NINE. One year on... (Interview with Anne Kuppens, owner of Ninecoliving, Tenerife)

In June last year, Anne claimed the keys to the traditional Canarian property (est 1852) that was transformed over 2 months into Ninecoliving; a coliving and coworking space to serve Tenerife’s burgeoning Digital Nomad population. I spent 10 days at Nine (mostly on my hands and knees restoring 170 yr old tiles, or otherwise up a ladder, paintbrush in hand...) helping with the planning and renovations. I came back to Nine one year on to see how everything had been going...

D: So, Anne... it’s been a year. How’s the journey been so far?

A: Well, first of all a year flew by. I cannot believe it’s already been a year, and yeah, I mean, the first part went really fast... for like 2-3 months remodelling and then I started in September. First, I invited Remote Year people with a 50% discount for anyone from the (Remote Year) Nation, and in Sep a few people showed up. I had 2 people by the end of Sep and then October, I had a few more and then November became actually pretty busy, and then from end of Nov on I went into like a super high season which I never expected so it was very full on because I was not really prepared to be full for like 3 months straight through until Feb. I can have up to 16 people but that never really happens because then all my doubles have to be booked for two. I have some volunteers, so right now there’s like 16 people in the house. I just went with the whole thing and by the time winter was over it was a little slower... So, by March, I realised I needed help – it was too much to do it on my own, so I looked for a host and found Katia who started at the beginning of May. (Katia and her partner Emmanuel are staying at Nine for a year).

In that year, everything fell into place, a routine... and then I had my first volunteer, and I didn’t really have any idea what she would do except for taking care of the dog (Lara is a rescue dog and became Nine’s second permanent resident in September)! And now I feel like most things have their structure and routine, and now guests turn up and they kind of fall into the way of doing things and it all runs smoothly. So now I have a bit more time for myself and also to work on seeing how Nine can grow and what other things I can do, so yeah... I’m very happy with how things are going.

D: What would you say has been a favourite part of the journey for you so far...?

A: I guess of course my fave thing is meeting all these people because it’s crazy how many people I’ve met and everyone’s been so nice... and seeing this community become its own thing – being part of Nine – apparently that means something and that’s really cool. There’s now this kind of community like after Remote Year as well... it’s a thing – it’s become way more than just a hotel basically - it’s because more like a community where people really feel like they want to stay in touch and stuff. Beautiful house, beautiful town... but the people they met... that’s what they value the most. And it’s why they come back, I think.

D: What would you say has been the biggest surprise for you?

A: That I was full all winter without any marketing. I hoped I’d picked the right place (Tenerife) but I had no idea people were actually looking for coliving places in Tenerife, and then Nine comes up because I’m the only one here.

D: You say you haven’t done much marketing, but you seem like you’ve got a pretty good handle on social media...

A: ...but everyone found me through Google. Now it’s through a friend, or social media, or a Facebook group, but the first few months were all through Google. It’s just being at the right spot where people want to be... (plus a good bit of SEO). It was kind of logical that this would be a good place and because there wasn’t anything else like this yet... if you think of Gran Canaria, it’s a big hub already. 

D: What would you say have been your biggest challenges?

A: The internet... I knew that the one thing I needed to get right was the internet, but it’s hard in this building because it’s in the old centre, and people weren’t too up front about that when I was looking into it so I thought it would all be OK and then there was a minute where it wasn’t looking so good... I remember when I was here last time and you were looking into it, that it was pretty stressful. Luckily we found a solution and the wifi has been pretty stable since then, and that has been the biggest challenge. And in other ways (people ask me this a lot), I think another challenge is that I find time for myself. Especially in the beginning I just kept going, going, going and now I’m much better at taking time off and taking time out of the community here and taking time to make my own friends on the island with people that are not moving, basically, because otherwise you only have friends that are going to leave. I think that maybe it’s like, something that doesn’t come super easy... so time management I guess for me.

D: It can be very hard to separate yourself from your business at this early stage... especially when your business is also your home!

A: Yeah, it’s really important to set boundaries for yourself, because, it’s really easy to go out almost every day for dinner, because there’s always people going out for fun dinners... and it never stops. It really never stops... so if you think ‘ah they’re almost leaving... but they’re almost leaving...’ so you wanna spend all your time with them and it never stops... and you’re basically out for dinner and drinks all the time... you have to, like, say no sometimes so I think that’s probably the hardest thing. No... I’m gonna do my own thing and cook myself dinner and just chill... watch some Netflix.’ Tell me a little bit about the coliving and coworking community in Tenerife... It’s not a big hub yet but there’s definitely a lot of digital nomads here, a lot of expats, a lot of people who come here for 6 months or a year or something like that and they definitely look for a community or the structure or events or someone who takes that structure on, and that isn’t really there yet... I’m really good friends now with a girl from Coworking in the Sun, which is here in Puerto de La Cruz and they’re the only ones who take care of events and they’re also the owners of the Facebook group (Tenerife Digital Nomads), which is really active so they’re the ones that do that now, but... it could be a lot more developed and I could definitely be a big part in that. The people are definitely here and they’re wanting to connect and find that community....it’s just so easy to go ‘oh but we have such a cool group at Nine’ ...but it could be really beneficial for me and also just be super nice to kind of like have that community a bit more active here in Tenerife, yes.

D: What would you say to someone who was considering coming to Tenerife / Nine but they didn’t know so much about it...

A: Well, Tenerife in general is super, super awesome and it’s surprised me in so many ways, in terms of nature, culture, and how much there is to do... I would always suggest to go to the North but I know there are people who like the South better. What I like more about the North is that it’s about local life. There’s a lot of cultural events and there are so many festivities here and you don’t really have that in the South as much. But, in the South it’s always warm and sunny, so if that’s what you come for, you go to the South. If you want more of an active lifestyle and community and culture then I definitely recommend the North. If you want to stay up to 3 months in Tenerife I would recommend staying in a coliving space because it’s such a cool place to meet or live where you work... the whole thing. I can imagine if you stay much longer you might want your own space... but there’s not a really good coworking space here yet that you could go to, so I’d still recommend coming here!!

D: Well, Anne’s been making her lunch while we’ve been speaking and I can tell she’d really like to eat it, so the last thing I want to ask is – if there’s anything else you’d like to mention?

A: Definitely put Tenerife on your list, because it’s definitely better than we, in Europe, think it is... it’s not just a destination for sun seekers... give it a chance. It’s mountains, volcanoes, hiking, surfing, a very cool community of young people, Digital Nomads, surfers, expats, hippies – there’s something here for everyone.

You’ll find Nine Coliving in the heart of La Orotava, in Tenerife. For info and bookings, visit ninecoliving.com