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You have to imagine this undertaking in a historical context: When Alfonso Prinz zu Hohenlohe opened Marbella Club in 1954, the fascist dictator Franco still ruled Spain, the Costa del Sol had a similarly exciting reputation among travelers as the Flemish North Sea coast does today and Marbella was considered a sleepy fishing village even by locals.

Regular guest Gina Lollobrigida (dancing). © provided

Nevertheless, the German prince bought a phylloxera-infested vineyard the size of a village for a bargain of 150,000 Spanish pesetas (around € 60,000 today). The Andalusians thought the bustling aristocrat was suitably mad. Why buy a property in a region where agriculture was rarely profitable and bandits were up to mischief in the nearby sierra?

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However, the prince wasn't to be deterred. He built a motel like the ones he knew from America, even if he found it difficult to obtain some of the materials. The builders had to buy copper wire on the black market. This first accommodation had 18 rooms (more of a finca for his wealthy friends than a real luxury property). Alfonso called it Marbella Club. There were no telephone lines and hardly any contact with the outside world. In the early days, a hotel employee drove between the town and the hotel to post telegrams, get newspapers and order cabs.

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A crisp 70 years later, you've to rub your eyes. The once intimate club has become a globally sought-after hotel complex with dozens of rooms, suites and villas. Bond actor Sean Connery and Tiffany icon Audrey Hepburn have lent the place just as much glamor as various aristocrats and politicians. Prime ministers, Hollywood stars and pop musicians check into Marbella Club. Now, you'll find a luxury enclave with boutiques, a marina and villa districts around it.

How did this evolve?

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If you ask people in the hotel about this or ask former guests for their opinion, they usually mention a name that sounds like a character in a comic strip: Count Rudi. A few years ago, Conde Rudi, as the Spaniards affectionately call him, celebrated his 90th birthday. He ran the hotel from 1957, and under his aegis it became a center of the global jet set.

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Count Rudolf von Schönburg, as he was born, actually grew up in Wechselburg in Saxony until the Russians expelled the family from the estate in 1945. In the 1950s, he completed hotel management school in Switzerland and shortly afterwards stayed with his cousin in Andalusia. Both had a penchant for making a grand entrance. Alfonso had affairs with Kim Novak and Ava Gardner, Rudi organized legendary theme parties, which in retrospect resembled a naive carnival.

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He once rode into the hall on a donkey, dressed as a sheikh - a ludicrous performance between cultural appropriation and unintentional satire. For another party, King Simeon of Bulgaria dressed up as Fidel Castro. Apparently the costume was so convincing that the Batistas present - who had fled Cuba to escape the dictator - were initially shocked.

Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs were also regular guests. © provided

The big names cared little for minor missteps. Brigitte Bardot, Liza Minelli, Cary Grant - in fact anyone and everyone who had a name in the 1960s dropped by Marbella Club. On an ordinary summer's day in the 1970s, you might bump into Rod Stewart and Otto von Habsburg. Audrey Hepburn liked it so much on the sunny coast that she settled in Marbella with her husband Mel Ferrer. Only German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt found the house too jet-setting. He couldn't stay there without having to explain himself to his social democratic voters - but he still enjoyed dining in the restaurant. What helped, of course, was the location. Marbella is almost at the southernmost tip of Europe, the local mountain La Concha creates a microclimate that promises vacation-worthy days. And the sea sparkled like a fairy tale - clear water, as the Atlantic and Mediterranean collided nearby, leaving no traces of oil on the beach.

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By the mid-70s at the latest, Marbella was no longer a well-kept secret. The entire coast as far as Malaga was developed into a hotel corridor. To this day, all-inclusive complexes block the way to the beach, concrete castles line the coast for miles; the region's success as a tourist destination led to an exodus of exclusivity. Even Marbella Club was suddenly no longer in the same league as other hideaways to which the moneyed aristocracy retreated to instead.

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The owners have now given the club a new lease of life with a gentle renovation. The ingredients of a gentle lifestyle can still be found: rattan sofas are on the terraces, wooden tables invite you to chat and cream-colored beds are enthroned in the bedrooms. There's no bling-bling, just natural colors and white walls contrast with the azure blue water outside. The scent of jasmine wafts through the air, bougainvilleas bloom magnificently and majestic palm trees provide protection from the scorching sun. Of course, there are now also plenty of telecommunications cables. Shipping king Aristotle Onassis was the latest to demand these in the 1960s, when he asked for a whopping six telephones for his villa in order to keep in touch with his business empire.

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The hotel also keeps up with all the demands of the new millennium. The facilities include a holistic spa, a kids' club and the so-called Club House with six culinary establishments. Men book wellness treatments and women order avocado juices; yoga classes and detox menus are also on the program. The hard-drinking party crowd of the 1960s would never have dreamed of this.

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Sometimes Count Rudi still drops by "his" hotel, sits down in an armchair and observes the colorful hustle and bustle that he has unleashed. In Malaga, an Avenida Conde Rudi now commemorates him - the man who brought the jet set to Marbella. At the upper end, palm and deciduous trees shade the street, while further down you'll see - oh shock - a four-star hotel. The good man didn't deserve that.

Marbella Club
Bulevar Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe s/n, 29602 Marbella, Spain
Tel.: +34 952 82 22 11
Web: marbellaclub.com