The hotel was built in 1870 and inaugurated in 1873.

In the early 1900, my great-grand-father, François ROUSSE, and his wife opened a retail trade in Lourdes.

My grand-mother, Berthe ROUSSE, born in 1911, will marry a few years later my grand-father, Louis GUINGUENE, of Breton origin.
In 1933, my great-grand-father bought the Grand Hôtel de la Grotte in which he lived with his wife and their daughter, Berthe Rousse, who was then 22 years old and with my grand-father Louis GUINGUENE.

My great-grand-father managed the hotel until his death in 1949. Then my grand-father inherited it and took care of it until 1964, the year of his death.

During the Second World War, the hotel was requisitioned by the Banque de France and was then used as an orphanage until the end of the war.

In 1934 by father, François GUINGUENE was born, When my grandfather died, he managed the hotel with my grandmother and his wife Olivia GUINGUENE.

In 2000, my grand-mother died.

In 2005, my parents left us the hotel. We are now the 4th generation to manage the hotel.
hôtel de la Grotte has always been in the heart of Lourdes and of its headlines. Head of governments, ministers and celebrities meet there. This year, the vice president of the European Union, Marco Zacchera, the right arm of the Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard, and the Israeli and Palestinian delegations stayed at the hotel during the treaty of peace discussions. The spokesperson of the Italian Assembly, Colonel Atruya, comes on a regular basis. In June, the Editions Presse de la Cité inaugurated their first guidebook on Lourdes in our establishment.

The Grand Hôtel de la Grotte has been mentioned several times by the international press as a must if you stay in Lourdes.