What happened at Casa Paola over July 28 and 29?

Sant Josep Local Police shut down the same illegal after-party at Casa Paola, a luxury villa in Es Cubells that rents for around €7,000 a night, not once but twice within 24 hours. Local outlet La Voz de Ibiza reported over 600 people inside when police moved in on July 28, tracked by a drone circling the property; Periódico de Ibiza put the crowd closer to 250-300 and named the DJ on the decks, Franky Ricardo, who was paid €25,000 for a set running from 9:30am to noon. Guests filed out in their party clothes, drinks still in hand, some loaded onto transfer vans; four people reportedly refused to leave while press was on scene. Police came back and broke up the same party again the next day.

The promoter, an Israeli citizen who has not been publicly named, did not hide his frustration.

"Nos gastamos muchísimo dinero en esta 'fucking island' y ¿así nos lo agradecen?" ("We spent so much money on this 'fucking island' and this is how they thank us?")

Why is Casa Paola still throwing parties despite a demolition order?

The villa's owner, Paquita Sánchez Marsán, is fighting a partial demolition order covering around 500 square metres of illegal construction on the property, costed at €231,948 when it was adjudicated in April 2024. She has physically blocked demolition crews from carrying out the order, and the case is now stuck in administrative court. It is not her first run-in with regulators: Casa Paola was fined €20,000 in 2021 for illegal commercialization and €10,000 for unauthorized accommodation services. Her previous property, Casa Lola, was not so lucky, it was fully demolished in 2022 after a comparable case.

Does Ibiza's villa crackdown actually work?

Two busts in a day, a drone overhead, six-figure fines already on the books and a standing demolition order barely slow down the money. A promoter still paid €25,000 for a morning DJ set at a €7,000-a-night villa, and the loudest complaint to come out of it was that the party cost too much, not that it was illegal. Until a demolition order actually gets carried out instead of blocked in a driveway, the underground villa economy has little reason to stop.