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Overconstruction undoes cool of Bulgaria's luxe resort hotels
Dnevnik Daily, 21.03.2005
The five-star hotels on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast that have made the summer catalogues of the European tour operators are being downmarketed to avoid vacancies during the peak season, Dnevnik learned from the local offices of the major travel companies. At the same time, the profusion of three- and four-star facilities in Bulgaria's sea resorts has prompted developers to focus on high-end projects that would lure cash-rich clientele. However, the major tour operators fear that catering to the luxury tourist niche may no longer be an option given the overconstruction and pervasive urbanisation of the local holiday resorts. No less than ten five-star hotels opened for business in the past 12 months, most of them in sea resorts Zlatni Pyasatsi and Slanchev Bryag. But the trend is already spreading to the spa towns, the ski resorts and the metropolitan areas. The five-star Kempinski Grand Arena is about to be unveiled in Bansko while ski resort Pamporovo will get its second five-star accommodation facility in the shape and form of the Orlovets Hotel. The hoteliers are already finding the five-start segment a bit overcrowded and are facing serious bed overcapacity risks. The beef that the foreign travel companies have with the five-start hotels erected on the coastline is that they are cramped among surrounding infrastructure while lacking infrastructure of their own like parks and full-size swimming pools and recreational facilities. Sofia's Hiltons, Radissons, Sheratons and Kempinskis are also struggling with occupancy rates and have founded the Bulgarian Convention and Visitors Bureau (BCVB) in a bid to drum up more business. Sofia's stand-alone five-star hotels not part of any international chain are Hrankov Castle, Kopitoto and Grand Hotel Sofia. Julietta Serafimova, marketing and sales director at BCVB member Grand Hotel Sofia, said they are trying to improve the occupancy rate with week-end trips which is difficult in the absence of a budget airline connecting Bulgaria and Western Europe. see source
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