The San Cristóbal hotel closes its doors today for a complete refurbishment. The aim of these works, in addition to adapting to market changes, is to apply to the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Tourism for a shift to the 4-star category with a new image that will be characterised by being avant-garde, modern and with Andalusian touches.
The works are expected to be completed by the summer of 2023, and will involve substantial improvements in the infrastructure and services offered, providing higher quality facilities, and increasing the number of rooms from 100 to 110. The total renovation of the façade and the rooms, the installation of the reception at street level and the opening of a rooftop swimming pool and chill-out area are some of the important changes planned.
The gastronomy will also be updated with its ‘Alameda’ restaurant, which will serve Mediterranean cuisine, market, and local products (0 km) and will include nods to traditional Malaga cuisine. The restaurant will also be available for banquets and events. The RoofTop will offer a more casual menu full of healthy proposals, premium cocktails, a variety of juices, coffee and teas. A wide range of quality products will be available for both guests and Marbella’s society.
The establishment is a classic of Marbella’s hotel industry and one of the few family-owned holdings in the municipality, being in the hands of the Parra family. The second generation, headed by Cristóbal Parra Jimenez, is retiring to make way for the third generation of the family to take on this challenge. The process of modernisation and improvement will be linked to the firm intention of maintaining the hotel as a family business and continuing the values of humility, sacrifice and effort that have always characterised this family.
The project has been promoted by the family board as well as the Crisán Group’s General Manager, Francisco Giménez Pérez del Pulgar, who believes that the renovation responds to “the need to adapt to current market trends, to offer a modern establishment with quality facilities that will accommodate both tourists and residents as well as adding value to Marbella’s hotel infrastructure“.
Another of the intentions of the Group, that owns the Aqua Apartments business line in the municipality and various other businesses in the city and in the rest of the region, is to professionalise the entire work group, carrying out training courses to adapt it to the requirements of a four-star service.
Among the novelties is also the opening of a gym with state-of-the-art machinery and equipment and a beauty treatment salon. In addition, two event and conference rooms will be built and will be available for any social or corporate event. Another of the hotel’s new social hotspots, suitable for business cocktail parties and family celebrations, will be its patio, Alameda, measuring 120 square metres, which will have a retractable roof enclosure.
Given the location of the property, right on the city’s main thoroughfare, it is important to note that guests will also have parking facilities.
A name to be unveiled
One of the biggest challenges facing the family is to provide the hotel with a new name to reflect its new, cutting-edge identity, which will be unveiled at a later date as work progresses.
This new image will also be officially presented during the International Tourism Fair, FITUR, which will take place, as it does every year, during the month of January in Madrid.
The project has been designed by the architect Juan Ramón Montoya Molina and the 110 rooms are divided into 45 premium rooms, 4 junior suites and 1 suite, the rest being “classic” rooms.
About the Parra family
Behind the Hotel San Cristóbal is the entrepreneurial and tireless spirit of the businessman Cristóbal Parra Jiménez, whose father was the founder of the hotel. After finishing his studies in Business Studies, he worked at the Zaragozano Bank until 1980, when he took a leave of absence and joined the San Cristóbal hotel as Manager.
The hotel was built in several phases, the first of which began in 1961, the second in June 1970 and several more since 1980. They have achieved the ‘Q’ for quality and the ISO 14001 (environmental certification), being the first three-star hotel in Andalusia to obtain this certification, which it still holds today.
A new phase has begun and a third generation has taken over, facing the challenge of modernising this legendary hotel in Marbella.
