The international RIU chain was founded in Mallorca by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family’s third generation. The company specialises in holiday resorts and 70% of its establishments offer its acclaimed All Inclusive by RIU service. With the inauguration of its first city hotel in 2010, RIU is expanding its range of products with its own line of city hotels called Riu Plaza. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has more than 100 hotels in 19 countries which welcome over 4 million guests a year and provide jobs for a total of 28,000 employees. RIU is currently the world’s 30th ranked chain, one of the Caribbean’s most popular and the third largest in Spain.
In November 1953, Juan Riu Masmitja and his wife Maria Bertran Espigule acquired, with their son Luis Riu Bertran, the San Francisco hotel, a small 80-bed establishment located in Playa de Palma (Mallorca, Spain). This was to be the first hotel of many in the future of the international hotel chain.
The 60s saw a real tourist boom in the Balearic Islands, which Luis Riu Bertran actively contributed to through his partnership with the German tour operator, Dr. Tigges (known as TUI since 1968). Following the consolidation of charter operations between Germany and Mallorca in the summer months, Luis Riu went one step further in strengthening the development of tourism in the Balearic Islands, by also promoting Mallorca as a winter destination.
