An accommodation crisis in Ibiza is pricing out dance music workers and locals

Local businesses have also been impacted by the accommodation crisis. When Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona opened a new superstore in San Antonio last year there were hundreds of applications for various positions, yet, as the Diario de Ibiza reported, many of the newly employed staff had trouble finding sensibly-priced housing and were forced to quit before taking to the checkouts.

Amid the insatiable clamour for beds, this summer one San Antonio landlord went to new extremes, dividing his luxury villa into 50 separate dormitories and charging 400€ per person per bunk. The story was so bizarre that the Spanish current affairs television programme Ana Rosa, which is similar in style and exposure to the BBC flagship show Panorama, sent a camera crew to the island to document the goings on.

Online scammers are also taking advantage of the property shortage, using Facebook to post fake profiles advertising apartments that don’t exist. “It’s been happening loads this summer,” continues Mark Saunders. “I’ve had multiple groups in tears in my office. They sent over full deposits of 1500€ to 2000€. Then when they landed they realised the address simply didn’t exist. The scammers know Ibiza is busy and it’s so easy to advertise on Facebook. Unfortunately some of the youngsters who have never done a season out here tend to fall for it.”