"They've had it since around the financial crisis."
Oh boy, OP, you're really going to hate me as well.
"Colleague of mine constantly mentions her partner's 'home' in Spain."
Although, to be fair, we never mention it to people unless we're thinking of inviting them.
Very much like your colleague, we have a 'home' in Spain. It's actually in Mallorca; up in the high part near Soller (there was even snow there one winter).
We bought it 15 years ago when the DC were young teenagers/tweens and it's been a great holiday home. We've used it at Christmas, Easter and over the summer.
Over the years we've got to know other people who live there. Some, like us, have holiday homes (although they mostly seem to be German - I've tried to learn some German but all the Germans just say to me "Why bother learning German, everybody speaks English").
Others we've met live there permanently, a mix of Mallorcans and foreign nationals who have settled there.
We have a great place that we can just fly off to whenever we want (we've never done AirBnB etc, it's just for us). The DC have made friends there from different countries and have got involved with sailing and other water sports.
Overall, it's been great and very definitely not what the OP describes as "going out there to sit in the sun and drink"
Although I am sure that certainly does happen, but please, don't tar everyone who owns a house in Spain with the same brush.