CMW’s Simon George rocks up in Tenerife to find all-inclusive incentives driving the Hard Rock’s growing MICE offering:
Opened in October 2016 and operated by Palladium Hotel Group, the Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, which has 624 rooms, is the largest 5-star hotel in Spain and located 20 minutes’ drive from Tenerife South airport. Rock n’ roll provides the hotel’s DNA and its unique identity, and leisure tourism the lion’s share of revenues. However, meetings and events are increasingly important for the hotel, according to Javier Poleo, head of MICE. He explains the Hard Rock should be seen as a year-round destination in terms of meetings and that Tenerife is much more than a winter sun location – it offers a range of natural attractions and exceptional weather throughout the year.
“We are not a seasonal hotel, we are open all year round, so we have a lot of periods when MICE is very important for us, particularly April, May and June, and September-October,” he says. “However, while other hotels on the island focus on MICE in May and October, we are focused on MICE every month.”
Strategic shift to incentives and bleisure
The hotel celebrated its tenth anniversary this October, and Poleo tells CMW its MICE offering has changed since its opening. “At the beginning we were more focused on holding conventions and congresses. Now the hotel is more concentrated on incentives. For example, the all-inclusive option we have developed is very attractive for incentive groups. We can offer a buyout of the whole hotel on all-inclusive terms, which means we may have 1,200 people from the same company.” The Hard Rock had two buyouts in 2025 and one is in the book for March 2027. Weddings, as well as key anniversaries, are also an important revenue stream for the hotel, with 15 currently booked in for next year.
Plentiful event space
The vast size of the Hard Rock allows for numerous options in terms of capacity (more than 546sqm) and flexibility to stage events. The hotel has seven meeting rooms, the largest of which, the multipurpose hall, has a maximum capacity of 500 people for a cocktail-style event, and it can be partitioned. There are also two smaller breakout rooms, and the hotel has recently created a new meeting space (for about 100 people) next to Eden, the adults-only pool.
There are also a number of outside options – for example, the area next to the stage by the main swimming pool or the sky bar on the 16th floor are perfect for alfresco gala dinners (300 capacity), while weddings can be held on the beach and at the beach club.
Key markets
The UK is a key MICE market for the Hard Rock, perhaps surprisingly more so than Spain, according to Poleo, who puts this down partly to the fact that most flights from mainland Spain fly into Tenerife North airport, which is an hour’s drive from the hotel. France, Italy and Poland are also important markets, he says.
The increase in airfares caused by geopolitical factors such as the US-Iran war, which has pushed up fuel prices, and its impact on MICE budgets is the main problem facing the Hard Rock, Poleo notes.
Under the volcano
Scenically, Tenerife, the largest of the Canary islands, blends exotic with austere, fertile with barren, and dramatic with cinematic, which explains its popularity for film shoots and car commercials.
My one-day sight-seeing tour of the island took in the beautiful village of Masca via a series of ear-popping hairpin bends, and then onto the lunar landscape of Teide national park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, from where Mount Teide, an active volcano, gazes moodily down. There was also time to visit the charming Alma de Trevejos, a Finca/organic winery in Vilaflor, for lunch and an opportunity to sample some local wines.
