✅ Diego Calvo, CEO and founder of Concept Hotel Group & Rock Nights is our new Hidden Icon.
▷ In a Snapshot
Diego Calvo CEO and Founder of Concept Hotel Group and Rock Nights fits perfectly with the concept of Hidden Icon: creative, innovative, talented, all-rounder… he had a dream and a business idea, he bet on it and he made it happen. He has created the first hotel group in Ibiza with a concept. His hotels are now an icon on the island.
In 2012 with his friend Tallyn Planells they decided to create hotels with a concept and a story to tell, where the electronic music of the famous discos of the island of Ibiza, were not the only protagonists of the stays of the people, but the hotel itself.
The challenge was bold, but he made it. Hotels that tell the client their story through small details that are not less than pills of content in every corner and activity of the hotel, prepared strategically, for the enjoyment of the guests and surprise them during their stay with music, art, culture, and fashion.
Santos, Paradiso, Cubanito… are some of the hotels that belong to his group and where music has an important, but not the unique value. The music in their hotels responds to the corresponding theme with the name and concept of the hotel. Being music of Cuban origin in Cubanito and disco music in Paradiso.
It has managed to reinvent the accommodation in Ibiza and move away from its typical Mediterranean boho-chic decoration towards something that is in line with the whole concept of the hotel.
Hotels that could be scenarios to Instagram all your stay and tell your experience, every corner or activity is susceptible to be photographed and shown in the social networks. And that together with the concept of each one is their best weapon and advertising.
▷ Rock Nights
This is the name and surname for Thursdays nights in Ibiza. The fact is the Pitiusa Island can be much more than the usual nightclubs. That’s why they have created this concept of a party where rock is the protagonist. Since they started, renowned singers of the musical panorama and history have stepped onto their stages of the iconic Pikes, were they are held.
# Talking
We always admire talented professionals with an entrepreneurial character. We like to tell their story and that people can put a face to them, here is our conversation with Diego Calvo.
- CONCEPT HOTEL GROUP. Congratulations on the choice of the group’s highly differentiated concept. Just like you, we love to tell and know stories. What is yours like?
Our story is very passionate. In 2012 after a crazy night of lots of wine and laughter with my lifelong friend Tallyn Planells we decided to take a swerve in our respective paths and created our own company by signing our blood pact on a napkin. In 2013 we opened our first hotel and since that day and with a lot of passion and work we have set up a really hot hotel group that already has 6 hotels on the island of Ibiza. The COVID may have stopped us, as we all have, but we will continue to fight with the same illusion, we will not stop, we can not anymore, we are addicted to hotels.
- CREATIVITY. Creativity seems to play a very active role in the Group, you don’t stop bringing out new projects. What have you done to keep it active in COVID times?
During the first stage of the confinement, I dedicated myself to boring but necessary internal company tasks; ERTES, ICOS, rent negotiations, etc… once we had organized the survival of the company I focused on protecting the brands a lot and looking for ways to keep the flame of the group’s DNA burning with many actions: live on Instagram in each of the profiles of the hotels with artists performances, we launched our second edition of the magazine STORIES that by the way you can read it if you access the Concept Hotel Group website, participating in many interviews and webinars, etc. In times of crisis is when more noise has to be done, these are moments to reinvent yourself and go from Clark Kent to Superman.
- INSPIRATION. Music, art, design are very present in all your projects. Which are the ones that have accompanied you in this confinement?
As a playlist, no doubt the one we created from Rock Nights. In 2005 I created the Rock Nights party in which hundreds of artists have spent the last 15 years and I asked these artists to choose a theme that described what they were feeling in these days of confinement, the participation was brutal and the playlist was published in many media, it involved artists like Loquillo, Tarque, Dorian, Carolina Durante or Viva Suecia among many others, if you google Rock Nights against Coronavirus you can find it. Music is without a doubt a necessary tool to keep the illusion and motivation up in moments like this.
- CONCEPT. Your hotels, the events, and experiences you offer are the biggest differential. Are you going to change or modify anything in this new context?
During an initial period and until the vaccine has been discovered, we will have to adapt to the hygiene and safety measures that exist to protect our customers and employees. However, our intention is to continue to invest in art and culture and to continue creating unique experiences in our hotels that make our products unique in the market. Our way is to differentiate ourselves from the competition always, we do not like to do things the way others do, we like to give them a twist.
- COVID-19. We really liked the initiative you just launched for the Ibiza Festival Onspring / Offspring. Now, more than ever is time to come together, but it is not always easy to bring more than 50 companies together under a common objective. How does it arise and coexist with other public-private actions? What role do you play in the initiative? What are the challenges and opportunities you see?
The Ibiza Festival Onspring / Offspring, inspired by the #moveyourspring movement, was born with the firm objective of extending the tourist season in Ibiza. It is aimed at all the companies on the island that share our hopes and objectives so that they can join the initiative by organizing valuable events that we will incorporate into a cultural and leisure calendar.
Now, more than ever is the time to join efforts with a common goal: That Ibiza is the preferred destination of many tourists beyond the summer months. The initiative aims to make this action a precedent to be able to continue developing it in future years.
From Concept Hotel Group we have led this project together with our friends of OD Group, we have joined together to work on the creation of a calendar of leisure and culture, and from here involve all institutions and companies on the island that can add and contribute to achieving the common goal.
We have also been supported by the Association of Hotel Directors of Ibiza and the Leisure group. In order to extend the season, we will prepare a calendar full of events that will keep Ibiza alive and visible and maintain it as an attractive destination beyond the busy summer months.
Ibiza does not start in May and ends in September, and that is why we must work together to offer an added value to this time of year so that the consumer has it in mind and chooses it.
➞ Follow the events and news through the HIDDEN AGENDA ➞ LINK
✨ Hidden Tips
Diego Calvo tells us and shares his Hidden Tips, his recommendations to enjoy the authenticity of the island of Ibiza: its hidden gems and hidden places.
“MUST GO TO“ – Rock Nights at Pikes
“MUST DO” – Bathing in Cala den Serra in May ( I will be the first one in phase 2 ).
“MUST SEE” – Sunset at the gates of heaven in Santa Inés.
.
+ HIDDEN ICONS
