Bulgaria Ski discussion board

They got now a big problem, not quite sure if the bank stop there acounts or some else. Give you tomorrow a review read it today in Standart news paper
The winter holiday season has produced a series of cautionary tales as, in a series of separate incidents, tour groups were caught in the middle of controversies about unpaid debts.

In one incident, tourists from Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria reportedly were barred from the four-star Orpheus hotel in Pamporovo because of alleged unpaid debts by the hotel to its largest creditor, EIBank.

According to a report by Darik Radio, security guards armed with batons obstructed guests from reaching their luggage and prevented them from having breakfast.

The report quoted a lawyer for the bank, Daniela Boyanova, as saying that the bank had received possession of the hotel as provided for in the debt agreement and the hotel company owner’s management had been notified of this. Accepting reservations under such circumstances showed an "unfair and irresponsible" attitude to tourists, the bank was quoted as saying.

Hotel manager Spasimir Pentchev said that the actions of the bank "lower the prestige of one of our biggest mountain resorts" and said that this was a blow to Bulgaria’s tourist industry.

In a separate incident, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said on January 3 that the country’s embassy in Morocco had intervened after the travel documents of a group of Bulgarian tourists were withheld because of a dispute over unpaid debts between a tour company and Bulgarian travel agency Betz.

The group was delayed in Tangier because of the dispute.

"After they were alerted, Bulgarian diplomats in Rabat, in co-ordination with their colleagues in Sofia, urged the Moroccan authorities to ensure that the passports were returned immediately, which has been done, and the Bulgarian group has been able to leave the country," the Foreign Ministry said.

In a third incident, a 47-year-old Bulgarian woman was arrested in Serbia in connection with alleged document forgery, Serbian media said, quoted by Bulgarian news agency Focus.

A Serbian daily said that Bulgarian Boika Nedelcheva, owner of the Dibois Travel Agency, was arrested in Prolom Banja spa complex after allegedly presenting forged documents purporting to show that bank payment had been made for a group of 26 Bulgarian tourists spending New Year’s Eve at the resort.

"Several Bulgarian tourist agencies brought 250 guests to celebrate New Year’s Eve here. There was a condition for the service to be paid in advance. All agencies did it except for one, which brought 26 people. The owner of the travel agency said that the payment has been done and presented the documents. We found the paper suspicious and asked the police to check the document’s authenticity," Zlatko Veljovic, owner of the spa complex, said. thats from Sofia echo

Hi all,

the bank actually took this complex prior to this event but the developers decided to continue with business and rent out rooms etc, the bank sent in the fat necks to force closure but not without numerous warnings, the developers defaulted on payments. Guests were very upset as they were the innocent party, indeed the fat necks were armed with battons, they refused at first to allow guests to take their luggage but after lots of nogotiations the tourists were allowed to leave with their personal items but no accomadation, this event left all tourists very upset and not knowing where they would sleep. This is just one of the first many complexes to be taken by the bank, many more are to follow this season.

Taxes have risen in the resort for businesses, as an example for my small office, my community taxes are just short of 1500 Lv per year, and just 3 years ago they were 300Lv with little in the way of explanation, if i do not pay (which i do) interest will be added and if i still do not pay my office will be taken and sold for peanuts. The truth i believe is that a very well known investor pays off the officials and buys all developements taken by the banks for peanuts.

There are many owners of apartments throughout the resort that have not paid annual taxes, these properties are already being taken and sold, in some cases without the foriegn owners having knowledge, by Bulgarian law a notice is simply placed on the apartment door and if the owners does not reply to the notice it can be reposesed!!! the same is happening with unpaid maintence fees, i can not count the amount of apartments in Pamporovo that are in the court for reposesion.

Orpheus is by no means an isolated case, this was just one of the first of many in the resort.

Indeed the resort is busier than i have ever seen it, the resort is better, slopes are better prepared, taxi's are regulated, ski conditions are perfect. Bulgaria remains a corrupt country where anything is posible! it is who you know, right or wrong has no place in this country, fat necks rule and there is no sign of change for the better, sad but true

It would seem the tourist scandal between CIBank and the owners of the Orpheus Hotel in Pamporovo was nothing but a game of cat and mouse, the Standart daily reads. Daniela Boyanova, Director of Corporate Communications at CIBank, explained that the Orpheus 2002 company had drawn a BGN 12 million loan from CIBank in mid-2007 with a three-year gratis period and had not repaid any of it so far. After the expiration of the gratis period a total of 10 agreements were signed between the bank and its debtor. On 21 July CIBank sent a final warning to its debtor that the hotel should no longer operate and a security company was hired to prevent access to the building. The local prosecuting magistracy was notified as well. CIBank officials explained the Orpheus 2002 company was secretly negotiating and concluding agreements with travel agencies. The Manager of the hotel Krastyu Gizdov stated he had concluded about 30 contracts with travel agencies in the April-June period and sent their names to the bank. In his words the hotel was never supposed to stop operating and the bank had confirmed this decision in October.
In an interview with the Klasa daily, Rumen Draganov, Director of the Institute for Tourism Analysis and Assessment, stated that instead of preventing the access of tourists to the hotel in Pamporovo and discrediting Bulgaria as a tourist destination, CIBank should have entered the hotel’s management, as stipulated in the Commerce Act, in order to make sure it would generate profit and the debt would be repaid. According to Bulgarian legislation, he noted, a hotel’s business can not be suspended, least of all if this was against the interests of tourists.

Hi Pete,

yes it is all very unsavoury, we both know who or what company is behind it all! they are trying to push everyone out, kill other businesses and it is working, we have all had enough here in the resort, moral is really low with small business owners. We simply want a fair system, this currupt attitude and dealings must stop.

On a positive note it will snow all night and continue tomorrow, its about to start falling now. We managed to get discounts for Gloria Mar and Chervameto, Gloria Mar serves up hot tasty food and the service was good, give me a call when you are here Pete