50 years of history of Samba Hotels
The beginning of this adventure takes us back to the 1960s, with a young man from Barcelona called Josep Mª Palacín i Cònsul. At his early thirties, he was the manager of a travel agency and realised that the tourist boom on the Costa Brava was a reality, so taking advantage of this opportunity, he started bringing clients from different parts of Europe to the hotels that already existed at the time in Lloret de Mar.
In the early 1970s he had the opportunity to build, together with other partners, a hotel, the Samba Hotel. The rooms of this great hotel would have the best views of Lloret de Mar as it was located on the outskirts, on top of a small hill completely surrounded by fields.
The Samba Hotel was inaugurated on May 22 of 1972, 50 years ago. Its first guests were the Glasgow Rangers fans, who on May 24 of 1972, won the European Final Cup against Dynamo Moscow at the Camp Nou.
Since then, Josep Maria, together with his wife Roser Grau i Forcadell and their two kids Montse and Jordi, began their life as hoteliers. They worked together in the family business and just like any other family in the town, they enjoyed day by day their life in Lloret de Mar.
The first employees of the hotel were made up of entire families from different areas of southern Spain who, looking for an opportunity to get ahead, decided to embark on this adventure and, with great effort and dedication, became the best hospitality professionals and service to our customers.
In those days a large part of the hotel was staff housing. There was always a good story to listen to, many love affairs to discover and good cards games to while away the time when working hours allowed.
We want to thank all these workers, those who started this amazing project, also those that formed part of it at any moment of their lives, and obviously those who are still with us after all these years (including the two very hard years we lived through with the Covid-19 pandemic). Thank you very much for your time and dedication, without you all we couldn’t have reached where we are today. You will always form part of the #SambaHotelsfamily.
The years went by, the business was consolidated. Jordi Palacín i Grau finished his university studies to start a second generation at head of business. He started as the director of the Hotel Samba for 10 years, while his father was in charge of the management. In that time, he was able to learn the importance of making our clients happy during their vacations and taking care of the service with a personalized and attentive treatment.
Also, during those years, the Hotel Samba began its commitment to the environment and sustainable development. In 1998 we obtained the ISO 14001 Environmental Certificate, verified by the European EMAS standard, being the first hotel in Spain and Europe to have both certifications and adding the Environmental Quality Distinction of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Today, after 25 years, we continue to be a benchmark and fight for good practices in sustainability and environment, recently adding the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, to our daily management.
In 2004, Jordi Palacín i Grau took over the management, expanding the company to other establishments and forming the small chain of Samba Hotels, currently made up of Hotel Samba and Hotel Surf Mar, located in Lloret de Mar.
From our human team we continue with our daily effort and our goal of making all the families who stay in our house happy, offering them great facilities, swimming pools, our gastronomy and the best treatment they deserve.
Thank you very much for trusting Samba Hotels all these years!
