Ushuaia's Baptism of Fire

As the Ibiza summer season draws to a close, the knifes seem to be out for the Ushuaia Beach Hotel concept on Playa Den Bossa Beach. Readers of this blog may remember a post we published on the Ushuaia Beach Hotel back in January, asking how the relationship between its rich sugar daddy financier and the sexy young socialite would develop. http://dannykayibiza.blogspot.com/2011/01/ushuaia-ibiza-2011.html

Ushuaia Beach Hotel
Well, its certainly has been a roller-coaster ride for the new Hotel. Certain sections of the Ibiza clubbing fraternity complain that the Hotel is not Ibiza, that its personality and pretentious attitude does not fit comfortably with the real Ibiza party vibe. The Hotel got off to a bad start with the cancellation, due to a family illness, of a headline DJ at its opening party. Then followed numerous bad reviews of the Hotel on Tripadvisor along with a PR faux pas when the Hotel tried to Gazump its ticket prices for one of their Swedish House Mafia parties. Ushuaia quickly overturned the decision due to a Facebook campaign against it and the negative publicity that the decision incurred. Just when it was thought that things could not get worse for Ushuaia, the tragic death of an employee at the Hotel rocked its foundations. Ushuaia has been left shell shocked and reeling after the death and some people seem to have taken this opportunity to kick the hotel when its down.

In Ibiza, business is dog eat dog. Its not a place for the naive, innocent green horn and the Island is littered with the bodies of many failed enterprises down through the decades. Luckily, Ushuaia has the advantage, experience and support of the powerful and indigenous Fiesta Hotel Group, so its tough enough to look after itself and fight its own corner. Its not going to go away or fail, too much money has been invested in the project and when all the bad luck and tragic circumstances have been taken out of the equation, Ushuaia has performed adequately under so much pressure.

www.ibiza-voice.com/story/news/3478
Management at Ushuaia undoubtedly cant wait for the final bell to ring, so that it can retreat to its corner and nurse its wounds from a bruising 2011 season. Ushuaia has been a victim of its own success, unprepared for the thousands of people that descended on the complex. It buckled under the pressure of having such a high image to live up to. It bit off way more that it could chew and to say there were teething problems was an understatement. I am not going to argue or go into depth on the Hotels failings this year but most of it was due to bad luck and was to be expected in its first season of operation, the hotel is only 3 months old. Very few hotels under the same circumstances would be able to manage any better. People forget that every night is a Saturday night in an Ibicenco summer.

I'm also not a fan of kicking a man when hes down, no matter how big or powerful they are. Ushuaia Beach Hotel has brought a new and exciting day time party to Ibiza, priced well and in the spirit of Ibiza, it is pushing the musical boundaries. Take away the begrudgers and there are enough positive reports about Ushuaia to suggest that it can be a success, once management get a chance to rectify its well advertised problems in the off season. The staff at the hotel suffered a big loss with the death of a popular workmate and friend. They have come together as a unit to demand reform so that it never happens again.

I think that the staff and Ushuaia deserve an opportunity to come back in 2012 and prove to Ibiza that they have what it takes to make their Hotel and party the best on the Island. They will learn from the mistakes of 2011 and prove that they are capable of better. Its not been an easy three months for anybody at Ushuaia and they owe it to the memory of Able Urena that they come out fighting in 2012.