Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi All,
Sorry about the delay on this report, Two Pints of Guinness turned into Eight and all that, you know how it is, anyway, here goes.
50 Fearless Failsworth Warriors from the Beverley Hills Ski Club strode forth to Manchester Airport for our TENTH visit to the land that is Bulgaria for our second consecutive visit to the Kingdom of Bansko and the Strazhite Hotel.
An uneventful flight with a small half hour delay was followed by a Three hour transfer to Bansko with arrival in resort at Midnight.
An hour in the Skysports bar opposite and we were to bed ready for the following Mornings first Gondola.
We were given an early warning of possible problems when the Balkan rep left us at the half way stop off point after only dishing out half the welcome packs etc, telling us the rest would be available in the Morning.
Morning arrived and Carnage broke out in the Ski Depot with Balkan reps Craig and Milan dishing out Lift Passes to all the wrong names which ended with Half our party having Blanks and one couple paying for a days lift pass as they were adamant that they had given them all out ( rep apologised a day later and re-imbursed said Couple )
Sorted all the Newbies into their Ski Lessons and got on with a Fantastic days Ski-ing in perfect conditions with off piste powder aplenty and usual haphazard fairly ungroomed pistes.
A quick look around the new kempinski Grand Arena Hotel only showed the Strazhite to now look a bit tired as it is Fantastic.
Called into the Bulgarian one lev a pint bar ( Bondi ) half way between Gondola and Strazhite on right coming down from Mountain with Roaring Fire and excellent egg and homemade chips for one and half lev and this again became our Apres bar for the Week.
Back to Strazhite and problems aplenty.
Found all the Families in our group around reception, perplexed that they were not being allowed into the Restaurant as there was a 7.30 pm curfew imposed on regular guests due to half of the Hotel being taken over by the National Ski Club of Journalists who apparently were having a Conference there all week. Further sanctions were also imposed, including No Room Service,no Internet Connections ( hence no midweek report) and unbelievably being asked to leave the Leisure area at 8PM on two occasions.
Following morning various Ski instructors failed to show, although a fair few of our party had made the decision to go it alone as they were put in groups of much lesser ability skiers with apologies from instructors after being told there was no group to transfer them up to.
Wednesday was the start of the problems with stealing.
One young lady's skis were taken from outside the Kettle Bar at the top of the Gondola followed by various Hats and Gloves from inside the bar off the tables. on questioning the waitresses it became apparent that this was a regular occurance and in their words, a pair of hire skis went missing on average every day from that bar alone. Usual investigation took place down in ski hire room at the end of the day to see if someone had taken them by mistake, proved fruitless and she was later harrassed all week by Milan, Balkan Rep, into paying the 390 lev, which she eventually did for a pair of Skis a dry slope would have turned down.
The rest of the week seemed to be the same tales every day of someone else having problems, but we adopted the right spirit of looking out for each other and got through.

So eventually;-
The Good

Brilliant conditions ( snow)
The One Lev ( Bondi Apres Bar)
Not one injury from 50 Skiers
The New Genuine Deil ( Bulgarian )Ski Suit i Purchased for £150 ( makes Spyder look like Aldi, no offence Aldi buyers)
The Steak House
Mexhanas in general with couple of exceptions
Crazy hats and wigs on last day, a top effort by all
Pancakes and doughnuts from little huts on main street
7 KM Ski road back to Happy End being open and Ski-able

The Bad
Attitude of Strazhite Staff
Usual Ski hire room free for all
Strazhite Restaurant ( my opinion ) not totally shared by all
Spanish style harrasment to come into restaurants, bars etc, showing signs of getting out of hand
One lev Bondi bar charging 15 lev for two baileys hot chocolate on last night after all that custom
Happy end refusing entry due to Journalists Fashion Show, again no warning
Black run being closed off for same reason, Journalists

The Ugly
Thieving
Scams between Reps and Ski hire room attendants and probably Waitresses on mountain
Milan, Balkan Rep, totally unhelpful and an imposing figure at 6 foot four to a five foot four diminuitive lady.Dont ever step foot in Blighty, Pal.

Summary

Another Brilliant Holiday, 90 % of the time.
i am sure this week, normality will have returned to the Strazhite, as with the Journalists now gone, after reporting on their Olympic bid and Bansko as a resort in general, they will concentrate on Holidaymakers once more, a job they did well last Year.
Will be following up problems with Balkan Holidays through our Travel Agent and will be demanding Compensation for the Families amongst us who had time frames imposed on them which changed their Holiday Completely.
Watch out for the Scams which appear to be growing and will continue to do so if you pay a waiter 10 levs per day.
Will we go back, im sure we will as most of our group regard this as an extra but cheap holiday in the Winter, however, we are going to explore other possibilities for next year before making that final decision.
If you are yet to travel out there, you will have a Brilliant time, in general, Bulgarians are great people and very accommodating, this report just happened to us and is probably the worst report ive read on here this Year, but only really affected 10% of our Holiday.
Balkan should have made it clear to us that we were not going to have the facilities of the Four star Hotel that we paid for available, we would have upgraded to Kempinski.
Hope this helps, will answer any questions, truthfully and will give another report on my trip to Slovenia in three weeks time, a land of similar opportunities, but who do it so much better( in my opinion ) come on Bulgaria, hurry up and catch up.
kindest Regards
Lord Lewis of Marston ( Failsworth 50 ) Gatwick none

I had heard of problems with skis going missing in general in bulgaria, and with my own skis i made sure i never left them out of my sight. Thats ridiculous making her pay for the skis. They probably have people who steal them for them. The charge you and put them back when you have left. Although i had a great time in borovets, i doubt i will return. I know i only tried one resort but i would guess the rest are similiar.

Ski lock
Don't let any of your stuff out of your sight

Great report though.

I DARE you to step foot in Bulgaria again. What you have written is just laying down the foundation for further conflict.

It is always a fact with British People, that they prefer to blame someone else, instead of looking at all the facts and facing up to the possible mistakes they themselves have made.

To name people on the board is unacceptable, Bulgaria has laws and regulations governing this and i hope the appropriate action is taken against you. Good Luck next time trying to enter!!

What right do you have to warn someone about entering "BLIGHTY".
I hope the administrators of the board edit your post appropriately.

If your experience was so bad, why dont you address it with the tour operator & travel agent first ? Giving you and them a chance to discuss the matter in respectable manner. But it is much more important to post it publicly first.

sorry mate, but the whole idea of this forum is to share experiences. Maybe not necessary to give Milans name, but not the biggest issue in the world ever, certainly not worth this fuss.

All the bars and restaurants have ski racks outside where you are instructed to leave equipment so you can't blame the skiers. He also said he took it up with both the "unhelpful" rep and the abr itself who said it happened all the time.

As a result I will be very careful next week in Boro and so really appreciate his advice