Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, founder of the Meliá Hotels International hotel chain, died this Tuesday in Palma at the age of 89, as sources close to the family confirmed to the EFE agency.
In June last year he resigned as non-executive chairman of the board of the hotel entity he founded in Mallorca in 1956 and was named honorary chairman. Escarrer Juliá is considered one of the main players in the hotel sector, thanks to the development of its business, directly linked to holiday tourism and which currently has more than 300 establishments.
Since 2009, the company has been run by his son, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, who is the CEO and, for a year, also the president.
“Convincing gift”
His professional journey was marked by being a “compelling gift”, as reflected in his book of memoirs and includes this information published by El Confidencial. He claimed to know “where the devil sleeps”, because of “the imperative need to always have as much information as possible when embarking on an operation”.
In 2015, the National Federation of Memory Forums filed a complaint with the hotel industry because it did not agree to host an event of the Francisco Franco Foundation in one of its establishments in Madrid, to which the hotel company responded that “there are many events every day.” .” We are aseptic in the management of spaces,” according to Infolibre.
Escarrer Juliá has made Meliá a reference chain among international hotel companies, today managed by the second generation. In recent months, the company has taken advantage of rising prices to strengthen its results. In 2023, the hotel company’s profit exceeded 117 million euros (6% more than a year earlier) and its turnover increased by more than 14%, above 1.9 billion .
Melia is now focusing on luxury and high-end hotels and the deal with former tennis player Rafael Nadal to launch the joint Zel brand.
The management of the Escarerrer’s assets is also not free from controversy, for example for the management of their investments with companies belonging to a network of companies which links Luxembourg to the tax havens of Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles), Panama and Gibraltar.
