January 2023 - Concept Hotel Group

Here are the must-read books for your holiday

When we set off into the sun and switch our heads off, one of the things that I enjoy most is reading a good book. Holidays were invented for stoking the imagination, having fun, getting carried away while getting a killer tan, and reading stories as good as the ones you take part in while abroad. I hope you enjoy this selection of books about travel, sensations and marvellous places, suitable for avid and holiday readers.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS by MILENA BUSQUETS

This book is already a contemporary classic that never goes out of fashion. It places us in a small village on the Costa Brava, and Busquets makes the sea, wind and waves come alive. A summer that appears idyllic but is marked by the loss of a mother. Love, family, relationships and, above all, grief, mark this beautiful story that far from sinking in pessimism, starts to show the light at the end of the tunnel.

MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS by GERALD DURRELL

Possibly one of the funniest books I have ever read. It narrates the adventures of a large family that moves to the Greek island of Corfu, with all the inconveniences and complaints of his older brothers and sisters brought to life on the page. In the middle of the Ionian Sea, this hilarious family have to come to terms, through adventure and misadventure, with the local flora and fauna while overcoming culture shock and getting used to new customs.

I REMEMBER by JOE BRAINARD

An evocative book like few others that navigates through the memories of the writer Joe Brainard in short, sharp sentences that will remind you of your own. Summers lived and unlived, boat trips, dances at dusk and lots of unanswered questions that we’ve all asked ourselves at one time, or another.

MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION by OTESSA MOSSFEGH

One of the best books you can take on holiday. Recommended ad nauseam, I ended up reading it in one go. Dark and funny, in equal measure, it immerses us in the dangers of pharmaceuticals and the ease with which we take drugs for problems we don’t even know we have. Are the problems really there, or are they a figment of our imagination?

HEY! JULIO IGLESIAS AND THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA by HANS LAGUNA

It’s always a good time to read about our beloved Julito, and if he also tells us about his journey through the Americas in great detail, all the better. Hans Laguna dissects the social and cultural moment in which Julio Iglesias went where no one has been since, at a time when conquering the world was a feat worthy of Ulysses. Miami and the sun, always the sun, accompany this wonderful story about our favourite singer.

MR. PIKES by TONY PIKE

You can’t come to Ibiza on holiday and not read the most roguish memoirs ever written in the Pitiusa Islands. The legendary founder of Pikes Hotel regales us with his adventures when he transformed a country house in San Antonio, Ibiza into one of the island’s most emblematic places. From its 80s heyday, you could meet Freddie Mercury, Kate Moss, George Michael, Grace Jones or Julio Iglesias by the pool. The island’s most famous moustache tells us, without mincing his words, about his life as the owner of Ibiza’s most iconic hotel. Don’t leave without visiting.

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New Year Resolutions for 2023 to take life less seriously

Hey girls, it’s that time of the year when we look back on those little things that always get left behind, no matter how hard we try to improve ourselves. In the end, the year doesn’t last that long and time slips through our hands like sand. Here are some ideas of feasible New Year’s resolutions that we think are easily achievable for 2023.

1.READ MORE AND WATCH LESS NETFLIX.

2.GO ON THAT HOLIDAY WITH YOUR GIRLFRIENDS THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED.

3. WATCH MORE CLASSIC FILMS, THE BLACK AND WHITE KIND.

4.FIND MORE TIME FOR YOURSELF.

5.DON’T THINK ABOUT THINGS SO MUCH.

6.LISTEN TO THE INFORME SEMANAL (WEEKLY REPORT) PODCAST. YOU’LL LEARN MORE ABOUT FEMINISM AND LIFE IN GENERAL.

7.SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THINGS YOU’LL REMEMBER: CONCERTS, CULTURAL ACTIVITIES…IN SHORT, INVEST YOUR TIME AND MONEYBETTER IN EXPERIENCES THAT FULFILL YOU.

8.LEARN TO DANCE SALSA SO YOU CAN SHOW OFF YOUR MOVES AT SALSERO IN CUBANITO HOTEL.

9.GO TO THE BINGO MORE.

10.YOU’RE NOT TOO OLD TO SIGN UP FOR JAPANESE CLASSES IF THAT’S WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE DOING. IN FACT, YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD FOR ALMOST ANYTHING.

11.STOP PLANNING AND LET YOURSELF GO A LITTLE MORE, LIFE WILL SURPRISE YOU AND SWEEP AWAY ALL YOUR PLANS, SO DON’T WORRY.

12.GO ON HOLIDAY TO IBIZA AND STAY IN ONE OF THE HOTELS BY CONCEPT GROUP HOTELS

13.STOP LIVING EVERYTHING THROUGH INSTAGRAM AND LIVE LIFE FOR REAL.

14.BUY YOURSELF A RECORD PLAYER.

15.MORE DANCING AT ROCK NIGHTS

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The Definitive list of must-see Chrismas Movies

By Laura Martínez

Christmas is coming, meaning loud carols, streets decked in Christmas lights, kids singing, and the streets crowded with people carrying an infinity of shopping bags. If you prefer to stay at home watching movies in your Grinch jumper while wearing the slippers that Granny gives you each Xmas, to going out in the cold, we bring you our definitive list of Christmas flicks that will add the finishing touch to your festive season.

Love Actually

The message “To Me, You Are Perfect” with Christmas carols playing on a boombox, delivered on large cue cards by lovestruck Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), was etched into our minds during that tender Christmas of 2003. The recipient of themessage, à la Bob Dylan, is Keira Knightley, who was the most envied woman of that year. This is just one drama in a cocktail of parallel stories, happening at the same time during Christmas, and in the most beautiful city to experience this time of year: London.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Robert Downey Jr, Michelle Monahan and Val Kilmer… in a Christmas movie? Yes, you read that right. This curious film from 2005, which ended up lost in the annals of cinematic history, is, in essence, a complete film: Intrigue, comedy, romance and action amidst Christmas lights. Robert Downey Jr. plays a petty thief from New York who, as fate would have it, is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery. This fantastic film is so, so recommended!

The Grinch

Everything beautiful, sweet and happy has to have a counterpoint, an opposite, an antagonist, an enemy. And that, indeed, is The Grinch. We continue in the 2000s with a film from the same year starring the unclassifiable Jim Carrey as a green monster who hates Christmas and wants to end to it at all costs. You might identify with him a little because, to be honest, when we grow up and Christmas fever wears off, we all have a bit of The Grinch in us.

It’s a Wonderful Life

To close this definitive list, we couldn’t leave out this masterpiece based on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. This 1946 film is broadcast annually at Xmason American TV and considered one of the 100 greatest American films of all time. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams because of his great sense of duty and responsibility. Bailey’s emotional burden is so heavy that he decides to take his own life on Christmas Eve, but something gets in the way of his plans. A hymn to life, a film of steely and purely American optimism.

Office Christmas Party

Jason Bateman (Ozark) and Olivia Munn (The Newsroom) headline this hilarious Christmas comedy about a company party gone wrong. One of those films that pass (in my opinion, unjustly) without much fanfare, but deserves much more as it is an entertaining and fun film about the shenanigans that take place in offices across the world at this time of year.

Home Alone

Who doesn’t remember the adorable, scared face of a young Macaulay Culkin in this classic among Christmas classics? It’s a film that works, whether you put it on as after-dinner entertainment or leave it on in the background while the kids (or the dogs) play. You might judge the Macaulay’s parents harshly, but don’t take it too seriously, it’s just light-hearted Xmas fare.

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Concept Campaign 2023

Concept Hotel Group

Fashion, just like us, is constantly evolving and changing. That’s why at Concept, we create our campaigns by taking inspiration from the fashion brands we like the most. In 2021, after the main period of the pandemic, we made a major aesthetic change to our websites by incorporating Uruguayan photographer and art director JP Bonino (jp.bonino), the man behind the images for Nathy Peluso’s album ‘Calambre’ and campaigns for brands such as Paloma Wool, Levi’s and Lacoste, into our creative team for the 2021 campaign. Bonino has a particular visual universe that started the aesthetic path we wanted to follow, where we tell stories with different characters.

For the 2022 campaign, we have counted on the talents of photographer Manu Jaime (@manu.jaime) from Cádiz, characterised by his depiction of local customs and manners in portraits. Manu loves the story behind the photo, and we hired him because of his way of finding and addressing differences. We are fascinated by Carlos Pérez-Siquier’s brilliant, full-colour photographs of everyday life, so we wanted to take this visual direction with characters of all ages, just like the clients of our hotels who have very particular but varied profiles, and each of the hotels that form Concept Hotel Group.

Our visual imagery is closely linked to colour and irreverence and we have created a different story for each of our hotels with these as main elements, with the help of the following: art director Teresa Serrano (@trsaserrano), filmmaker Xabi Goitisolo(@xabigoitisolo), stylist Marta Camin (@immartacamin) and the stars of our stories: The Spanish King (@thespanishking_) Paula Garbae (@paula. garbae) Adrià Lerma (@adria.lerma) Anabel García (@anabelgabi) Miguel Oliveira (@migueloliveiraifbb). Arturo Laso (@estudiodelaso) and Malú Gómez (@malu_gomez_) all orchestrated by our creative producer María Andreu (@secretosdenomada).

The result is a small film that sums up what an experience in Concept‘s micro-universe is like, and we hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did when creating it.

Thanks to the whole team for putting your vision and creativity in our hands.

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