The Palace Hotel was developed by Belgian entrepreneur Georges Marquet by personal suggestion of King Alfonso XIII.

Designed by the Monnoyer Studio and architect Leon Eduard Ferrés i Puig,[1] It celebrated its grand opening on October 12, 1912.

Notable guests of the hotel during its first few decades were Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Marie Curie, Mata Hari, Josephine Baker, Buster Keaton, Richard Strauss, Federico García Lorca, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.

After World War II, the Palace welcomed such guests as Ernest Hemingway,[4] Orson Welles, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

[1] Georges Marquet's heirs sold the Palace to Spanish businessman Enrique Maso in 1977.