Bulgarian hotels put all their business risks on Russian tour operators

Russian and Bulgarian officials actively defend our tourists who are facing problems due to the bankrupt of Bulgarian VIP Tours (BVT) Company. But if yesterday’s list of hotels, blackmailing Russians, counted only four hotels, today’s list counts up to 22 hotels.

Yesterday responding the appeal of RosTourism, the deputy minister of economy, power and tourism of Bulgaria Iwo Marinov said that all Russian tourists traveling with BVT will finish their trips without any problems.

Russian Embassy in Sofia insisted on Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs sending a notification to Bulgarian hotels saying that all blackmailing attempts are against the law.

The Vice Consul of Russia Maksim Alyoshin assured journalists that all clients of the bankrupted tour operator are contrived. In the evening the MFA of Russia reported that the situation is getting back to normal, employees of the Russian Embassy and General Consulate in Varna closely follow the situation and are ready to render Russians all necessary assistance.

Meanwhile yesterday Russian tour operators were telling RATA-news different stories about Bulgarian hotels and their clients. For example, some hotels angled a repeated accommodation payment and didn’t let them have money and documents from the rented safes.

There are almost criminal cases. As reported by Anton Potapov, the general director of Europort Yekaterinburg Company, Kamelia Hotel 2* in Albena informed on August 22, that BVT paid for early booking accommodation, and yesterday it suddenly changed its mind and demanded money from tourists. Malina Hotel 2* at Golden Sands asks for partial group payment which is already made by BVT.

There are other suspicious cases. Hawaii Hotel 3* in Nesebra refused to take money from tourists who were eager to pay one more time for accommodation. The hotel referred to the information that the reservation was made by Bulgarian tour operator Teddy Kam which means that the Russian tour operator should pay directly to this company and if it doesn’t, all tourists will be evicted. As a result the General Director of Zvezdniy Put Elena Burtseva reported that tourists were moved to another hotel. It’s interesting that Teddy Kam was sending Russian tour operator Atrium 4* in Elenite. Of course, there are no documents and it’s impossible to check whether hotels and unknown Bulgarian company are availing themselves of the situation.

Some cases could have been called funny if they weren’t so sad. Palm Beach Hotel 4* at Golden Sands refused to reconfirm the accommodation for August 24 but by means of another tour operator Europort. The front office of the hotel announced that Russian tour operator is to be blamed of the situation with BVT and they couldn’t “reveal the number”.

Here’s the list of Bulgarian hotels that portrayed themselves not in the most favorable light (there might be more).

Albena: Camellia 2*, Ralitsa/Vita Park 3*+.

Golden Sands: Admiral 5*, Ambassador 3*, Aqua View 4*, Excelior 3*, Lilia 4*, Malines 2*, Melia Grand Hermitage 5*, Palm of Biych 4 *, Tsarevets 2*.

Elenite: Andalusia/atrium 4*.

Kiten: Kamenets 4*.

Nesebr: Hawaii 3*.

Review: Sunrise All Suites Resort/Ex Apart Complex Sunrise 3*.

Sizeboli: Flagman 3*, Holiday Village Santa Marina 4*, Parnasse 3*.

Sunny Beach: Balkan 2*, Orel 2*, Trakia Garden 3*, Fiesta Beach 4*.

It will be repeated that hotels have no rights to demand money from Russians as they have no contracts with tourists. For some reasons hoteliers are sure that Russian tour operators are in charge for their business risks. But the Bulgarian partner of Bulgarian hotel turned out to be the bankrupt. Than why should Russian tour operators lose money instead of Bulgarian hotels?