Cuban Embassy in Spain pays tribute to Meliá Hotels’ founder

Relatives of Spanish entrepreneur Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, founder of the hotel chain Meliá, on Tuesday joined the staff of the Cuban embassy in Madrid to pay tribute to the late business visionary, who kept a close relationship with the Island. 
 
His son Gabriel Escarrer Jaume headed the family and members of Meliá Board of Directors, to receive Cuba’s Solidarity Award, assigned post mortem to his father.

Escarrer Juliá, who died last November in Palma de Mallorca, opened 36 Meliá hotels in Cuba, totally boasting 16 thousand rooms, following a first step with the inauguration of Sol Palmeras in 1990, which he opened together with late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

In voicing his gratitute over the award, Escarrer Jaume spoke of his father’s great joy in his final days as he learned the award had been granted to him. “He would mention two places tha had left a mark on his life: Bali, in Indonesia, where he opened his first hotel in 1984, and Cuba.”

Earlier, Cuban prime minister, Manuel Marrero, sent a heartfelt video recalling episodes in the life of the chain’s founder, emphasizing that at the age of 21 Escarrer already owned his first hotel, “the embryo of what would later become the Meliá group.”

Marrero, former Minister of Tourism, commented that little by little Escarrer Juliá created a tourist empire, what is now Meliá Hotels International.

“One day he came to Cuba, met Fidel and shared dreams with him, while falling in love with our country and came to stay. What he called a Winning Horse, came to fruition on May 10, 1990, when together with Fidel he opened the Sol Palmeras in Varadero,” he said.