When Prince Maximilian von Hohenlohe got into his coal-powered Rolls Royce heading to Marbella, he never thought that his fate would change his life. It was 1946 and he was going to visit his cousin, Ricardo Soriano, who told him about the benefits of a still unknown corner in a Spain where tourism did not exist. Hohenlohe fell in love with that place and the following year he sent his son, Prince Alfonso, to look for a house. He found the Santa Margarita farm, an old farm with 18 hectares of pine and fig trees by the sea where the family built a splendid Andalusian-style house. There they invited the cream of the European aristocracy, Hollywood stars, illustrious surnames who forgot the French Riviera to go to that exotic destination in exotic Andalusia. Thus was born, in 1954, the Marbella Club Hotel,the heart of legendary Marbella. That of Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner or Grace Kelly. An establishment that now reinvents and rejuvenates itself with heirs to great fortunes and diverse celebrities: from Lady Gaga to Cristiano Ronaldo, Lenny Kravitz, Valeria Mazza and Ester Exposito.
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“There are many well-known names that are still with us, but now they hardly count it.
They prefer to enjoy the hotel in a more intimate way, without having to be aware that someone takes out a mobile phone ”, says Julián Cabanillas, director of the hotel establishment, now in the hands of the Shamoon family, also owners of the nearby Roman Bridge and hotels such as Nobu Ibiza and Nobu Marbella, driven by Robert de Niro.
In times of uncertainty for tourism, the Marbella Club has adapted part of its business "to being a place to live" thanks to long stays influenced by the pandemic. He also plans to open restaurants and activities that recover the essence of the hotel, such as the city's social club. It seeks to go back to the times when they had the only telephone in the area and whoever used it stayed there to spend the day. Today, under the shade of its huge trees and the freshness of its vegetation, it is a time capsule that seeks to attract new generations to its 130 accommodations, of which 17 are villas with between two and six rooms. Around it, however, the natural environment has drastically mutated based on concrete and asphalt under a new tourism model promoted since the time of Jesús Gil.
The entrance to the luxury hotel Marbella Club, on the Costa del Sol. Garcia-Santos / El Pais
In 1954, Prince Alfonso started the business with 18 rooms and the help of his cousin Rudolf Graf von Schönburg, known as Count Rudi and married to Maria Luisa of Prussia. His contacts around the world served to polish the establishment. "His influence was a before and after for Marbella and the Costa del Sol," says Rafael de la Fuente, who has managed hotels such as Los Monteros or Villamagna. In the 1950s and 1960s, up to three weekly parties were held. There were costumes, scavenger hunts, live music, and life was celebrated. Barefoot luxury for celebrities who were not afraid of the paparazzi, freed themselves from social ties, moved away from the spotlight. The simple facilities were surrounded by land, the beach was virgin, that corner was a paradise.“The Hohenlohe family gave the Marbella Club a great personality, they turned it into the great locomotive of quality tourism,” recalls the journalist Juan de Dios Mellado, a notary public of those days.
Brigitte Bardot and her husband at the time, Gunther Sachs, together with their great friend Alfonso De Hohenlohe, one of the great promoters of Marbella, in 1968.CORDON PRESS
The hotel was the navel of Marbella's golden years.
Gunilla von Bismarck and Luis Ortiz revolutionized the night and the off-road Jaime de Mora y Aragón, brother of Queen Fabiola of Belgium, attracted the Arab sheikhs.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia spent long periods in the area and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi arrived by helicopter with Brooke Shields for his birthday at Olivia Valère's newly opened nightclub.
Antonio el Bailarín, Elizabeth Taylor, Julio Iglesias, Kim Novak, Liza Minelli, James Stewart, Sean Connery are names linked to the Marbella Club.
There are many more.
This is reflected in images of those unique years that now illustrate the walls of the new El Patio restaurant, which will open in June to complement the legendary El Grill, the Andalusian-style Rudy's bar and the recently opened El Olivar.
Of course, this summer, like last, the festivities that Hubertus de Hohenlohe, son of Prince Alfonso, took up again in 2016, will not be able to be celebrated due to sanitary restrictions.
Yes there will be new beauty and health centers and a shopping arcade in the primitive rooms.
One of the renovated restaurants of the Marbella Club, on the Costa del Sol. Garcia-Santos / El Pais
Another intact argument of the Marbella Club is the climate. This Thursday the weather forecasts warned of rain and clouds throughout the day, but in the middle of the afternoon the sun was biting, the temperature exceeded 20 degrees,
chill out
music
sounded in the beach clubs between cocktails and finding an empty hammock next to the mythical The Marbella Club's palapa was no easy task. It is the tonic of the local climate, which has facilitated that from January to April the hotel has even improved its data for 2019, its best historical year. The hotel currently has all its villas occupied, with prices that reach 3,000 euros per night, up to 5,000 in high season.
Teleworking has given wings to the establishment, which has improved its connectivity so that customers can work while enjoying two swimming pools, six bars, a
beach club
, 50 hectares of gardens, a huge children's club, spa, gym, retreats,
mindfulness
and countless of services. More than 300 people work so that they do not lack anything. There will be more than 400 in summer. By then great surnames are expected again, footballers, NBA players, politicians, nobles, great Russian fortunes or Spanish families that have rediscovered their territory due to the pandemic. They look for the same thing that the Hohenlohe and their guests fell in love with more than six decades later: glamor, luxury and discretion.
