The Le Méridien Ra building was opened eighty years ago as the San Juan de Dios Sanatorium. The location was chosen for two reasons: firstly, because sunlight was considered to be an important factor in the treatment of tuberculosis (light therapy), and was the main part of the cure, and, secondly, due to the discovery of an outcrop of seaweed from the Laminaria Digitata family 400 metres from the site of the hotel, which raises the iodine content of the water above the average in the Mediterranean. This seaweed is renowned not only for its slimming properties, but also for its firming effect on the skin.