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Gostelow Report: Ibiza’s 7Pines has Lück, ‘pizzazz’ on its side

“As a new ‘independent’ I have exactly the same network support I enjoyed working for a brand, but starting from scratch I do admit I have needed all the help I can get,” says Markus Lück, managing director of 7Pines Resort Ibiza, on that Balearic island in the Mediterranean, which threw its opening party on June 2.

Markus Lück, early morning after the opening of 7Pines Resort Ibiza
Markus Lück, early morning after the opening of 7Pines Resort Ibiza

7Pines Resort Ibiza, which has a total of 186 suites, is named for a seven-day-a-week operation surrounded by the Mediterranean’s characteristic trees. The resort is owned by 12.18 Investment Management, based in Düsseldorf, Germany (12.18 stands for the letters of the alphabet of the family names of its two principals – 12 is, accordingly, Jörg Lindner, who is also co-owner, with his four brothers, of Lindner Hotels, while 18 is for his business partner, Kai Richter). The pair specializes in buying such distressed assets as Roxburghe Hotel in the Scottish borders, a 22-key historic property, with Dave Thomas golf, that they bought from the Duke of Roxburghe in April for a mere £3.25 million  (US$3.8 million) – both keen golfers, they plan to extend it, with lodges, to a total of 312 keys.

Ibiza, best known of the Balearic islands that are part of Spain, is for many synonymous with chill-out music often called Balearic Beat. Tourism figures grow every year. 12.18 knew it was on to a good thing when it paid an undisclosed amount five years ago to buy 40-year-old identical vacation cottages. It is these that have been converted into 7Pines Resort Ibiza.

“As an independent, we knew we had to launch with global pizzazz,” Lück explained. As a thank you to those who had given him professional network support over the past two years, there were

at least half a dozen hoteliers, plus top New York travel agents, among the 750 guests who partied long after the balloon-suspended trapeze artists and ground-based musicians packed up at midnight. To everyone’s relief, the rain held off and most guests were unaware that until a few minutes before the 7 p.m. start, turf was still being laid, and pathways swept. The mayor of San Jose/Ibiza, Josep Mari Ribas, helped the hotel’s German owners cut the opening ribbon with scissors flown in by a man with a backpack rotor.

“It was chemistry with Jörg Lindner and Kai Richter that finally convinced me, after many in-depth conversations, to join them,” recalled Lück, who had actually been wondering whether or not to do his own thing or to become a consultant. He was encouraged by the fact that the owners, who already had some white-label hotels, wanted to make 7Pines Resort Ibiza the best hotel in the whole Mediterranean area.

“I joined in January 2016 and we anticipated opening about 18 months later. A 10-month construction delay, caused by building permits, affected the schedule but gave time to concentrate on getting the perfect team. Thanks to Iridium Global Executive Search in London I have a director of sales and marketing from Kempinski, HR from Ritz-Carlton, and finance and spa from Jumeirah. I wanted an English chef with Asian heritage and he has come from St Regis. I wanted to be as near to perfection as possible, something that has been my obsession since early teens, when at home in Oxford, England, I entertained schoolfriends, planning every detail.” During those months of waiting he intensified running ideas past former Kempinski colleagues Emile Bootsma, now consulting in Amsterdam, and Axel Ludwig, shortly to announce a project in Munich, Germany (“I was really pleased to be able to offer advice,” said Ludwig).

Unlike most properties on the island, which are seasonal, 7Pines Resort Ibiza will be year-round, and the spa will be instrumental in filling winter months. “I need 120 year-round staff, upping to 330 in summer, and the key to hiring was already having signed 115 apartments for them (rental accommodation on Ibiza is really at a premium). I have a team from 32 countries, including one Bolivian intern,” said the German.

“Although I will continue with the industry tradition of morning briefing, essential for setting strategy and communicating to the whole team, setting up a new property allows radical thinking. There is no in-room dining, for example. We are offering, instead, what we call Home Delivery, in recyclable packaging. I am also relying on guests downloading an app that will cover all guest-staff contact.” 

One big advantage of no brand membership means no interference from standards directors or regional or head offices. Leading Hotels of the World has been an incredible support over the last two years, said Lück, adding that affiliation gives credibility to a new hotel. As an independent property, he and his owners had initially started benchmarking with significant and well-established one-off hotels, but he now focuses on looking at such brands as Belmond and One&Only.

“We are indeed independent but I did not jump from a brand merely to run one hotel.  We are already looking at Sardinia for another 7Pines Resort,” Lück shared with a grin.

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