At only 21 years old, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá undertook, not without difficulty, his first hotel adventure by renting a hotel. At 24, he already owned four hotels, all rented, and he was married. By age 36, he had 6 children and 21 hotels, most of which he owned. He died this Thursday with more than 380 hotels in 40 countries and after having created 45,000 jobs. His dizzying business journey, his desire to create jobs and wealth and his social work earned him the Kingdom of Spain Award for Business Excellence, which was presented to him in February 2022 by King Felipe VI in Palma Congress Center.
The son of farmers, the hotelier was born in Porreres into a modest family without great resources. But with the idea of looking for a better life and with more opportunities, the family left the city and settled in the capital when Gabriel Escarrer was only five years old. Even though the family’s situation improved, they never had enough money for the hotelier to go to college, but that wasn’t an obstacle.
During the award ceremony of the Kingdom of Spain Prize, the founder of the Meliá International Hotels highlighted the “honor” that this prize represents for him and that it is given to him by the King, for which he said he felt “respect and admiration”. “In times of turbulence, it is appreciated to have a head of state like you,” he said.
“I am a lucky man to have been able to develop a long career in the tourism sector, an industry which, as I have always said, among other virtues, has served to unite countries, to shorten distances, to make friends and, above all, create social well-being,” he stressed.
The businessman highlighted the importance of Meliá today, with 380 hotels, more than 200,000 beds and 45,000 jobs worldwide. In this sense, he declared that internationalization had been his “obsession”, as well as “bringing the Brand Spain on all continents.
He King Felipe VI greeted the figure of the president and founder of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer Juliafor his “example of dedication and also commitment to Spain”. This was highlighted by the monarch during his speech at the presentation of the price in Escarerer Juliá.
“Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, whose dedication is rewarded with this award, began his activity precisely here, in Palma, and laid the foundations of an international company that “This has helped to spread the name of Spain, the Spain brand, in a remarkable way on all continents,” underlined the King.
According to the Jury’s minutes, the awarding of the prize to Escarrer Juliá was decided “by virtue of “his contribution to the economic and social development of Spain over several decades of effort and work, creating jobs, internationalizing its activities and contributing to the improvement of its environment and the well-being of the country.”
Gabriel Escarerer must be recognized his maximum dedication to make Meliá the largest Spanish hotel group until it became an Ibex 35 company. He was the great reference. of the success story of Mallorcan hotel entrepreneurs, who from this island jumped to the peninsula and the Canary Islands, thus placing the tourism sector in leading positions globally.
During the tribute ceremony, the president of the Cercle d’Economia, James Guardiolastressed that Escarrer Juliá is “an example for future generations” and recalled the importance of entrepreneurs “as generators of wealth and jobs” in a time when “society looks to the future with uncertainty.”
A year before the award of the Kingdom of Spain Prize, Escarrer had published his memoirs under the title My lifewhere he tells how he managed to build his empire from the rental of a small establishment in Palma, with a spirit of sacrifice, tenacity and creativity.
Escarrr says in his memoir that he was always “a very alert and restless child”, who “from a very young age wanted to conquer the world”. He explains that he caught the attention of the director of his language academy, who recommended him as an apprentice in one of the first travel agencies which opened its doors in Palma, in the 50s, where he came into contact with the nascent. tourism company and he realized the enormous future potential he had on an island like Mallorca.
Although he absorbed all knowledge “like a sponge”, he lacked financial resources. For this reason, he had to deploy all his powers of conviction and even ask for the recommendation of the priest of the church where he was an altar boy so that a woman from Palma could help him. is going to rent his first hotel. He was only 21 years old.
As he could not go to university for economic reasons, since at that time Mallorca did not have a university and it was very expensive to study in Barcelona or Madrid, he decided that studies of commerce were the best for his concerns as an entrepreneur. However, he considers that his “great school” was Travel agency Wagon Litswhere he learned the tourism trade
“The move from renting to building hotels represented a significant transition, and again my ingenuity and relationships with the major tour operators stood me in good stead, who on many occasions financed much of the of the construction of hotels in exchange for guarantees of places for hotels in the following years” explained Escarerr.
“Internationalization has been the biggest leap in quality and the most important decision we have ever made in our business,” starting with that first hotel in Bali, before launching into the Caribbean. Another qualitative leap in the history of Meliá was the acquisition of Hotasa and Meliaintegrating more than 70 hotels in just two years, in addition to other smaller chains, Escarerr explains in his memoir.
Of his entire professional career, what Escarerer is most proud of is having created a company from scratch, “without having any resources or hotel experience” at the beginning, but, above all, he is satisfied with having created – and currently maintaining – nearly 45,000 jobsbecause “we are talking about 45,000 families who have also made Meliá, in a certain way, the project of their lives”.
