Marbella approves renovation of two iconic hotels with budget exceeding 17 million euros

The hotel sector in Marbella keeps accelerating investment. The local ruling team gave on Tuesday the green light to two projects for the renovation of iconic hotels in the town.

One is the Senator Marbella, which the Meliá chain will operate after a 12.88-million-euro renovation. The project was already under consideration and received final approval from the municipal governing body after fulfilling a prerequisite for its implementation.

The other hotel is the Guadalmina, which is in the hands of Hotel Investment Partners (HIP), 65 per cent of which is owned by American investment bank Blackstone (the world's largest alternative asset manager). The local ruling team has approved a modification to the project, which entails an additional injection of 4.81 million euros, following the town hall's initial approval in May 2023 for 55 million euros.

The announcement comes after news emerged that Blackstone plans to sell Hotel Investment Partners. At first, the company considered a direct sale to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, which bought a 35 per cent stake in the hotel group in 2024. Now, however, the plan seems to focus on a stock market listing, which could become one of the largest IPOs in recent years.

HIP owns around 70 hotels, mainly in Spain but also in other European destinations such as Greece (ten), Italy (six) and Portugal (two), often in partnership with major hotel chains. This includes five other hotels the New York-based firm owns in the province: Barceló Marbella, Mett Hotel & Beach Resort in Estepona, Occidental Torremolinos Playa, NH Málaga and AC Málaga Palacio.

The project approved in 2023 for the creation of the so-called Guadalmina Spa & Golf Resort involves an increase in surface area of 1,220 square metres, which allows, among other things, to add 70 more rooms and reach 250 - precisely the same as the number of jobs the hotel, built in 1959, will directly generate.

"These types of investments are part of the natural dynamics of the tourism sector, where operators make decisions based on their market analysis and expectations for the destination's development," municipal spokesperson Félix Romero said.

According to Romero, "projects of this scale also highlight the municipality's position within international tourism circuits". He noted that initiatives like this bring significant economic benefits to the town, particularly in construction, supplies and support services.

The local ruling team also approved other measures.

In the sphere of culture, the town will join the Andalusian network of public theatres in 2026. This will give municipal venues such as the CAE La Alcoholera access to theatre, music, dance and circus performances. "This institutional partnership helps diversify the cultural offering and gives access to shared programming circuits," the councillor stated.

The town hall will also take budget amendments worth around 1.2 million euros to the next local council meeting. These funds come partly from savings in procurement processes and partly from European programme funding. Romero said the money will go towards several projects, including a multi-purpose centre in the Calvario park area, a vertical garden at the entrance to Puerto Banús, ornamental features along the coastal path and new video surveillance and traffic control systems in the La Ermita industrial area. The plan also includes additional funding for municipal sports facilities and for the technical management of the related works.