You Can Binge the Original ‘Grand Hotel’ on Netflix

Last night, a steamy new summer soap called Grand Hotel premiered on ABC. The series is set in the last family-owned luxury hotel in Miami Beach, and naturally, that family has a lot of scandalous secrets. The Mendoza family matriarch Gigi (Roselyn Sanchez) is the last person seen with line cook Sky (Arielle Kebbel) during an awful hurricane. Sky threatens that she knows something terrible about Gigi’s husband, hotelier Santiago Mendoza (Demián Bichir). The next thing we know, Sky is pursued by a mystery assailant and goes missing during the hurricane. A month later, her brother Danny (Lincoln Younes) joins the hotel staff as a waiter to try to uncover the mystery of what happened to Sky. Complicating things? Danny immediately falls for Santiago’s beautiful daughter Alicia (Denyse Tontz).

It’s a juicy set up, but if you’re a devotee of foreign language soaps, it will sound awfully familiar. That’s because ABC’s Grand Hotel is based on a 2011 Spanish series of the same name, and the other Grand Hotel (2011) has been available to binge on Netflix for ages.

Much like ABC’s American version of the story, the Spanish Grand Hotel takes place at, you guessed it, a grand hotel. It starts with a handsome young man visiting the hotel to see his sister who works there. The only issue is she has been mysteriously missing for a month. Julio (Yon González) goes undercover as a waiter at the hotel and falls in love with the owner’s beautiful daughter Alicia (Amaia Salamanca). There are twists, turns, and salacious hook ups. You know, it’s basically the same story as the ABC drama.

However, the biggest difference between the two Grand Hotels has to be their setting. The original Spanish series is set over a century ago, in 1906 era Spain. In fact, the show is so taken with its own opulence, I’ve usually heard it nicknamed the “Spanish Downton Abbey.” That means you’re not going to see any characters sunbathing nude on the balcony in this show.

Grand Hotel was such a huge success that there were three seasons made, and multiple foreign adaptations. The ABC version is just the latest one. Italy, Mexico, and Egypt all beat us to it. Ironically, the Egyptian version, Secret of the Nile, is also available to stream on Netflix.

Where to stream Grand Hotel (2011)

Where to stream ABC's Grand Hotel

Where to stream Secret of the Nile