The illustrious past of the Hotel Gran Meliá Fénix dates back to the middle of the 19th century when one of the most charismatic bankers of the age bought a house located on what is now the Paseo de la Castellana to build his own elegant mansion. A century later the property changed hands and the insurance company La Unión y el Fénix decided the plot would be an ideal location for building a luxury hotel, neo-classical in style on the outside and with exquisite palatial decor on the inside. Madrid witnessed the birth of a hotel crowned by a mythical and immortal phoenix, a hotel which would soon become a reference point for meetings of the highest level in the Spanish capital.

 

In 1953, whilst "Roman Holiday" was on release at the movies, the leading man Gregory Peck attended the opening of the hotel, and it was visited that same year by the film stars Gloria Swanson and Rita Hayworth.

 

As other celebrities such as Cary Grant and Charles Bronson started to visit the hotel soon became known as the "hotel of the nobility". And on 2nd July, 1965, during a visit for their only concert in the capital, the Beatles stayed here and gave their crowded press conference at the Gran Meliá Fénix.

 

Its incredible location and grand category led the hotel chain Sol Meliá to invest in a thorough renovation of the hotel's entire interior structure and design, conserving its most characteristic elements such as the central table of the "Cuatro Estaciones" Piano Bar made from onyx and the chandelier in the central dome. Today, the Gran Meliá Fénix hosts events as important and diverse as the NATO summit of world leaders and visits by international stars such as Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz and David Beckham.