The secret side of Ibiza's nightclubs

Hey, it's Brandon. This is what it's like putting together a behind-the-scenes report. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi everyone! It’s [Brandon Presser](, and I’m exhausted. Crowds of vacationers—especially Americans—are surging in Europe this summer, so the Bloomberg Pursuits team dispatched me to the [trenches of Ibiza](. My mission? Get a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to serve the island’s jet-setting elite. During the peak of high season, I took a job with Le Collectionist, the island’s premiere concierge and villa rental service, working a week alongside its A-list team of hospitality savants. I’m exhausted, because it was truly a 24-hour gig, brokering yacht and jet charters during the day, and accompanying VIP clients to DJ sets in the middle of the night, only to wake up and do it all over again. The Collectionist crew had age on their side: most of my colleagues were in their late 20s. I was a decade less lucky. Plenty of Advil was needed. (Does that count as “taking a pill in Ibiza”?) This is kind of my thing: You’ve seen me write about what it’s like to work on [superyachts](, at [Disney World](, a [high-roller casino]( in Vegas and [White Lotus-like resorts](. For the last six-plus years I’ve been reporting on the inner workings of some of the most prestigious hospitality brands, documenting service heroics across the planet, but I’ve never lifted the veil on the behind-the-scenes of how these features come together on the editorial side. Sound like a great job? Spoiler alert: It’s not half as glamorous as the closed-door realms in which the narratives take place. By the time I’m ready to write, I’ve usually collected 30-plus hours of recorded conversations, interviews and interactions. My long-haul flight to Southeast Asia, post-Ibiza, was the perfect opportunity to listen through all of it, create transcripts, and start thinking about the different themes that emerged in the field. In this case: Champagne and social media followers as Ibiza’s dueling currencies among the elite. Then comes the writing—a first draft at around 7,000 words exploring all facets of the world—which ultimately gets trimmed down to a dishy 2,500 words (five pages in Businessweek magazine) through a series of edits that usually occur while I’m deep into the research for my next assignment. Here I am at around 10:30 p.m. Singapore time working through an edit for the Ibiza story; the perfect opportunity to taste-test the Ritz Carlton Millenia’s club sandwich. The club sandwich at the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. Photographer: Brandon Presser/Bloomberg And what does a Bloomberger in the field do when they're stuck in an hour-and-a-half of painful Bangkok gridlock? Read through the proofs of the almost-finalized story before it heads to the printer. Productive. Photographer: Brandon Presser/Bloomberg Of course, many things end up on the cutting room floor, so I thought I’d share—with my editor’s blessing—a couple of nuggets that didn’t make it onto the magazine page: - Behind all the macrame and linen, it’s hard to tell the difference between the cosplayers and real-deal Ibizans. But local personality David Leppan knows how: the bigger the hat the bigger the brat. “I’m thinking of one crypto guru,” Leppan says. “He came around with his wife pretending to be spiritual. They had the broadest brimmed hats I’ve ever seen, like two flying saucers.” - There are only five hours between check-outs and check-ins for Le Collectionist to whip their villas back into shape for their arriving guests. I watched as legions of cleaners descended upon the different mansions cramming up to 35 hours of manpower into one afternoon, with extra attention lavished on the four most important things: functioning wifi, blasting air conditioning, a seamlessly syncable sound system and a pristine pool area with nary a leaf despite windy weather. But my best piece of advice after a crash course on island revelry? In Ibiza, when someone offers you baked goods, check it for shrooms. I found myself accidentally partying on my day off, when I discovered the brownie in my innocent-seeming ice cream sundae was stuffed with psychedelics. What It’s Like to Travel to Bangkok and Singapore Now After visiting Ibiza early on in the summer, I spent the remainder of the season in Southeast Asia. It was supposed to be my attempt to escape roaring crowds, but it turns out [the region is swamped with visitors](, too. Hotels were running at near-full capacity; dinners at the hottest addresses were booked solid through the end of the year. The return of mainland Chinese travelers to the region was most palpable in Bangkok, where they train their travel beam on [Iconsiam](—a large mall that fuses luxury retail and a synthetic village of hawker stalls to surprising effect—and the back alleys of Chinatown for street-food tours. I caught up with Dan Fraser, founder of bespoke tour operator [Smiling Albino](, as he taste-tested his way through a quieter neighborhood near Chinatown, creating a new street food tour for some adventurous palates that would adeptly avoid the growing crowds. We found some great stuff including a tangy tom yum goong and savory duck noodles, and toasted the trailblazing endeavor with drinks at a bar. Any food tour in and around Bangkok’s Chinatown should include a stop here. Photographer: Brandon Presser Fifteen years ago, Bangkok’s bar scene revolved around one thing: rooftop views, which, frankly, excused the mediocre quality of the drinks. Now the so-called “concept bar” has emerged as the latest trend; cocktail programs that lean hard into an idea—beverages inspired by ’80s Hollywood movies, say—with results as mixed as the tipples served with skyline vistas. There were a few standouts, though: [Mahaniyom]( Drinks at this low-key hangout are each crafted from one item deconstructed several ways, like Coconut, which uses every part of the fruit, including the husk. It may sound like a gimmick, but it was the best cocktail I’ve had this year. Adventurous drinkers should go for Cow or Squid. [Ba Hao]( Balanced cocktails using a smattering of Thai flavors are the perfect excuse to park yourself at the bar top and devour a plate of duck wontons. I don’t usually like duck, and I ordered two helpings! Make note of the steaming stall to the left of the entrance—that’s the kitchen. Duck wontons so good, I ordered two. Photographer: Brandon Presser [Baan Tepa]( You’re coming here for the nine-course prix fixe parade of delicious Thai dishes (the nam prik will blow your mind), but don't sleep on the cocktails. Give the somm free rein to get creative with jackfruit, his muse, and the fresh herbs grown in the garden out back. You won’t be disappointed. Singapore in Six Bites During two weeks in Singapore, I hit more than 80 eating and drinking establishments (cue the Advil again) from hawker stalls to haute cuisine and everything in between. These are six bites that really stood out: Roti paung at [Seroja]( Everything on Chef Kevin Wong’s Malay menu is a dream—the green sambal is worthy of a spot on this list as well—but I can't stop thinking about his light and sweet roti paung. The table next to me asked for a second loaf to take home.  Chicken rice at [Wee Nam Kee]( Skip the Michelin-praised hawker hoopla and go eat in an air-conditioned mall. There’s a reason why Wee Nam Kee has several locations across Singapore—they do a mean chicken rice. Locals prefer thigh meat. Kebab at [Tiffin Room]( The Raffles Hotel is famous for a lot of things, namely the Long Bar, home of the original Singapore Sling, but the real jewel is Tiffin Room, the northern Indian restaurant next to the lobby. Go for the beetroot or lamb kebab appetizer. It’s so good, it was the only meal I had twice while in town. Sumac chicken oysters at [Burnt Ends]( This highly acclaimed restaurant has created its own niche: decadent barbecue. It’s a dining category I didn’t know I needed in my life until I tasted how the culinary team harnesses the power of smoke to supercharge their ingredients. Although they are famous for steak, I was wowed by their yakitori-style skewers. Bak kut teh at [Song Fa]( Curative pork rib soup and full cloves of garlic lures the crowds. Servers come around with kettles of broth for continuous refills—I probably had three or four bowls—I couldn’t get enough. Foie gras toast at [Le Bon Funk]( It took an arm twist from the chef for me to try this—I wasn't in the mood for something so rich—but it was the perfect snack to pair with my early-evening glass of wine: a little ski hill of goose liver snowflakes on a thick-cut piece of homemade bread. You Had Some Questions... Any advice on packing—or favorite things you bring on long trips? First and foremost: find the perfect white shoe. Shoes are so bulky in your luggage that investing in all-purpose footwear is key. I’m low-key obsessed with the [Ecco Soft 7](, which is durable enough to wear for a whole day of sightseeing, but they also don't read as a sneaker, so I can also get away with wearing them to more buttoned-up dinners. The second shoe I always bring on trips is for running and exercise. I love exploring a new city during a morning run and have been deeply devoted to all things [Altra]( for the last decade. I think everyone has their go-to comfort apparel for long-haul travel—athleisure is the obvious choice here, though I do genuinely miss the days when people dressed nicely for air travel. But the bigger issue is cleaning said clothes, especially on a multi-week journey. At luxury hotels you can neatly divide expenditures into two categories: splurges and gouges, and besides the minibar, laundry is always the biggest nonstarter for me. I just can’t wrap my brain around spending $30 to wash a polo T-shirt. [Washdrop]( in Bangkok was a lifesaver, which charges by the kilo and comes with complimentary pickup and delivery. What are the coolest houses you’ve seen in Asia? Funny you should ask — Bloomberg has a new Open House series featuring some of Hong Kong’s most interesting homes. The property at 72 Repulse Bay Road in Hong Kong. Habitat Property First up is an 18,000-square-foot mansion with 11 bedrooms, eight bathrooms and seaside views. The asking price is HK$2.2 billion, or $281 million. The home was built four years ago, before protests and Covid restrictions, at a time when wealthy mainland Chinese buyers flocked to the city for trophy properties. That’s not happening as much anymore. It means [we get a look inside]( the property on Repulse Bay Road. The construction of the mansion finished with classical details. New for subscribers: Free article gifting. Bloomberg.com subscribers can now gift up to five free articles a month to anyone you want. Just look for the “Gift this article” button on stories. (Not a subscriber? Unlock limited access and [sign up here](.) Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? 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