*** Ibiza 2017 observations ***

CasaNegron said:
@kimajy
Its a nice place to live. Unfortunately when you are not on vacation you dont get to enjoy it as often. We get to the BVI on a day-trip maybe 1x per year. We do go to the beach on STT and STJ more frequently.

For me, I would love if the place had some of that Balearic magic. I think that the BVIs are a bit closer, and it may have to do with STT and to a lesser extent STJ being more a cruise ship destination rather than overnight. Also, us Americans tend to be more conservative and do not loosen up as easily, even when away from home :).
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Yup, totally get it. I live a mile from the sea in UK much of the year and only made it to the beach twice in the first 6 months of this year sadly which is an all-time low !

It's a very different vibe and the cruise ship thing must have a big impact for sure. There's nowhere like Ibiza :cool:
 
right so it´s the 17th august which means the actual season peak (normally 1st to 15th august) is already over. I think it´s a good moment to put together a quick resume.

as lots of you will have noticed already, ibiza 2017 will not go down as a record season. the island is very busy yeah, but it´s not as packed as 2016 and I think even away from 2015. yes the airport traffic is up, but that´s not actual growth but simply a different way of travelling nowadays - people used to come once a season for 7-10 days, now lots of people come twice but only stay 3 nights or so. so overall we don´t actually have more tourists right now. july hotel occupation was 1.3% below last year.

what´s happening? in my opinion we see a few things...

one - low budget holidaymakers stay away. right now you can clearly see it. the thousands of young italians that normally come in august and fill the clubs just aren´t here. I spoke to various promoters in the last days and the mass of italians is missing. italy´s economy isn´t going great and accommodation prices here have gone through the roof - especially if you consider the value you get in return. genuinely, business owners need to get a grip and have a word with themselves in regards to prices. funnily enough, I hear that also some of the festivals in italy as well as in croatia have lower numbers this year so it´s not only about ibiza´s prices, but generally a) italians not able to afford this and b) also the exchange rate pound to euro making it harder for the brits (you guys know that very well).

two - luxury isn´t for the masses. IMHO too many businesses on the island have geared themselves toward upmarket clientele and, at least right now, you can just see this policy is failing. yes of course there are luxury clients around and with very few of them you can make a shitload of money. but they don´t come in the numbers people probably would have thought. a good number of the new 5* hotels aren´t fully booked right now and also all the VIP areas in the clubs aren´t packed. I always thought the upmarket move was a mistake and right now it really seems to backfire. the low/middle class budget folk aren´t here in the normal mass, making dancefloors not being packed even in peak season (with the exception of a very few parties) and you know the deal - if the dancefloor isn´t rocking, the people in the VIP won´t have a great night neither.

three - scaring away families. things like the fact that in portinatx - a place that used to be THE resort for families - now there´s just very few places left which are apt for families (lots of hotels have turned into adults-only places) is, again IMHO, just plain wrong. nothing more to add to that.

I think this post might be interpreted too dramatic though so let me add a few things: the island is still having a very decent season. but after years of growth and records, it´s interesting to see that for now, it does seem we have peaked last year and I just can´t stop thinking that a few of the changes implemented were mistakes, plain and simple. I do think that september is going to be a very good month again this year and I have a feeling the season will have its latest actual ´closing´ever so we still have two full months ahead of us.
 
Good post Stivi. As you say, September could well be busy. I know a lot of people that only consider early or late season now (mainly focusing on September) to avoid crowds and take advantage of lower cost accommodation and travel.
 
Just a thought but could some of this be partly down to Space having its final year last year? I'm sure there were lots of older folk and some younger ones who would have made the extra effort to head over last year to catch Space 'one last time'

And I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't wish to go back to Ibiza because Space is gone due to age or
 
aregandj said:
Just a thought but could some of this be partly down to Space having its final year last year? I'm sure there were lots of older folk and some younger ones who would have made the extra effort to head over last year to catch Space 'one last time'

And I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't with to go back to Ibiza because Space is gone
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yes sure, but that effect will actually only properly come into play in september (and start of october). that is when last year we all noticed lots and lots of people coming to the island especially because of space.
 
That's so true @johndiamond - booked everything last minute but ironically wound up spending quite a bit more overall on flights, accommodation and car visiting in June than in August this year !

Did think there were far fewer Italians around this year, had put it down to going on Radio 1 weekend but clearly wasn't just that by the sounds of things.
 
kimajy said:
That's so true @johndiamond - booked everything last minute but ironically wound up spending quite a bit more overall on flights, accommodation and car visiting in June than in August this year !

Did think there were far fewer Italians around this year, had put it down to going on Radio 1 weekend but clearly wasn't just that by the sounds of things.
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All the Italians were in Formentera...;)
 
Moondust said:
All the Italians were in Formentera...;)
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It has always been so in August @Moondust !!!! Every scooter on the island being driven recklessly with a passenger, every boat available crammed to bursting and groups of 10+ at a time taking up huge swathes of nearly every beach... well ... not far off it anyway :lol:
 
kimajy said:
It has always been so in August @Moondust !!!! Every scooter on the island being driven recklessly with a passenger, every boat available crammed to bursting and groups of 10+ at a time taking up huge swathes of nearly every beach... well ... not far off it anyway :lol:
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Only the 2nd time i have been in August, its always September for me. But yeah you're right. 90% ignorant bad mannered and clueless at zebra crossings. A danger to everyone.
 
Also so many parties to choose from now that the tourists that are there are spread out over different parties, thefore some of the nights not being as packed as before. it is not a bad thing in some cases but some nights look not busy at all. As I said before when I went cocoon in June, never seen Amensia that empty ever.
 
Without naming names, are any of these 5* hotels struggling? Some of these upgrades and refurbs must have been a huge investment based on projections made a few years ago. And now with luxury clientele numbers down, are some hotels being hit hard?
 
cunninghamali said:
Also so many parties to choose from now that the tourists that are there are spread out over different parties, thefore some of the nights not being as packed as before. it is not a bad thing in some cases but some nights look not busy at all. As I said before when I went cocoon in June, never seen Amensia that empty ever.
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I would also add that social media will and can make a night....

I would put my house on it that Elrow would be half as busy if it wasn't for videos of inflatables and confetti being shared around the net.
I can atleast say I have done it but I would never entertain Elrow again not unless I know a lot less people go. The music from Technasia was poor as well. It was tech being played like EDM....Build ups and drops

Oh and whilst I am on subject I have to say that I now think the sound system in Amnesia Terrace is sh!t. Take away the base and the high's were awful. Maybe the DJ had all the settings wrong but numerous times when the base was taken away it was shocking how bad the sound quality was. Speakers blown/volume too high?
 
Life of Rye said:
I would also add that social media will and can make a night....

I would put my house on it that Elrow would be half as busy if it wasn't for videos of inflatables and confetti being shared around the net.
I can atleast say I have done it but I would never entertain Elrow again not unless I know a lot less people go. The music from Technasia was poor as well. It was tech being played like EDM....Build ups and drops

Oh and whilst I am on subject I have to say that I now think the sound system in Amnesia Terrace is sh!t. Take away the base and the high's were awful. Maybe the DJ had all the settings wrong but numerous times when the base was taken away it was shocking how bad the sound quality was. Speakers blown/volume too high?
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of course the net and social media help a lot. and yeah everyone knows that elrow´s recipe for success is the show rather than the music.

on the amnesia soundsystem I couldn´t disagree more - but as you point out you might have been unlucky with the night. I am in that club once every week normally and usually the soundsystem is on point. the only time I´ve experienced the sound to be bad in there was amnesia closing 2014 (I think) when they blew the subwoofer or whatever it was. else it´s really always been good.
 
Great posts above. I was in US in May & June and by time I got back to UK in July I was going to have a few cheeky weekends but the prices in places I usually stay at were 50% what they were last year. Yeah, I could have gone elsewhere etc but we decided to try other places. We did an amazing long weekend in Berlin which was insane. And actually has opened my mind a bit beyond Ibiza.

Bring on September! I'm hopefully out 2-3 times from September to mid October. And ironically some of the same places I described above now seem to be a lot cheaper. Maybe there is a slight panic on and they want to pack September out. Let's hope so.
 
For elrow stay until the end and grab the tshirts they throw
goal for ibz closing 17, grabbing 2 elrow tshirt :cool: & an inflatable elrow unicorn it will pay back the 70€ fair :lol:
 
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