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Hotel history
Before the high-rises came to Benidorm, the hotels came. Their story runs from an inn for stagecoach travellers, via family hotels with their own seafaring legends, to a 186-metre hotel tower.
Hotels that shaped Benidorm
1865 to 1920
Stagecoach, sea baths and summer rooms
- Hostal La Mayora
- 1865
- Sea baths
- 1870 or later
The first guests slept in inns. In 1865 the Hostal La Mayora opened on the Passeig de la Carretera, at the corner of Calle La Palma, by the stagecoach stop where fresh horses were harnessed. At the start of Playa de Levante, Francisco Ronda y Galindo ran a sea-bathing establishment, according to its brochure the “Baños de Mar de la Virgen del Sufragio”, with separate sections for men and women.
When it opened is disputed: local historian Juan Díaz gives 1870, while the undated advertising brochure is dated to around 1880 or to 1893. As there were hardly any guest beds, many families let their houses in summer. In June 1920 a German excursion group took every bed in town in one go, including those at La Mayora.
Sources: Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2018 · Astrolabio (J. Díaz Ortuño), 2013
1926 to 1931
A steward builds the first hotel
- Founder
- Pedro Cortés Barceló
- Opened
- 1926, 1929 or 1931
- Rooms
- around 40
Pedro Cortés Barceló sailed for around 20 years as a steward for the shipping line Navieras Bilbaínas. With his savings and the help of his wife Angelina, he built a hotel on the front line of Playa de Levante and named it after his employer: Hotel Bilbaíno. It is considered Benidorm’s first hotel. To this day many regulars come from the Basque Country, some families in the fourth generation.
The founding year is disputed. The hotel itself and the local paper Calvari give 1926, the newspaper Información 1929, the hotel catalogue of the municipal archive 1931. In the early 1960s the Bilbaíno opened only from July to September. It is still in operation, with around 40 rooms.
Sources: Calvari, 2022 · Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2016 · Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005
1934
A radio operator lends the name
- Built by
- Miguel Barceló Martínez
- Floors
- 2, from 1949 3
Hotel Marconi was also built by a seaman. Miguel Barceló Martínez had been a radio operator with the Compañía Transatlántica and named his house after the Marconi radio sets that equipped the big ships of the day. It was built in 1934 on Playa de Poniente, at the other end of town, with two floors and only a few rooms.
In 1949 it was converted and gained a third floor. According to Histobenidorm the Marconi was Benidorm’s third hotel; the hotel catalogue of the municipal archive lists the Hotel Levante (1933) between the Bilbaíno and the Marconi. From the Marconi it was a long way to the village, and reaching the beach was harder than in Levante.
Sources: Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2016 · Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005
1952 to 1958
Seven hotels and four guesthouses
- Around 1952 (per Histobenidorm)
- 7 hotels, 4 guesthouses
- Largest hotel around 1960
- Avenida, 122 rooms
Around 1952, according to the local blog Histobenidorm, the town council wanted to know who would also open in winter. Seven hotels and four guesthouses were asked; among the hotels were Villa Marconi, Miramar, Planesia, Bilbaíno, L'Illa, La Mayora and Costablanca. After that new houses were added almost every year, according to the hotel catalogue of the municipal archive for example Avenida in 1954, Les Dunes in 1955, Europa in 1956, Áncora and Brisa in 1957.
The catalogue dates Costablanca and L'Illa to 1953 and itself points out that archive dates may also be licence years. The largest house around 1960 was Francisco Climent Pallarés’s Hotel Avenida, with 122 rooms. According to its brochure, the Hotel Europa in Rincón de Loix belonged to a German company.
Sources: Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2023 · Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005
1952 to 1961
From chalet to hotel on the rock
- Planesia II
- opened 9 July 1960
- Rooms
- 39
- Today
- Villa Venecia
Around 1918–1920 Miguel Payá Pérez had a three-storey chalet built on the Canfali rock. From February 1952 it was registered as a guesthouse, run by Vicente Alemany Martínez under the name Planesia. In 1958 conversion plans were drawn up for the owner, Manuel Fuster.
Alemany built a second Planesia on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, designed by Vicente Vives Llorca: 39 rooms, budgeted at 2.1 million pesetas. It opened on 9 July 1960, three days before the permit was granted; the town charged double fees for it. A later brochure compared the view from the dining room, which hung over the cliffs, to a voyage on a ship. From 1961 the old house was called Canfali; the new one is today the Villa Venecia.
Sources: Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2022 · Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005
1955 to 1965
Les Dunes and a slogan
- Rooms around 1961
- 61
- Slogan
- 1965
According to the hotel catalogue of the municipal archive, the Hotel Les Dunes on Playa de Levante dates from 1955; plans to extend it existed as early as 1956. Around 1961 it had 61 rooms and was in the top category, Primera A; a later brochure mentions 110 rooms, a pool and two bars. It was one of the twelve hotels open all year round in 1961/62.
In 1965 the town’s new slogan was presented at Les Dunes: “El sol pasa el invierno en Benidorm y la brisa el verano”, the sun spends the winter in Benidorm and the breeze the summer. It then also appeared in hotel brochures. There was immediate friction with the Costa del Sol, which used a very similar line.
Sources: Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005
1950s/60s
Pool, lift, air conditioning
- First hotel pool
- Hotel Victoria
- Lift according to brochure
- Áncora, Agir, Montesol
The first hotels worked without public water mains or sewers; laundry was done by hand, cooking on wood or coal stoves. Accordingly, the brochures of the 1960s advertised every advance: the Áncora with a lift and a TV lounge, Agir and Montesol with a lift, Costablanca and Glasor with air conditioning. The Glasor had a freshwater pool for hotel guests only.
The first hotel pool belonged to the Hotel Victoria, built in a former irrigation tank. Bakelite telephones and cisterns mounted high on the wall counted as the latest comfort. Some hotels had their logo put on crockery and cutlery, following the example of the passenger ships on which many Benidorm men had sailed.
Sources: Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005 · Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2013
until 1968/69
Primera A instead of stars
- Categories until 1968/69
- Lujo, 1ª A, 1ª B, 2ª, 3ª
- 1962
- 32 hotels, 20 guesthouses
Until the end of the 1960s Spanish hotels were not given stars but categories: Lujo, Primera A, Primera B, Segunda and Tercera, plus separate classes for guesthouses. Additions such as “Gran”, “Real” or “Imperial” were reserved for luxury hotels. In Benidorm, around 1965, only one house qualified: the Gran Hotel Delfín.
An undated hotel table, probably from 1961, lists 22 houses with around 800 rooms in total. In 1962 Vicente Sarrión, in his final thesis at the University of Murcia, counted 32 hotels and 20 guesthouses with 2,710 beds. A decree of July 1968 introduced stars; according to the hotel catalogue the houses were reclassified in 1969, and the Delfín received five.
Gran Delfín →
Sources: Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005 · Astrolabio (J. Díaz Ortuño), 2012 · Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2015
1963 to 2025
Gran Hotel Delfín: the only luxury hotel
- Opened
- 20 July 1963
- Architect
- José María Garma Zubizarreta
- Demolition
- from March 2025
At the end of 1957 the fresco painter Felipe Pastor and partners bought 11,635 square metres at the western end of Poniente. A first project with around 150 double rooms was approved in 1958 but never built. What was built was a low block with three upper floors and an Olympic-size pool, designed by José María Garma Zubizarreta. The hotel opened on 20 July 1963; the hotel catalogue of the municipal archive differs, giving 1960–61.
Around 1965 the Delfín advertised 150 luxury rooms, air conditioning, a ladies’ hairdresser, a tennis court and two restaurants; the Hotel Carlton in Madrid was under the same management. Demolition began in March 2025. In its place the Gran Delfín is rising; the Delfín Tower already stands on the former tennis courts.
Gran Delfín →Delfín Tower →
Sources: Histobenidorm (F. Amillo Alegre), 2015 · Juan-José Chiner Vives (ed.), Los hoteles del paraíso 1954–1964, 2005 · Alicante Plaza, 2025
1970 to 1973
The hotel factories
- Hotel Presidente
- 470 places
- Hotel Diplomatic
- 350 places
With the big charter jets at El Altet airport, a new scale began in 1970. Within a short time hotels with hundreds of beds went up, known at the time as “hotel factories”. As a typical example, the architect Juan-José Chiner Vives shows the Hotel Pueblo, a high-rise with low annexes. In 1970/71 adverts promoted the Presidente on Avenida de Filipinas with 470 places and the Diplomatic with 350.
In 1959 the first song festival had been held at the Manila Park leisure park on Playa de Levante. By 1971 only ruins and palm trees remained there; afterwards the Hotel Cimbel was built on the site.
Sources: Juan-José Chiner Vives, Benidorm. Los orígenes de la ciudad vertical, 2006 · Mª Nieves Higueras López, Benidorm, estudio de su modelo urbanístico (Proyecto Fin de Grado), 2012
1972
Don Pancho: a sea view for everyone
- Opened
- 13 May 1972
- Rooms
- 256
- Architect
- Juan Antonio García Solera
In 1969 the five Torrubia brothers began planning; Manuel Torrubia worked in tourism with international tour operators. Every guest was to look out to sea. The hotel on Avenida del Mediterráneo was designed by the Alicante architect Juan Antonio García Solera, who had already built in Benidorm in the 1950s.
On 13 May 1972 the Don Pancho opened with 256 rooms, as one of the town’s first four-star hotels. Guests included Julio Iglesias, Rocío Jurado, Raphael, Camilo Sesto and Celia Cruz. In 2021 the Alicante College of Architects awarded the building the Docomomo plaque for modernist architecture. It still belongs to the founders’ descendants.
Sources: El Español, 2022 · Alicante Plaza, 2021 · Juan-José Chiner Vives, Benidorm. Los orígenes de la ciudad vertical, 2006
1988 to 2002
Gran Hotel Bali: 14 years to opening day
- Height
- 186 m
- Opened
- 17 May 2002
Next to the older, 19-storey Hotel Bali, the builder Joaquín Luis Pérez Crespo started a tower at the western end of Poniente in 1988; the CTBUH gives 1987 as the start of construction. Because he built without a bank loan, construction dragged on for 14 years. On 17 May 2002 the Gran Hotel Bali opened, 186 metres tall and Spain’s tallest building until 2007/08.
Gran Hotel Bali →
Sources: Wikipedia EN – Gran Hotel Bali · Alicante Plaza, obituary 2026 · El Debate, 2026
1989 to 2002
Hotel towers at the turn of the millennium
- Flamingo
- 1989, 83 m
- Flamingo Oasis
- 2000, 95 m
- Meliá Benidorm
- 526 rooms
After the hotel factories of the 1970s, a new wave of hotel towers came around the turn of the millennium. According to a high-rise database, the 83-metre Aparthotel Flamingo was built as early as 1989. In 2000 came the RH Victoria of the Benidorm family chain RH on Vía Emilio Ortuño and, according to the list of tall buildings, the 95-metre Flamingo Oasis of the MedPlaya chain in upper Rincón de Loix.
Around 2001/02 the Meliá Benidorm on Avenida Severo Ochoa followed: two towers by the Altea architect Carlos Gilardi, joined by a hall with an indoor garden, 526 rooms in total. Whether the RH Victoria goes back to the old Hotel Victoria with the town’s first pool is not documented.
Hotel RH Victoria →Hotel Flamingo Oasis →Hotel Meliá Benidorm →
Sources: Wikipedia (ES, mirror) – Tallest buildings in Benidorm · Meliá – Meliá Benidorm · RH Hoteles – RH Victoria & Spa
2014 to 2026
New names, new towers
- Sandos Benidorm Suites
- since 2017
- Port Benidorm
- 410 rooms since 2026
Many houses have since changed name and face. In 2014 the Flamingo became the Marconfort Benidorm Suites, a theme hotel with 200 suites built around the music of the 70s to 90s; since November 2017 it has been called Sandos Benidorm Suites. The Hotel Los Dálmatas, built by the Delfín founder Felipe Pastor, reopened in 2016 as Port Benidorm after a €13 million refurbishment.
In May 2026 a new 26-storey building was added there, the Sky Tower; the hotel has had 410 rooms since then, and the old building is now called the Blue Tower. At the western end of Poniente, since the demolition of the Gran Hotel Delfín, the Gran Delfín is rising, with apartments and once again a hotel.
Sandos Benidorm Suites →Hotel Port Benidorm →Gran Delfín →
Sources: Hosteltur, 2013 · Hosteltur, 2016 · Alicante Plaza, 2026