[3] The hotel, owned by Jacques Levy Calvo—a Peruvian businessman and banker of French-Jewish descent[4][5]—and his siblings, opened on July 15, 1997, intended to attract foreign businessmen visiting the city.

[1] In 2008, the hotel's "Salón Mediterráneo" event hall was one of the locations where meetings of that year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation were held.

Born off the coasts of Cuba, they were smuggled to Mexico, where they became known as "Yoyo" and "Laly" until their arrival to Peru, where they were moved to the hotel and renamed to the Quechua words for "water" and "air", respectively.

[10] Consequently, the dolphins remained in the hotel, accessible to its guests[11] and reportedly exposed to the show lights and street noise.

[16] María Elena Llanos, Levy's ex-wife, also denounced the lack of transparency[17] and possible abuse[18] in the animals' transport, highlighting that Yaku's cardiac issues could be fatal if not treated properly.