17,000 euros for one night in Ibiza: the equivalent of a minimum wage

Palm17,000 euros per night. This is the price that four people must pay if they want to sleep this Maundy Thursday at the tourist accommodation Villa Wave, a property in Ibiza of 280 square meters with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and sea views. The reservation is offered on one of the largest tourist accommodation portals, Booking.com, with a cost of 4,300 euros per person for only 24 hours of stay.

This figure not only exceeds any usual reference in the conventional tourist market, but it goes to the extreme of costing the same per night as the minimum interprofessional wage in Spain, which slightly exceeds 17,000 gross euros.

Far from being an exception, this type of Easter week rates can also be found in other houses, described by the sector as 'villas', in Eivissa and also in Mallorca. Exorbitant prices now characterize part of the tourist rental offer, the most luxurious segment, and are far above hotels for the same dates. In Cap Martinet, in the Talamanca area, the contemporary villa JAMES SIB33, with 360 square meters of surface area, is marketed for 6,009 euros per night, despite having only two bedrooms but up to five bathrooms. In Sant Joan de Labritja, properties like Can Pep Den Sitges and Villa Morna Valley, with more than 300 square meters and multiple rooms, are located around 5,000 euros per night. In Cala Llenya, Villa Elite Maribiza, with 520 square meters, reaches 3,893 euros per night.

In this same context, other villas in Eivissa maintain high prices, despite being below the major extremes. Near Platja d’en Bossa, Can Pedra is offered for 3,812 euros per night for four people, with 200 square meters, five bedrooms, and five bathrooms. In the Les Dàlies area, Villa Amigo reaches 2,416 euros per night with a surface area of up to 659 square meters, a dimension that again highlights the disproportion between the available space and the actual number of occupants.

The Sierra de Tramuntana, the most expensive in Mallorca

In Mallorca, the phenomenon is repeated with similar intensity, especially in Pollença. One of the most outstanding cases is Can Agata, a 300-square-meter villa with four bedrooms and four bathrooms that asks for 11,565 euros per night this Holy Week. For a group of four people, this implies nearly 2,900 euros per person for a single evening. Along the same lines, in Esporles, a villa for four people costs more than 10,000 euros for the night of this Maundy Thursday.

Without reaching this extreme, other accommodations in the same area show an inflated trend. Can Domingo, with 180 square meters and three bedrooms, is offered for 5,162 euros per night, while Can Perot, with 330 square meters, reaches 4,298 euros. Ca Na Maronja, with 232 square meters and excellent reviews, is priced at 4,106 euros per night. Even more moderate options, such as Cuixach Villa, with 300 square meters, reach 2,752 euros, and Plana Morro, with 266 square meters, is priced at 1,984 euros, a figure that, in this context, can almost be considered low.

In general, these are large-capacity properties, with several bedrooms and surfaces that usually exceed 200 or 300 square meters, and this keeps prices high even though the number of occupants is small. In fact, the price for one night always penalizes more than if the reservation is for a week or ten days. To all this is added, in some cases, the luxury component: private pools, prime locations, and exclusive designs that place these properties in the highest segment of the international market.

All of this is part of a context of real estate tension in the Balearic Islands, where the combination of high-income tourism and limited supply has contributed to soaring prices in all areas. Some portals are already warning that prices will continue to rise in places like the western Mediterranean, due to cancellations that are already occurring as a consequence of the US and Israeli aggression against Iran and the conflict that has broken out in the area.