Look on eclipsedirect.co.uk same first choice holidays but cheaper

Here we go again.

Having paid for my holiday a couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from First Choice on Saturday warning me that there is once again Building Work around the Pegasos Palace. Apparently, the waste ground to the left of the Palace has had a new hotel built on it that is 4 floors high and will have a total of 500 rooms.

They claim that the building work outside of that hotel is due to be completed on 1st May 2007, but they told me that about the Tropical when we went to the Palace in June 2005 and that wasnt true. They also claim that the restaurants, swimming pools and other facilities will not be disturbed in any way.

We deliberately left it 2 years before we went back to the Palace again in the hope that all building work was finished. How foolish are we? Although unpleasent to look at, it didnt really bother us last time, but this is still VERY annoying. First Choice must have known about this when I booked the holiday with them last year as new hotels do not spring up overnight!

EDIT: I have just noticed over the last couple of pages that people have been getting the same letter. Going by experience, do not be fooled by what First Choice tell you. I posted photos of building work that included HGV's driving up and down in the photo galleries. This was in June when all external building work is supposed to have stopped. However, I hope they have told the truth this time.

the main hotel was built last year when we went in july although we did not see any building work going on it was just the main shell of a new hotel it looked quite ugly when we were there but not sure as to whether it will bother us or not as we stayed on the tropical side last year and just wandered over to the palace occasionally.
firstchoice say they will try and not put people in rooms near the new build but they will sell sell sell until the hotel is fully booked so someone will get a room with a view like it or not. how considerate of firstchoice.

We had the problem last year where our room was facing the said site.
We have booked again, and we have a kids den again, i just hope we are not looking at the site again, but there will be a few people as a large side of the hotel looks out to that side. Which means dusty towels which have been left out to dry overnight again, oh well another year of ringing first choice agian to see what they have to say on the matter!!!!!

we have booked though first choice & spoke to the manager at a holiday supermarket while we were booking who said he had just come back, he didn't say anything then about a building site, we fly out 7 weeks today & we haven't had a letter about the building site?

do first choice only book for the one hotel now then? who can you book the other hotel with then?

I was there from 28th August til 11th Sept last year and as someone else has said the main structure of the new hotel was up last year. The rooms affected are in Block 4 (so any room number which starts with a 4 may look out over it) however a lot of the block 4 rooms won't be affected by it because they face the other way. We were in block 4 but did not face the hotel so were not affected in any way. The new hotel structure is directly adjacent to the flume pool (which is where we parked ourselves most days) so this pool is overlooked howver the main pool, the kids pool and restaurants are not overlooked at all. While we were there, there was no building work going on. In the last day or two we saw a solitary builder who was doing the odd bit of hammering here and there but it was certainly not a noise nuisance and we were on the poolside less than 50 metres from it. I can imagine that if your balcony overlooked the site itself your washing/towels might get dusty.

Does anyone know if Iberostar are still managing the food etc at the Palace this year? I know they weren't in 2005 when reports were a bit grim but last year when we went they were and we had no complaints about the food.

as far as i know iberostar own both sides of this resort so would imagine that they also do the catering
also firstchoice are selling holidays to both sides tropical and palace however not sure if tropical is firstchoice only resort or not anymore am bit curious of why they now only sell the palace as a holiday village and not tropical maybe saving on staffing costs for kids clubs etc on tropical side as none are advertised.

I have received my letter about building work, just as I said they must have sent it just as my full payment has cleared. Has anyone contacted First Choice concerning the letter and what did they have to say? Do you think it will make any difference if you contact them saying you will not accept a room looking onto the building work. We are booked in a kids den, are any of these types of rooms situated in that area?

Foxy, the Tropical is the only side owned by Iberostar this season. The Palace is exclusive to First Choice, while the Tropical is now open to German, Dutch, Greek travel companies as well as English ones.

The hotel is advertised as Iberostar and has a section on the official website whereas the Palace doesn't. I was told all facalities will be seperate too, how this will be done remains to be seen...

robrymond
The pegasus palace is managed by Iberostar well at least that is what it states in the new May 07 to Apr 08 firstchoice holiday village brochure so i hope they are not deceiving people

Odd considering there is no mention on any of it's websites or in the brochure it isn't refered to as the Iberostar Holiday Village.

However, I've checked my emails again:

Thank you for your email.

The complex was bought by Iberostar towards the end of last year, however,
the palace side of the complex still remains a holiday village.

The tropical side of the complex is available to book via a number of tour
operators as the property is not longer owned by First Choice.

The facilities on each side of the complex are very similar.

I hope that this information has answered any questions you have raised and
if you require any further help, please do not hesitate to contact us on
Clerical@firstchoice.co.uk

Thank you for your email.

Both complexes are the same size, when First Choice owned the complex each
side was equal.

As the separation is new for Summer 2007 I am unsure how the complexes are
divided.

First of all thank you for your interest. Tropical and Palace Hotels are seperated. So unfortunately you can not use Palace Hotel section.Our Family rooms have 1 liing room and 1 bedroom.
We have a open air disco at night time and many bars are open day time also.

We will be happy to welcome you at our Hotel,

Kind regards,

So you are possibly correct, it's just the Tropical is no longer regarded as a holiday village.

Hi

Just to let you know

I too have recieved letter about building work ( going 14th May )

i havent received anything regards the building work do they offer you an alternative?

I have spoken to first choice today and i was told it is grade 2 building work , which means hand held tools are being used, but as i was told alos that could means drills etc, they just don't know!!!

I was offered to change my holiday free of charge, but the prices that are on the internet, first choice come no where as close, as they will give you no discounts.

Hi
I booked on the internet last week and a screen came up with information concerning the building work but that it should not affect the holiday. We are off in Oct.

Hi we also booked last week 2 april...going 24 may. no mention of building work until we received my confirmation in the post, the same day we got the building work letter.......we are looking forward to the holiday and hopefully will be having too much fun to notice any noise etc........
I know its probably been asked before, but is icecream at the beach bar still on AI.....also when we went the first year it opened in aug 05 a man would come round the pools mid afternoon with a trolley of ice old flannels to help cool you down, they were freezing and a great help in the heat...was he still about last year?

Hey treacle,

just to say that we,re also leaving on the 24th and it can,t come too soon the kids are up the walls and costantly want to know "how many sleeps" (bless em), Oh, and yep we got our letter re the building works at the weekend as well, not going to let it worry us though just gonna "chill"

First Choice offer a wellness package which includes full body massage, facial use of spa facilities it costs £67 to book it.
Does anyone know if it is worth waiting till we get to Pegasos Palace and booking it then?
Will it be cheaper over there?

Traceytreacle - there was no man with cold flannels last year that we saw. Only the guy selling the parasailing etc that was being done on the beach.

Kelly Marie - My husband and I both had a turkish bath, massage and facial at the hotel spa last year - £40 each. Although it was nice we also did a proper "locals" turkish bath which was much better! We booked this with one of the tour operators in Sarigerme village for £8 each I think and the kids came half price for my elder two and free for my youngest. We could have paid extra when we got there and had an oil massage too but it was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to get back. I would go for the real thing if it were me and we will book and do this again this year as it makes your skin feel fab and your tan lasts longer!