RIU Hotels & Resorts

In November 1953, Juan Riu Masmitjá and his wife María Bertrán Espigulé purchased the San Francisco Hotel, a small 80-bed establishment in Playa de Palma (Majorca, Spain), together with their son Luis Riu Bertrán. This marked the start of the RIU hotel chain, a family-run company with 70 years of experience that now runs almost 100 hotels in 21 countries around the world.

In the 80s, RIU began to expand to new destinations. Its first hotel outside of the Balearic Islands opened on the island of Gran Canaria in 1985. The Riu Palmeras was the first establishment of what proved to be a highly successful initiative, as the Canary Islands is still one of the chain’s main destinations with a total of 16 hotels.

In the early 90s, the chain opened its first international hotel—the hotel Riu Taino—which opened in November 1991 in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic. This was the first major step in RIU's growth in the Americas, where it now has 50 hotels.

Having specialised in holiday hotels for the past 70 years, in 2010 RIU embarked on one of its greatest ever challenges as a company: the launch of its urban brand, RIU Plaza. In September 2010 the Riu Plaza Panama opened in Panama City. Not only was it RIU’s first hotel in this country, but also its first urban hotel. The company was quick to consolidate its commitment to this new line of business and is now present in many major American and European capitals.

In 2016, the chain landed in Asia for the first time with a hotel in Sri Lanka, followed by openings in the Maldives and Dubai. The next challenge on the continent will be the opening of RIU's first hotel in Thailand.
That same year, the most emblematic project of the Riu Plaza line was realized: the opening of RIU's first hotel in New York City, the Riu Plaza New York Times Square hotel, located in the heart of Manhattan.

In 2019, the RIU chain arrived in Madrid in style with the opening of its Hotel Riu Plaza España in the emblematic Edificio España building, located in the heart of Madrid. This was RIU's first establishment in the Spanish capital and its first urban hotel in this country. This hotel has become the chain’s flagship and a is must-see for visitors and locals alike thanks to the marvellous views from the 360° rooftop terrace.