It was April 1952 when two Concierges from Barcelona, Mr. José María Bautista and Vicente Aguilar were invited to Cannes where with other eight countries they decided to create L’Union Europeenne des Portiers de Grands Hotels “Les Clefs d’Or” (UEPGH Les Clefs d’Or).  Due to the strict Francoist law, the Spanish Section had to be under the French Section for ten years. In 1962 a group of  Concierges in Madrid managed to be accepted by the government and had their first legal meeting where Alfredo Molero was chosen as President. In 1974 Mr. Molero was elected as International President then in 1985, Mr. Bautista was chosen as International President.

Nowadays the Spanish section is divided into five delegations all created in 1962 except Madrid that was created in 1977 as the Presidency moved to Barcelona. Those sections are lead by different concierges, in Andalucia Antonio Morilla from the Alfonso XIII is the delegate, in Baleares the delegate is Pep Toni Ferreiro from the Castillo Son Vida Hotel, in Cataluña the delegate is Marc Schmid  from  OD Hotels  , in Costa del Sol José Sánchez from Los Monteros Hotel is the delegate and finally in Madrid the delegate is Borja Martín Guridi from the Ritz Hotel.

Spain has established a really long tradition of genuine hospitality, one of the many reasons why Spain is so popular is that its nation is renowned for being respectful and accommodating towards overseas visitors. The diversity in Spain is the other great asset. Spain is famous worldwide for its incredible architecture that brims with Moorish, Romanesque and Gothic monuments in the same country. Diversity is also represented by their worldwide famous writers such as Cervantes who wrote: “El Quijote de la Mancha” which is the second most translated book in history after the Bible. Diversity is also our wide variety of cuisines with dishes as famous as the Valencian Paella with a Moorish origin.

All the Spanish Les Clefs d´Or Concierges are very much looking forward to great you in Spain, not just to show you our amazing heritage, history, and culture but also to make you feel at home away from home. We are naturally born as hosts and we enjoy showing and assisting guests from all over the world.

Please also visit our website http://llavesdeoro.org/  to learn more about our association, we also have Facebook https://www.facebook.com/llavesdeoroespanolas/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/LesClefsdOrSP where we daily update about the events, exhibitions, and activities in Spain.

We look forward to meeting you in our hotel lobbies.

In Service through Friendship,

Borja Martin Guridi