1877
- What happened
- The Iberostar family opens a shoemaking workshop in Inca.
← Poolside Notes
Feature
The island that built your all-inclusive
Four of the chains behind Caribbean all-inclusives started as family businesses on Mallorca.
Barceló, Iberostar, RIU, and Meliá learned the beach holiday on Mallorca, then carried it to the Caribbean.
A bus line, a shoe workshop, an 80-bed hotel, and a lease signed at 21 became the four companies.
How the island built it
The years the family histories, Club Med, and Grupo Piñero already name.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1877 | The Iberostar family opens a shoemaking workshop in Inca. |
| 1929 | Hotel Formentor opens, before the package-holiday generation. |
| 1931 | Barceló starts a passenger and freight bus service in Felanitx. |
| 1950 | On 4 June the first Club Med village opens at Alcúdia. Canvas tents, communal washing, and a fortnight sold as one price. |
| 1953 | RIU buys an 80-bed hotel on Playa de Palma. |
| 1956 | A 21-year-old leases a hotel of about 60 rooms in Palma. The Meliá name is acquired 31 years later. |
| 1962 | Barceló opens its first hotel. |
| 1975 | Pablo Piñero and Isabel García Lorca open a travel agency in Murcia. Soltour, their tour operator, follows in 1976. |
| 1979 | Iberostar opens its first hotel. |
| 1985 | Barceló opens at Bávaro and describes it as the first hotel in the Caribbean by a Spanish chain. |
| 1990 | Meliá enters the Caribbean through Cuba and becomes one of the largest foreign operators on the island. |
| 1991 | RIU reaches Punta Cana. |
| 1993 | Iberostar opens at Bávaro. |
| 1995 | Grupo Piñero builds its first hotel at Río San Juan in the Dominican Republic, around 940 rooms. The holding company and headquarters later move to Palma, where the Hyatt joint venture that owns Bahia Principe is also based. |
| 1996 | Meliá lists, the first Spanish hotel company to do so. The Escarrer family keeps control. |
| 1998 | Iberostar launches Iberworld. |
| July 2026 | Meliá withdraws from Cuba entirely. |
| Since then | Barceló put a reported billion euros over seven years into renovating hotels it already owned. Iberostar runs a coral laboratory in the Dominican Republic. RIU owns most of its buildings. Meliá moved upmarket through Paradisus, ME, and ZEL. |
1929
- What happened
- Hotel Formentor opens, before the package-holiday generation.
1931
- What happened
- Barceló starts a passenger and freight bus service in Felanitx.
1950
- What happened
- On 4 June the first Club Med village opens at Alcúdia. Canvas tents, communal washing, and a fortnight sold as one price.
1953
- What happened
- RIU buys an 80-bed hotel on Playa de Palma.
1956
- What happened
- A 21-year-old leases a hotel of about 60 rooms in Palma. The Meliá name is acquired 31 years later.
1962
- What happened
- Barceló opens its first hotel.
1975
- What happened
- Pablo Piñero and Isabel García Lorca open a travel agency in Murcia. Soltour, their tour operator, follows in 1976.
1979
- What happened
- Iberostar opens its first hotel.
1985
- What happened
- Barceló opens at Bávaro and describes it as the first hotel in the Caribbean by a Spanish chain.
1990
- What happened
- Meliá enters the Caribbean through Cuba and becomes one of the largest foreign operators on the island.
1991
- What happened
- RIU reaches Punta Cana.
1993
- What happened
- Iberostar opens at Bávaro.
1995
- What happened
- Grupo Piñero builds its first hotel at Río San Juan in the Dominican Republic, around 940 rooms. The holding company and headquarters later move to Palma, where the Hyatt joint venture that owns Bahia Principe is also based.
1996
- What happened
- Meliá lists, the first Spanish hotel company to do so. The Escarrer family keeps control.
1998
- What happened
- Iberostar launches Iberworld.
July 2026
- What happened
- Meliá withdraws from Cuba entirely.
Since then
- What happened
- Barceló put a reported billion euros over seven years into renovating hotels it already owned. Iberostar runs a coral laboratory in the Dominican Republic. RIU owns most of its buildings. Meliá moved upmarket through Paradisus, ME, and ZEL.
From the workshop in Inca to the Caribbean openings.
Mallorca resorts
Place, plan, adults only, and From price, one row per open stay.
| Port d'Alcúdia | Optional add-on | No | From $67 | |
| Playa de Palma | Optional add-on | Yes | From $209 | |
| Playa de Muro | Included | No | From $170 | |
| Costa de la Calma | Optional add-on | Yes | From $180 | |
| Playa de Muro | Optional add-on | No | From $238 | |
| Playa de Palma | Optional add-on | No | From $80 | |
| Portopetro | Included | No | From $206 | |
| Font de Sa Cala | Optional add-on | No | From $146 | |
| Playa de Muro | Optional add-on | No | From $118 | |
| Mallorca | Included | Yes | From $151 | |
| Port d'Alcúdia | Optional add-on | No | From $216 | |
| Camp de Mar | Optional add-on | No | From $244 |
- Place
- Port d'Alcúdia
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $67
- Place
- Playa de Palma
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- Yes
- From
- From $209
- Place
- Playa de Muro
- Plan
- Included
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $170
- Place
- Costa de la Calma
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- Yes
- From
- From $180
- Place
- Playa de Muro
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $238
- Place
- Playa de Palma
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $80
- Place
- Portopetro
- Plan
- Included
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $206
- Place
- Font de Sa Cala
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $146
- Place
- Playa de Muro
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $118
- Place
- Mallorca
- Plan
- Included
- Adults only
- Yes
- From
- From $151
- Place
- Port d'Alcúdia
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $216
- Place
- Camp de Mar
- Plan
- Optional add-on
- Adults only
- No
- From
- From $244
Good to know
A few points the long history keeps making.
- RIU is the oldest of the four as a hotel company. Iberostar's family business is older, and its first hotel is not.
- RIU, Barceló, and Iberostar are still privately held. Meliá has traded publicly since 1996, with the Escarrers still in control.
- Once Mallorca's beachfront filled, the path was roughly Ibiza and Menorca, mainland Spain, the Canaries, North Africa, then the Caribbean and Mexico.
- The four have spent the last two decades on the product itself, each still watched by the other three.
Fair questions
Why are so many all-inclusive resort chains Spanish?
Because the modern package holiday was worked out on Spanish coastlines, and the Balearic Islands in particular, roughly twenty years before it reached the Caribbean. The companies that learned it there were the ones with a system ready to export when large beachfront parcels became available in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Which of the four is oldest?
It depends what you count. Iberostar's family business dates to an 1877 shoemaking workshop, but it did not open a hotel until 1979. Barceló's group dates to a bus company in 1931 and its first hotel to 1962. RIU bought its first hotel in 1953 and Meliá leased its first in 1956, which makes RIU the oldest of the four as a hotel company.
Are they still family owned?
RIU, Barceló and Iberostar remain privately held by their founding families. Meliá has been publicly traded since 1996, but the Escarrer family retains the controlling influence. All four have passed leadership to later generations.
Do they all still operate in Mallorca?
Yes, and in several cases in the original buildings. RIU's first hotel still trades on Playa de Palma as the adults-only Hotel Riu San Francisco, substantially rebuilt. Meliá's first, the Hotel Altair, is gone.
What we read
Barceló Group: history (opens in a new tab)Iberostar Group: history (opens in a new tab)RIU blog: the Hotel Riu San Francisco, where everything began (opens in a new tab)Meliá Hotels International: about the company (opens in a new tab)Reuters: Meliá completes its exit from Cuba, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)Club Med: brand heritage (opens in a new tab)
