The palace-house was commanded to build by King Hussein of Jordan in the late 1970s and was designed by Spanish architect César Manrique.

Its name is due to the fact that in the same place there was a mareta, that is to say, a cistern that served to collect rainwater and as an animal drinker.

The first time the royal family spent the holidays in this residence was after the death of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, the King's father, in 1993.

In this residence, the King's mother, Princess María de las Mercedes, Countess of Barcelona, passed away in 2000.

In 2015, after assuming the throne, King Felipe VI ordered the Industry Minister, José Manuel Soria, to reach an agreement with the chair of Patrimonio Nacional, Alfredo Pérez de Armiñán, to allocate the residence to promote the tourist interests of region of the Canary Islands and Spain.