Jesús Ger earned his first serious money when he sold televisions and mattresses, things that could not be missing in any home, no matter how modest it was; a business for most. When he set out to acquire land at a low price in the Castellon town of Orpesa, he had in mind the creation of a concept, the holiday city, within reach of anyone. The idea was to attract customers eager to fulfill the dream of having a corner by the beach to escape to during the holidays for little money: low-cost tourism.
This is how Marina d'Or was born in 1997, a conglomerate of apartments, hotels, spa and various attractions whose launch was accompanied by massive press, radio and television advertising. The phenomenon achieved by Torrevella with Un, Dos, Tres in the seventies and eighties was replicated in the nineties, only now all the eggs in the basket came from the same hen. There were no other promoters with whom to share success and risk.
The small coastal town multiplied its population, it went in a short time from having 2,000 census inhabitants to 11,000, which are now 8,000, according to official data, which count the population with residence in the place, not those who go there in season but maintain residence elsewhere.
Oblivious to criticism for the questionable aesthetic taste, or for the environmental impact that the activity and growth of the complex could have on the surroundings, Ger had expansion plans on the table, especially an ambitious development of golf courses on land oriented inland, between Orpesa and Cabanes. But the difficulties of the Administration that the project encountered and the real estate crisis condemned it to die on paper.
The winds of the economy swirled and took away the Mediterranean dream of the families that made up Jesús Ger's commercial objective, who made enough if they made it to the end of the month. They stopped selling the apartments, which until then had been taken out of hand, Marina d'Or began to decline and the owners to accumulate debt. So much so that in 2019 they had no choice but to cede control of Hoteles Marina d'Or to an investment fund from the United States - Farallon - after acquiring all the bank liabilities of the hotel division, a debt that exceeded 107 million euros. The moment could not be more inopportune.
In fact, the new managers' attempts to recover profitability collided with an imponderable that even the most savvy investor did not see coming: the coronavirus. The pandemic caused revenues to plummet by 60% and losses to rise to 23.2 million euros in 2020, compared to 9 million the previous year.
Rumors of a sale begin to emerge, common in these cases, since buying businesses in decline, cleaning them up and selling them is common practice for the faceless structures we know as investment funds. Until the news came out in August: Grupo Fuertes, owner of the El Pozo food brand, and the Alicante hotel group Magic Costa Blanca presented an offer of 70 million euros to obtain the emblematic tourist complex. They will assume management as soon as the operation has been closed, since the only thing missing is the relevant approval of the National Markets and Competition Commission.
In the meantime, the managers take the decision to anticipate the end of the season, which last year was already advanced from December to October, and suddenly announce to customers who had a reservation that they will return their money, but that they will have to look for another destination in the sun.
Faced with the company's silence and the commotion caused, councilor Nuria Montes, who has just arrived from her post at the Benidorm hotel association, sends a reassuring message: the early closure is a business decision and the The Valencian executive has no doubt that the new owners, who have plenty of experience and a solid investment plan, will be able to refloat the business. Sources close to the Magic Costa Blanca group invite you to observe another project of the group: Magic Robin Hood, a combination hotel complex and adventure park inspired by the heroic archer, near Benidorm, to get an idea of where the future of Marina d'Or can go.
