"El hotel de los secretos" is a Mexican period telenovela produced by Roberto Gómez Fernández for Televisa. It's an adaptation of a popular Spanish period drama series 'Gran Hotel'. It started airing on April 11, 2016 and ended on July 31, 2016 with 80 episodes. The main stars are Irene Azuela and Erick Elias.
Synopsis[]
The story begins in 1908. Julio Olmedo and Isabel Alarcón travel on the same train towards the Grand Hotel, a business owned by the Alarcón family. Neither of them knows that their lives will take a turn there, driven by love, betrayal, and the secrets that reside there. Julio Olmedo travels to find his twin sister Cristina, who has stopped writing to him for a few months. Isabel responds to a call from her mother, matriarch Teresa Langre, Widow of Alarcón, who has arranged a marriage between her daughter and Diego Montejo, to whom she also hands over the management of the Grand Hotel.
Along with the disappearance of Cristina Olmedo, a series of murders occur in the town where the hotel is located. Investigator Serapio Ayala arrives from the capital to solve them. However, during his stay, the mysteries around the place increase, making them more difficult to decipher. Ayala is a science enthusiast and relies on it to solve each case he encounters.
Olmedo enters the Grand Hotel as a waiter, where he meets Andrés Salinas, the son of Ángela Gómez, the housekeeper. A great friendship that turns into brotherhood develops between Julio and Andrés. Andrés helps Julio investigate what happened to his sister. Andrés is in love with Belén García, a shameless maid who, pretending to be a victim of deceit, convinces him to accept the child she is expecting as his own, even though it is actually the result of her affair with Diego Montejo.
Sofía Alarcón is Teresa's eldest daughter, married to Alfredo Vergara, heir to a traditional noble family. Sofía is pregnant but loses her baby, and her obsession with having a child further undermines her fragile mental health.
Felipe Alarcón is a young man who has always lived under his mother's overprotection, which has made him a weak man, far from the heir his father always wanted.
Ángela Gómez, the housekeeper of the Grand Hotel, knows every corner of the place and every person who has passed through there in the last thirty years. Her impenetrable face hides secrets she refuses to reveal, especially to protect her son Andrés.
Trivia[]
- Before the formal series order, the producer Roberto Gómez Fernández filmed a pilot for the show, however the cast was formed with other actors. Zuria Vega, Alfonso Dosal, Alejandra Barros, África Zavala, Mark Tacher, Erick Elias, Claudia Ramírez, Eugenia Cauduro, René Strickler and Luis Gatica were in the pilot, however only Elias, Ramirez and Gatica stayed in the cast.
- Ana Brenda Contreras, Ximena Herrera, Cecilia Suárez, Danna García, Ximena Navarrete and Zuria Vega auditioned for the role of the main female protagonist Isabel Alarcón, however Herrera was finally assigned for the role of Cristina Olmedo.
- Mark Tacher and Marcelo Córdoba auditioned for the role of the main villian Diego Montejo.
- Alejandro Camacho, Juan Carlos Barreto and José Elías Moreno auditioned for the role of the detective Ayala. After Jesús Ochoa got the part, Barreto was offered another role on the show and Moreno appeared in a guest role as a judge.
- The start of production was confirmed on October 26, 2015, at Televisa San Ángel's Forum 10, and production concluded on May 16, 2016. The production team and cast spent seven months filming the telenovela. The series was filmed using cinematic techniques, and the directors of photography were Luis García and Diego Tenorio. The stage direction was the responsibility of Francisco Franco and Ana Lorena Pérez-Ríos. For the costumes, 250 people participated to create more than 13,000 pieces.
- The telenovela is set in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th century. The main setting for the telenovela was a neoclassical architectural building, constructed in 1910, which at the time housed the largest psychiatric hospital in Mexico. La Castañeda, which is currently located in Amecameca, State of Mexico, was the primary location for the development of the telenovela. Santa María Regla, Hidalgo, was the setting adapted mainly for the town featured in the telenovela. To create the town of Santa María, sets such as the cantina, offices, a brothel, a bakery, a telegraph office, a pharmacy, the market, the seamstress's house, a store, and street stalls were recreated. The series was filmed in various locations, including Mexico City, Morelos, Hidalgo, State of Mexico, Aguascalientes, and at the Televisa San Ángel studios.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
| ACTOR / ACTRESS | ROLE |
|---|---|
| Irene Azuela | Isabel Alarcón Langre |
| Erick Elias | Julio Olmedo Gutiérrez (Julio Espinoza) |
| Daniela Romo | Ángela Gómez de Salinas |
| Diana Bracho | Teresa Langre de Alarcón |
| Jorge Poza | Diego Montejo |
| Carlos Rivera | Andrés Salinas Gómez (Andrés Alarcón Gómez) |
| Ilse Salas | Belén García Aguado |
| Dominika Paleta | Sofía Alarcón Langre de Vergara |
| Alejandro de la Madrid | Alfredo Vergara Saviñón |
| Pablo Cruz Guerrero | Felipe Alarcón Langre |
| Jesús Ochoa | Serapio Ayala |
| Eduardo España | Dagoberto Suárez |
| Juan Carlos Barreto | Guadalupe 'Lupe' Mosqueda |
| Regina Blandón | Matilde Salaverry |
| Luis Couturier | Benjamín Nieto |
| Ximena Herrera | Cristina Olmedo Gutiérrez |
| Juan Ferrara | Dr. Lázaro Vicario |
| Claudia Ramírez | Cecilia Gaitán |
| Silvia Mariscal | Elisa Saviñón de Vergara |
| Queta Lavat | Mrs. Limantour (La Nena) |
| Joshua Gutiérrez | Jacinto Mosqueda |
| Arantza Ruiz | Violeta |
| Ilse Ikeda | Natalia Suarez Martinez |
| Luis Gatica | Genaro Varela |
| Claudia Rios | Melibea |
| Eduardo Liñán | General Evaristo Ballesteros |
| Barbara Singer | Mercedes Ballesteros |
| Sofía Castro | Eugenia Ballesteros |
| Enrique Singer | Romúlo Alarcón de Castilla |
| Marlene Kalb | Victoria Louis |
| Moisés Arizmendi | Olegario Alarcón De Castilla |
| Gonzalo Peña | Ignacio Alarcón |
| Fernanda Borches | Manuela Arenas (Jorge Arenas) |
| Juan Verduzco | Javier Góngora |
| Rodrigo Virago | Pascual Duarte |
| Lucía Guilmáin | Consuelo Escandón |
| Marcia Coutiño | Beatriz Zamora |
| Álex Perea | Gabriel Suarez Martinez |
| Francisco Avendaño | Fausto Barreda |
Guest stars[]
| ACTOR / ACTRESS | ROLE |
|---|---|
| Hernán Romo | Mariano Arenas |
| Antonio Gallegos | Miguel Arenas |
| Bernardo Bucio | Melquiades Arenas |
| Odin Ayala | Melesio Arenas |
| Erwin Veytia | Cutberto Garrido |
| Antón Araiza | Father Alfonso |
| Horacio Castelo | Doctor Santamaría |
| Mauricio García Lozano | Juventino Alcalá |
| Nuria Gil | Remedios |
| Mahoalli Nassourou | Cordelia |
| Ariane Pellicer | Helena |
| Montserrat Marañón | María Reyes de Range |
| Alexander Holtmann | Sheamus Rangel |
| Pilar Ixquic Mata | Juana de Angarita |
| Edsa Ramírez | Clara Canabal de Angarita |
| José Elías Moreno | Judge |
| Rafael Amador | Doctor Vallejo |
| Sergio Gallardo | Mateo |
| Cristian Ramos | Cipriano |
| Daniel Haddad | Pierre Paulet |
| Joan Santos | Feliciano |
| Esteban Maggio | Esteban Alcazar |
| María Penella | Rocío |
| Paloma Arredondo | Micaela |
| Marisol del Olmo | Emma de la Garza |
| Adrián Villanueva | Adrián |
| Elizabeth Ávila | Soledad |
| Víctor Carpinteiro | Pablo Salinas |
| Pablo Bracho | Justo Olmedo |
| Yam Acevedo | Leonora |
| Carlos Barragán | Carlos |
| Antonio Alcantara | Cornelio Valladares |
| Daniel Chávez Camacho | Driver |
| Omar Ceballos | Witness |
| David Orci | Telegraphist |
| Alonso Iñiguez | Lauro |
| Quetzalli Cortés | Soldier |
| Antón Araiza | Father Alonso |
| Horacio Castelo | Doctor |
| Mario Molina | Mailman |
| Laura Rincón | Hotel Guest |
| Manuel Jimènez Fraire | Miner |
| Walter Kapelas | / |
| Alex Peña | / |
| David Fridman | / |