Mallorca’s most romantic destination, reborn

From a distance, it could be a palazzo in northern Italy. The terracotta-pink façade rises on a hilltop outside the rustic village of Puigpunyent, at the southern edge of the Serra de Tramuntana – a gracious vision of a historic house surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and soaring palms.

Mallorca isn’t short on classy hotels, but until now there has been a notable omission at the top of the market: the fabulously appointed, authentic country house with gold-standard service to match. Over the years various attempts have been made in this direction: La Residencia, Castell Son Claret, Castillo Hotel Son Vida, Es Racó d’Artà. I’ve stayed in them all during my three-plus decades of reporting on Spain’s hotel scene – but none nails the genre like the soon-to-reopen Grand Hotel Son Net.

From the get-go, news that Finca Cortesin – discreetly poised between Marbella and Sotogrande on Spain’s Costa del Sol – would be taking over one of the island’s best-loved lodgings had seemed an enticing proposition. Its following, largely drawn from the upper echelons of international society, goes beyond mere loyalty into something approaching cult status.

For more than a decade after its creation in 2008 by building magnate and art collector Javier López Granados, the Finca existed in solitary splendour, a proudly independent hotel that does very nicely from its surrounding golf course and real-estate operation. When the idea of a companion property took root, scouts were sent out to Lisbon, the Algarve, Italy; but López Granados finally found what he was looking for in Mallorca.  

The move’s logic is easy to see. The largest Balearic island has been moving upmarket in recent decades, reaching if not surpassing Marbella in exclusivity, and is today a global destination. The timing, too, is right on the nail. This summer sees the long-awaited opening of Richard Branson’s new hotel at the Son Bunyola estate on Mallorca’s rugged north-west coast. From May, United Airlines’ three-times-weekly direct flight to Palma from New York seems destined to bring in a new wave of Americans avid for the island’s heritage and landscape. 

Dating from 1672, Son Net is a palacio in the classic style, built in local sandstone with an Italianate grandeur in its columned loggias, balustrades and vaulted ceilings. For many years it was the residence of US entrepreneur David Stein, and even after opening as a hotel in 1998 it still felt like the expression of Stein’s extravagant personality. It was stuffed with blue-chip contemporary art, the maximalist decor coming perilously close to OTT, but the installations became run-down, the furnishings tired. Major investment was in order.

Finca Cortesin’s cast of professionals include the high-society decorator Lorenzo Castillo, landscape designer Gerald Huggan, and René Zimmer, Finca Cortesin’s much-admired GM, whose input as managing director for both hotels will be crucial if Son Net is to match its sister’s precision-tooled service.  

The hotel’s new incarnation is a magnificent reimagination of its historic interior

The staff-to-client ratio at Finca Cortesin – a 350-strong team for only 67 rooms and 10 villas – is among the highest in the business. Not to be outdone, Son Net has more than doubled its pre-Covid staff numbers, bringing in top talent such as the young Andalucían wine director Agustin Navarro Ruiz – who is helping to curate a Mallorca-forward wine list, including the products of the estate’s own vineyard – and chef Javier Soriano, who plans to showcase island products and recipes at Mar&Duix, the new restaurant housed in the vast hall of Son Net’s ancient olive press. The Bássols bedlinen, the Penhaligon’s amenities, the daily fresh flowers, even the eye-wateringly expensive Dibbern bone-china tableware: all have made the journey from Málaga to Mallorca. Without sharing anything so vulgar as a corporate identity, it’s clear the two houses are joined at the hip.  

Fans of the old Son Net have been calling the hotel to enquire after the refit, many of them doubtless fearing a radical minimalist overhaul replete with Scandi furniture and Santa & Cole lamps. To judge by my visit last month, they needn’t have worried: following a multimillion-euro investment, the hotel’s new incarnation is a magnificent reimagination of its historic interior by Castillo. Taking inspiration from France, England and Spain itself, his design majors on lavish upholstery, curtains in feel-the-width Gastón y Daniela fabrics and rich wallpapers, all in the designer’s trademark melange of bold and beautiful colours. Furniture retained from the previous phase, such as the antique four-poster beds, rubs shoulders with an influx of Castilian chests and ornate mirrors. The huge suites, with their views of pine-clad hills, are hung with engravings and gilt-framed Italian oils. The result feels less like a makeover than the spirited recreation of a 17th-century aristocratic residence.  

Word on the island is that hotels in the upper reaches of the market are eyeing this new arrival with apprehension. With good reason: thanks to some help from the mainland, Son Net has raised the bar to a level that its rivals may struggle to reach. 

Grand Hotel Son Net, s/n Puigpunyent, Mallorca 07194; sonnet.es. Double rooms from €800; suites from €1,200