Hi all,

We fly tomorrow for 14nights but we are staying in the Mena Palace.
We was going to book for Iberostar so would like to see what state it's in myself.
Will have a look when we get there and have another look the day before we come back (23rd June) to see if there is any progress and as soon as we get back i will let you all know.
I can understand all your fears as it's not a cheap hotel and you want 100% from your stay.
speak to you all soon.
nicky

We have booked with Falcon to travel on the 18th July. I had a web chat with a Falcon representative who gave the following response when I asked what the current status of the hotel was:

Keir: At the monent they are finishinhg some little jobs but you have nothing to worry about it will be up and running well before the 18th july
Keir: Will be fully operational for the 25 june 2005

"Fully operational by 25th June"

This appears to be yet another delay. I am due there on 27th June but starting to seriously consider going back to Thomas Cook and changing hotels. Don't want to switch to Balkan after the problems I had with them last year + their flight times from Glasgow are poor compared with Thomas Cook.

I will keep you posted as to where we end up.

Stephen

hi all.we have just been to sunny beach. and as promised i said i would have a look after we got transfered from there to elenite royal bay.
well we walked right around it and we dont think the hotel will be open for quite a few weeks yet. sorry to be the bearer of bad news.it seems to me that they maybe trying to get one half ready.but there is so much that seems to be happening. i just cant see this hotel being ready untill at least end of july.maybe even longer to be fully operatinal.once again i am sorry but i think some of you maybe better to contact your travel agents.will take another look next week and plenty of photos.the pool looks to be ready sorry this a bit rushed as we are being timed will report again soon.
alan-jill southampton

Thanks for the Report Alan i appreciate it very much.
Well it looks like there is no way this hotel is going to be ready for us going on the 17th and I am sick to death of trying to whittle out any info from either Thomas Cook or First Choice or even Iberostar. Its like trying to get Blood out of the proverbial Stone. And the Opening date for this hotel changes like the English Weather. I am furious and need to calm down before phoning Thomas Cook yet again All of this Hassle and Worry Totally takes away the enjoyment of looking forward to the holiday and since there are 12 of us going away i have visions of them finding it very difficult to accomodate us elsewhere. We have been looking at some of the other equivilent hotels and they do not seem to be able to have enough places to accomodate 12 of us.
They are quick enough to take the £5,000 off the 12 of us for the holiday but not keen at all to tell us what is happening with the place .

Well, here we go again. Will report my news back to you's, regards, Brian

Yes thanks for the update Alan.
I`m off to my travel agents tommorow to change hotels.
I think we`ll end up going to golden sands now seeing as our flight has changed to Varna.
Not particularly happy about any of this and the lack of information coming from balkan is a disgrace.They should be ashamed of themselves.

Hello again, . My better half has gone down to see Thomas Cook, as she thought i was not in the right frame of mind to go down. She is gonna ask for us to be moved elsewhere. So i will see what has happened soon.

Many thanks Alan, your update is much appreciated. As a result I have been onto First Choice and this is what they had to say today:

German guests are arriving at the hotel tomorrow but First Choice have not yet made a decision as to whether they will be sending their guests or not. Apparently the customer services manager has got to go to a meeting about it but they could not tell me exactly when the meeting would be held, he said probably in the next few days!! So when we will get informed of the decision is anyone's guess, going by First Choices performance up to now probably when we arrive in Bulgaria!!

Anyway I asked if I was able to change holidays now and they said no as this would currently be breaking the conditions of the booking and I therefore would only be allowed to change having a decision been made that it was not suitable to send us to Iberostar Sunny Beach.
I said that given the information I have on Iberostar Sunny Beach even if they did send us their, not all facilities would be available, they said that this is something you would have to discuss on arrival with the FC Rep.
If they don't send us there then they would send us to another hotel of the same standard but you would not be able to choice where as it would be where ever they have availability.

So from what I understand they will let us know whether we are going to Iberostar Sunny Beach or not whenever they feel like it! and if they do send us there and not all the facilities are available we have got to spend all week chasing up our Rep to complain which would not make for a nice relaxing holiday! If we don't go to this hotel they will send us to another hotel but where ever they feel like!!

I think this is an absolute disgrace, you pay all this money to go to a hotel of your choice based on rating, location etc and then get messed around like this. I feel like I might as well have booked a Allocated on Arrival for something like £150

For all of you who want to see what's the situation at the hotel, I've posted the photo's (who were taken by Lesley Jane, thanks for that!)

You can see them by clicking on the links below:

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Sorry to be another one with bad news:

I called my travel agencys office in Sunny Beach and asked for a situation report on Iberostar SB Resort.

I spoke with a lady there and she would not recomend us to stay there.
Some rooms are done, but the reseption area is not done. At this time there are a lot of building there and she told me we would not have a nice holyday if we left now.
Her guess was a 50-50% chance that reseption and more rooms would be finished by thje 21st of june.

This is a comedy!

Does anyone know what rights we have if we have to change hotel or if we get down to a building area?
What can we demand, and what can we expect?
We are travelling from Norway with a Scandinavian travel agency called Apollo.

#18

hi all just a few more details about this hotel. now i have a bit more time.firstly about 80% of the grounds in complete ie ground yet to be leveled.block paving started but far from being complete.it appears that the hotel is in two parts. they seem to be concentrating on one half. many of the rooms inthis part have no curtains up.there was sink basins and wcs by the dozens laid on the ground out side.the dinning area is yet to be furnished .but they seem to be making a start.we actuly walked 3/4 of the way round before being chased off by security.thier are a lot of workman all trying to get there bit done.painters plasteres plumbers ground workers. etc the noise was horrendas from the disc cutters on the block paving.as isaid yesterday i really dont think it is going to be open untill mid july.maybe they might complete the first half.by the end of the month.but i have my doubts.sorry once again if this worrys any of you.but we understand what its like having beem moved from here 6 june our selfs.i will go again the week end and see how much progress has been made.i wiill take more photos and post them when we return.to the u.k on the 20th we are now going to try and relax a little. but will keep you all updated ps those of you worried about the pool. that appears to be ready.but i would think thats the least of anyones worrys.
alan-jill southampton (live in sunnybeach)

we are allso traveling with appollo , we travel from Tromsø the 7th august , i talked to the agency some time ago , they said it would be done in june , but things has changed since then , and i want a 100% COMPLETE hotell when i get there or i will get SERIUSLY MAD!
allso i hear people say they dont think they will be done in time for this month , well .... sometimes when they really need things done fast they get it done really fast , hire double work power etc etc , its duable , i seen things like this be completed very fast when they really need to , so i dont take any sorrows in advance yet , cus this is a big hotelchain , and they will probably put all forces to work to not get a long delay , so never say never.

Hi all

Iv just come off the phone to First Choice and they said that they are waiting for an update from resort later on this afternoon. So im going to phone the agent again tomorrow and let them do the holding to get trhough to First Choice.

It doesnt look hopeful that we will be staying in the Iberostar though does it considering we fly out on Monday and on the 19th May when i phoned First Choice they said it was all complete. Well if they do move us I will definetly be asking for compensation, and think if it wasnt for this site we wouldnt know anything!

I shall let you know what they say tomorrow.

Visited my travel agent yesterday.
They were extremely helpful but I have to say Balkan who we are travelling with were less than helpful.
They are saying the part of the hotel we would be staying in is finished.
The other half won`t be ready for some time from what i can gather.
It seems they are going to open one side of the hotel first to get the guests in and make some money.
The problem with that is there is going to be twice as many guests as rooms,and I bet they just AOA anyone that can`t get a room.
I`m not willing to take that chance.
After nearly an hour with my travel agen on the phone to balkan they have finally agreed we can move hotels,and they will honour our free child place and all discounts we got for booking so early.
Not particularly happy but we can make the best out of a bad job.We`re going to stay in golden sands now and I`m busy looking at reviews of hotels to find a half decent one.
I hope everyone who has posted on this thread gets sorted out.

Charlem,

Sounds like First Choice have told you pretty much the same as me which is slightly reasuring! I must say I am very dissapointed with First Choice mainly becasue they have been saying the hotel is complete they even told me on the 7th June the Hotel was definatly complete and then on the 8th that they were not sure! and that they would be holding a meeting soon!!

Anyway in terms of compensation I would advise that you look in the back of the brochure, if you have FC Summer sun 2005 3rd Edition it is page 504 whereby they detail the amount of compensation they would give but they also state this is in event of a 'Major Change' for which a definition is provided on page 502. Having read this my understanding is that if they find a alternative hotel in same resort with the same 'official rating' which we accept then we are not entitled to compensation! This dosent seem fair to me after all this agro, what do you make of it?

Oh, forgot to say that I can confirm that according to the Iberostar Hotel technical details the hotel is meant to consist of two buildings! so wouldnt suprise me if they are trying to open one half. But wouldnt be very impressed if they put us in one half whilst they work away on the other half!!

I just got a phone call from Apollo, a Norwegian travel agency, and they told me that the hotel actually IS finished.

Rooms are ready, lobby are ready, reseption is ready, restaurants are ready and the pool area is ready.
He also told me that there are guests at the hotel right now.
I recorded the phone call, so he is going to have som major trouble when I come home if the hotel is not ready when I arrive.

Lying, thats what he did!!!

Little Gem

No it doesnt seem fair at all, considering we have been phoning them since May and they have bsically lied to us all along. I will not be very impressed if they let us go there and stay in one half while disk cutters are at work next door. Basically I think i will phone them tomorrow and see what they say and take it from there. Im definetly going to write a letter of complaint when i get home anyway, becasue of they we have been treated so far.

Hi all

Well wait for it, yes you guessed it we'v been moved! We are now going to be staying in The Royal Park Hotel in Elenite. So got to do some investigating about that hotel and resort now! We have been upgraded to all inclusive - to be honest I should think so after everything thats happened. The travel agent also advised me to write a letter of complaint when i get back, because they said we should get some more compensation.

What else they said that everyone flying out on 13th June will be moved and anyone flying out from 20th June onwards will be staying at the Iberostar. Apparently it will be a high standard 4 * so thats one thing I suppose.

If anyone out there has any info on Elenite resort, Royal Park Hotel, and how far it is to Sunny Beach I would be grateful

Thanks