The concierge service at a luxury villa cannot be captured in a brochure: some people simply live and breathe it. Alex, co-founder of Neverland Properties, is a hotelier by vocation, and out of that conviction came a word of his own making: Housepitality. This entry takes a different form from the rest of the Neverland Encyclopaedia, that of a direct conversation with him about what lies behind that word, and how it transforms a stay at a luxury villa in Ibiza.

On the origin of a word

You use the word Housepitality to describe what Neverland offers. Where does it come from, and what does it mean in practice?

It is a word we coined, playing on hospitality. I come from a hotel background, a hotel tradition, and I have always understood the purpose of Neverland Properties in those terms: at the service of the guest, well beyond the rental of the villa itself.

We wanted to bring the experience a guest has in a hotel into a private house, and to offer them every service they might need within their villa. To set ourselves apart from the classic idea of the concierge, we refined the kind of attention we give from a more guest-focused angle, more hotelier than purely real estate. And that is where Housepitality was born: those services you can offer not in a hotel, but in a home. In a house.

The services can be very varied, always carried out within the villa by outside professionals: a chef, a tennis or padel coach, a swimming instructor, a language teacher, a nanny, spa professionals. But they can also be one-off equipment rentals, from extra beds to garden games for the children, and above all the personal attention we give the guest throughout their stay.

What does the concierge service actually include in practice, and what sets Neverland apart from the rest of the market?

It depends on the agency. At Neverland Properties the concierge service is included in the price, and that makes a real difference. An agency with standard personalisation, however much it sells a personalised concierge service, is usually only including a fixed number of bookings in the price; everything beyond that comes at an added cost.

The services fall into two groups. The first is in-villa services: any professional we coordinate within the property, whether spa, massage, private chef or nanny. The second is everything outside the house: car, boat, restaurants, beach clubs and nightclubs.

But beyond the bookings, the concierge accompanies the guest through their experience on the island. We keep an eye on the weather, on the wind, on which beach makes sense on a given day, on events taking place during the stay that the guest might not be aware of. The aim is simple: that the guest never puts a foot wrong during their holiday in Ibiza.

If I had to name the three most requested services: the boat day to Formentera, the car rental, which we deliver keys in hand at the airport, fully insured with no excess and no deposit, and the private chef during the week. That last one is growing enormously.

There is a distinction that confuses many guests: villa manager versus villa concierge. What is each one?

It is a common confusion, but an easy one to clear up. The villa manager is usually an employee of the villa’s owner, responsible for the property running correctly at all times: maintaining the garden, the pool, the cleaning service. Everything to do with the villa working as it should.

The villa concierge, on the other hand, is the person who makes sure the guest has everything they need to round out their holiday in Ibiza beyond the villa: car, boat, restaurant bookings, beach clubs, chiringuitos, nightclubs, and any additional service they might require.

Inside the villa

The private chef is one of the most requested services. How does it work — the formats, the costs, and how do you choose the right chef for each guest?

Of course you can have a private chef at your disposal in your villa. We work with a select group of chefs we have collaborated with for years, who have proved their professionalism and, above all, their understanding of what we want for our guests: not for the chef to show off, but for the guest to be genuinely happy. The chef receives detailed briefings, and we choose them in tune with the style of cooking, the guest’s dietary restrictions, and what we want to convey through that service.

There are two main formats. The first is the weekly service: fifty hours of work a week, usually spread across some eight hours a day, though it adapts to the guest’s schedule. The cost can come to around 3,000 euros a week.

The second format is the one-off service: “I would like a chef to cook me dinner tonight.” Here there are two options again. Either a set menu, which includes the shopping, the preparation, the service and the cleaning of the kitchen; or hiring the chef by the hour with an open shopping list. That last option is the least advisable.

We have excellent chefs in both local Ibicenco cuisine and international cuisine. Essential, when our guests come from the United States, Latin America, the Middle East and all of Europe.

How does the cleaning service work in a villa — what levels exist, and what does each one include?

It depends on the type of villa. For the more affordable ones, only the end-of-stay clean is included. If the stay runs longer than a week, a clean is added at the end of each week. Some agencies charge it as an extra; Neverland Properties includes it in the price.

The second level, for villas at a higher budget, includes a mid-stay clean with a change of sheets and towels, plus the final clean.

The third level is two cleans a week, usually Tuesday and Thursday, plus the Saturday departure clean.

For the most important villas there is a daily service from Monday to Saturday, between three and four hours a day in standard properties, rising to six or eight hours in the largest. The hours are calculated per person: four hours can be one person for four hours, or two people for two hours. It is worth being clear on that.

The standard clean covers the outdoor areas, the bedrooms and the bathrooms. At the guest’s request the priorities can be shifted, always within the agreed maximum of hours.

What is never included at any level is laundry or dry cleaning, which is always charged separately.

Arrival at the villa is a key moment. How do you prepare it — the welcome touches, the shopping, everything the guest finds as they walk through the door?

Personalising the guest’s arrival matters a great deal to us. And I do not say that as a slogan: I say it with many years of experience in hospitality, where VIP gifts became something completely standardised that in the end meant nothing at all. It was simply a way of telling the guest they had been labelled as important, but the gift reflected nothing of who that guest actually was.

The closeness we have with our guests lets us work out what their ideal gift will be: a football for the five-year-old, some Ibiza T-shirts for the kids, the mother’s favourite flowers because it is her birthday, the bottle of wine she loves, or something as simple as good Ibiza figs for a much-loved guest we know adores them.

Beyond the welcome gift, we offer the full fridge on arrival: the guest gives us their shopping list and we have it ready in the villa before they arrive. The service is free; the guest only pays for the groceries. A holiday is not for queueing at the supermarket, but for enjoying yourself from the very first minute.

Can you also arrange shopping during the stay: clothes, markets, errands?

Yes, of course. We do not consider it part of the included concierge, but we can set a rate for the service depending on the hours and the kind of service the guest needs.

What spa and wellness services can be arranged directly at the villa?

At Neverland Properties, yes. We have trusted partners we work with regularly. There is a menu of massages, of facial treatments, of manicures, pedicures, hair and makeup, all at our guests’ disposal. We arrange the booking, coordinate the professional’s arrival, and make sure everything runs comfortably at the villa. The professionals usually bring their own equipment, treatment tables included. Some villas in our collection even have their own mini-spas.

For groups, there are yoga classes, meditation or fitness sessions. The treatments last between fifty minutes and an hour and a half. The price includes travel to the villa, and the minimum services start from a hundred and twenty euros.

For a complete overview of wellness experiences in Ibiza, see Wellness and Wellbeing in Ibiza.

And for guests who want to keep up their training or nutrition routine during the holiday?

They are two distinct services, but both are available. We work with personal trainers across different specialities. What sets them apart from other destinations is that they bring their own full gym in the van, take it to the villa, and tailor the training to the guest’s needs.

The nutritionist is a bespoke arrangement depending on the guest’s goals. It is something very common here in Ibiza, with the rise of genuine zero-kilometre produce, and when we say genuine, we mean it: zero-kilometre from Ibiza, alongside organic farming. People put together real retreats here, and the results are extraordinary.

For wine lovers, can a sommelier experience or tasting be arranged at the villa itself?

Yes, of course. We are fortunate in Ibiza to have specialist companies that can bring a really fine experience to the villa. We work with one that holds most of the wine representations on the island, and we organise blind tastings, themed presentations and pairings, all at the property.

And a private cooking class — learning to make paella in your own villa?

Yes, we work with a private-chef agency that has a range of specialities: local Ibicenco cuisine and paella show-cooking, oriental cuisine, African cuisine. The cost covers the ingredients and the hours of the chef leading the class. At the end there is documentation to take away and, of course, you eat what you have made, all together.

Beyond the front door

High season in Ibiza is a booking war. How far does a good concierge’s reach really go when a restaurant shows up fully booked?

Yes and no, let me explain. We are not magicians, we cannot conjure space at a restaurant that is genuinely full. What does happen is that many restaurants block out slots in their online booking systems, holding them back so they can choose their guests directly. That is where we can help: we have a good relationship with most of the restaurants in Ibiza, we know many of the owners, the head chefs and the front-of-house managers, and that often lets us secure bookings that appear impossible to get.

But we never guarantee it. What we do guarantee is anticipation: we work the booking schedules well in advance to keep any fully-booked problems to a minimum. A clear example is Casa Jondal, one of the hardest restaurants in Ibiza right now. Do we find reservations when it shows as full online? Yes and no. We have a relationship with the owners and we can get bookings, but we cannot promise it will always be possible. The venues are not ours.

Let’s talk about the guest’s logistics: transfers, cars, security. What can you handle, and how does it work?

They are quite separate things.

As for transfers, we work with the most important transfer company in Ibiza. That matters to us because they guarantee the immediate replacement of a vehicle in the event of a breakdown, something individual operators cannot always do. The island is divided into three fare zones. We work mainly with Mercedes: the V Class for up to seven, the Vito for up to eight, plus eleven- and sixteen-seat minibuses. You need to book them in advance; there is always thirty minutes of grace, but you have to keep to the time, especially for the night-time runs to the airport.

For car rental we offer keys-in-hand delivery at the airport, fully insured with no excess and no deposit.

As for private security: for guests staying in villas outside gated communities, we can arrange professional staff with all the necessary licences. The most common shifts run eight hours, from ten at night to six in the morning.

It’s a question that comes up again and again: can I reach my villa by helicopter from Ibiza airport?

It is a very recurring question. There used to be a helipad at the Na Xamena hotel, with flights coming in from Palma and from Barcelona with VIP guests at one time. That era ended with the evolution of aviation rules and AESA regulations.

These days you see helicopters leaving the airport for private villas, or coming from guests’ private yachts to private villas: it is completely illegal. Flights have to go airport to airport. So yes, there is a helicopter service from Ibiza to Formentera or from Ibiza to Palma, but not to private destinations within the island, except by special authorisation.

The boat day, as you say, is the most requested service. How do you organise it from start to finish?

We work with several local charter agencies we know well; we watch how they renew their boats each winter. The most common ones run between forty and sixty feet; then we have the megayachts.

It is very simple: we check availability, send the options and the payment link, and on the day of the charter we take the guest to the port, introduce them to the captain and talk through how the day will unfold, having arranged, where needed, the restaurant bookings, the picnics or the rental of the water toys. When you come back, we are there to welcome you. It is something we recommend doing at least once a week when you are on holiday in Ibiza.

For full details on boat types, routes and prices around Ibiza, see Boats and Yachts in Ibiza.

And for the children: activities, excursions, organising their schedule during the stay?

Without a doubt. It is something we pay a great deal of attention to, since most of our guests are families from all over Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. It is always important to know the ages for the different activities. And these are things we prefer to arrange as far in advance as possible, because there is not a great deal of capacity and demand is high in peak season.

For detailed information on family activities and beaches in Ibiza, see Ibiza for Families with Children.

Alex Reyners, Neverland Properties. Ibiza, June 2026.