Thirteen apartments. A 540-room four-star hotel. Years of complaints, conflicting tests and sleepless summer nights. Now a resident has taken Torremolinos Town Hall to court.
Residents living beside the Meliá Costa del Sol say they have endured years of what they describe as an 'excruciating racket' from the hotel's cooling system.
Rodrigo Rico, president of the Gaona Sol community, has now taken Torremolinos Town Hall to court, accusing the council of violating his fundamental rights by remaining inactive and failing to provide an effective solution.
The legal action is against the Town Hall, not the hotel. The Meliá hotel is identified as the source of the alleged noise disturbance.
Community meeting records shown to the Olive Press indicate neighbours were raising concerns about the noise as far back as 2010. Rico has kept pushing for a lasting answer.
The issue was formally reported to Torremolinos Town Hall in June 2021. Residents described 'serious disturbance' from cooling machinery at the four-star seaside hotel.
The council later required corrective work. Noise barriers were installed around some of the equipment. Residents say they were not good enough and did not stop the problem.
The scale of the fight can feel almost quixotic: 13 apartments facing a 540-room hotel and years of official procedure. But Rico has remained persistent, gathering reports, measurements and community records and taking the matter back to the authorities again and again.
Rodrigo Rico stands in front of the hotel holding the July 2026 Calpe result that concluded the average night-time level was 11 dBA above the legal limit.
For Rico, this was more than another technical page. He says it showed in simple terms what residents had been saying for years: the problem had not gone away.
‘Only when the chillers are turned off can you realise how noisy they were and how tranquil the environment can get without them.’William Hands, 80, British pensioner and long-term resident
William Hands, 80, a British pensioner who has lived in the community for many years with his 82-year-old wife, who is in poor health, describes the sound as ‘horrendous’.
‘The noise is constant as a background noise,’ he told the Olive Press. He says it becomes particularly bad in summer, when the cooling systems ‘work around the clock’.
‘We cannot enjoy a glass of cool wine on hot summer evenings on our balconies, or even have breakfast outside in peace,’ he added.
At night, residents say windows and shutters often have to remain closed even during the hottest weather. That is especially hard for children and older people living in the community.
This night-time clip supplied by residents captures the background noise they say dominates summer evenings.
The dispute is marked by years of reports that do not always agree. These are the key moments.
Gaona Sol meeting records shown to the Olive Press indicate residents were already raising concerns about the noise.
Residents report 'serious disturbance' from the hotel's cooling machinery.
The Town Hall measures at around 1am and concludes the hotel complies. The case is closed without sanctions.
Council: compliantVirocem records a corrected night-time result of 52 dBA and declares the hotel non-compliant under the rules used in the inspection.
Non-compliantAnother Virocem test reaches 50 dBA and is declared compliant. Rico says he had initially refused access because the machinery was switched off and the proposed test was being coordinated in advance with the hotel. The test was eventually carried out in April.
Later challengedCalpe Institute of Technology records about 57 dBA and concludes the night-time average is 11 dBA above the applicable limit under its stated decision method.
Calpe: non-compliantCalpe issues a counter-report saying the April Virocem report contains ‘serious errors’ and that its compliant conclusion should not stand.
The council tells the Olive Press it has concluded the hotel has not complied with the law and says the matter has been referred to the department responsible for enforcement and sanctions.
Council: action referredThe detailed reports contain many calculations. For residents, these are the headline results.
‘The matter has been referred to the department responsible for enforcement and sanctions, with a request that the appropriate corrective measures be taken.’
Neighbours say they have been waiting for enforcement proceedings to begin but have grown increasingly frustrated by the council’s ‘inaction’.
For them, the issue is no longer simply whether a machine is loud. It is whether years of measurements, complaints and official files have actually protected the people living beside it.
The Olive Press contacted Meliá Costa del Sol management for comment. No response had been received at the time of publication.
The scale may look quixotic, but Rico's persistence has turned a neighbourhood complaint into a fundamental-rights court case. The defendant is Torremolinos Town Hall.
Spain's national broadcaster has covered the dispute. With the case heading to court, the story has moved far beyond one small residential community in Torremolinos.
Daytime footage shows how close the residential community sits to the hotel buildings and cooling equipment. Residents say the noise is most intrusive during the high season, when cooling demand is at its strongest.
Rico's lawsuit is against Torremolinos Town Hall. He argues that the local authority's failure to secure an effective and lasting solution has violated his fundamental rights.
He is seeking immediate action and compensation. The filing asks the court to require the Town Hall to ensure that the disturbance is fully resolved.
The council has not simply ignored the case: it has investigated, ordered works and commissioned tests. Rico's case is that, after years of that activity, residents are still living with the problem.
The court will now decide whether the Town Hall's response was legally sufficient.
With RTVE already covering the row and years of reports pointing in different directions, many are eager to see what happens when the case comes before a judge in mid-September.
Legal note: The court has not yet ruled on Rico's allegations. The legal action described in this report is against Torremolinos Town Hall. The Meliá Costa del Sol is described as the alleged source of the noise but is not the defendant in this court action.
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