to Ojén on the back of a donkey and was the first to transport it by truck to Madrid—in buying a plot located in the urban center, as well as the Marbella camping site, situated on the outskirts and the first one the municipality had. That plot—Paco wanted to buy an adjacent piece of land, but his wife thought it was too risky—would house a residence that would bear the surname of its founder and opened its doors in 1965 with two stars and over time, would become a hotel. Like the town itself, this Marbella resident transitioned from the challenging fishing industry to the more profitable tourism industry. This year, the property, celebrating its 60th anniversary, has become one of the most emblematic of a Marbella whose maritime past has been overshadowed by the rampant glow of tourism. “When my grandfather opened the residence, there were only three hotels in Marbella,” recalls Celia Rodríguez Lima, the hotel's owner-partner, who started working at the reception during her summer holidays at the age of 12. “My brother and I would take eight-hour split shifts. My cousins would work sometimes. There were many Italian and French tourists. We offered breakfasts that we delivered to the rooms on small trays. I particularly remember the affection shown to me by the guests,” she notes. The hotel's entry into modernity occurred in 2020, when the management took advantage of the COVID shutdown to carry out renovations lasting a year and a half, during which the establishment, with 3,000 square meters spread over nine floors and 61 rooms, was upgraded from two stars to four. The renovations helped to refresh its appearance without losing its essence, including a transformation of its facade, and the addition of a rooftop pool with a solarium, and rooms of Double, Premium, and Suite categories.