Chiller,

Did you get a similar or better deal (e.g. sea view, upgraded room, upgraded board B&B-->HB)?
Was there a price differential?

We are booked in for Bed & Breakfast at Kempinski

Patka,

Can you tell me what is better about the location of the Admiral?

Also, how do you think the Marina Grand Beach stacks up against the Kempinski and Admiral (quality of hotel, location, food, etc.)?

Thanks for your help.

Golfer

I'm certain that once the Kempinski becomes a Kempinski it will be absolutely great, but if you have any difficulty in walking or encumbered by pushchairs toddlers etc. I'd be very carefull because of the incline up to the hotel and it is huge.

Both the Marina and Admiral are situated at beach level, the Marina is nearer the night-life.

I have not stayed at the Marina so cant comment on rooms or food.

Regards food, one mans meat is anothers poison, but it was fine for us.

The Admiral is spotless rooms very comfortable and we're going back.

I think the balconies at the Marina may be bigger.

At the Admiral there are safety-deposit boxes in the rooms (complimentary) and sunbeds are also but the outdoor pool is across pedestrian street.

Patka

I have HB at the Admiral for less than I was paying BB at the Kempinski.
I agree the Standard at the Kempinski will be far superior than any hotel near its rating.

Unfortunately it wasn't ready so its the Admiral's gain and the kempinski's loss.

No offers were at hand just a transferred to the booking across - had only 4 rooms left anyway.

My wife has just been to our travel agent. They talked on the telephone to the Rep in GS. The rep said that there is no more building going on at the Kempinski. Any work that is going on is 'cosmetic'.

When asked about what remained to be opened properly the reply was:
The Brewery Bar - bummer!
Night-club - with 2 kids we won't miss that too much
Part of the spa - not too bothered
Some shops - my wife may miss out , but me and my wallet are happy
Travel agent advised to give it to 01/05 and then there will be reports from people who have been there and returned.

I would have been tempted to follow Chillers advice but the Admiral doesn't seem to have quad family rooms (unless anyone knows differently).

Folks,

after having searched the entire internet for a chat forum on the opening of the Kempinski Grand Hermitage I finally found your active room.

Here is my input as I did some research on my own.
For your better information, I will be travelling on aug 8 with three children, so rely quite well on propoer conditions:

a kempinski rep in Munich seems to have a decent status as she informs herself regularly on the status of the hotel. (Some more german tourists seem to phone her)
She said, there will be an opening by end of july (could be the one that bulgarian news press reports for last saturday) of one of the two bulding blocks.
There will be full service except some treatings (eg massages), barber, mini club (shit) and playground

However, there is interior work in progress, but as the architecture of the building is that distributed, there will be no negative implication for the guests.

Me too, I had in mind to relocate to another place, as the facilities for children are restricted. Finally I have chosen to stay as there were not may alternatives around.

So keep the fingers crossed.

Puschel

Ime booked to stay at the Kempinski on 29th August and ive decided to leave things as they are and to keep watching this forum for feedback.
Ime really grateful to you all for putting forward your views and information.
I really hope that i can go as the Hotel looks fantastic from the photos etc.
Thanks to everyone for sharing info.

Folks,
some update on grand hermitage
I have been informed by my travel agency that they offer me refund as the following items will not be available in august:
- barber shop
- jacuzzi
- massage center
hopefully then, the rest will be available

ciao

Puschel

Has anyone been to this hotel yet?

We go on Friday (still time to back out) and would appreciate some feedback on what the state of the hotel is, what's finished, what's not, etc.

Yes, I was there today
Actually the hotel is great outside, but inside many things have to be done, the service is still not at good level, it`s a brand new hotel, the employees are nice, always trying to help but sometimes it`s not possible. My mind is that this hotel will ROCK next summer but for now it`s not a real Kempinski hotel.

hi,
Ime due to go the Grand Kempinski Hotel in three weeks. Has anyone got any recent updates on the hotel yet??
Thanx
Jo

Hi Jo,

Haven't seen any first hand accounts yet, and will be most interested when they come through.

It is still not open as a Kempinski hotel, their website still indicates -

http://www.kempinski.com/development/en/index.php?l1=new_projects&category_id=86

I have heard it is open, but unfinished and clearly not up to Kempinski standards.

Peter

There are some pictures of the hotel on

http://www.bulgaria-hotels.com/en/hotel_info/157h-kempisnki_grand_hotel_hermitage-golden_sands.html

Also some comments.

Chiller

Difficult to see if some the photos are real or artist's impressions.

Taking into account all the comments, it confirms to me that the time to go to this hotel is when it is finished and being run by Kempinski.

We will know when it is as soon as it comes off 'development projects' on the Kempinski web site, and shows up in 'hotel search'.

The way Kempinski has allowed the hotel management to dishonestly sell this hotel as one of theirs when it is not, means that I will avoid this company and their hotels like the plague.

Peter

We got back yesterday - the Kempinski isn't all that it is cracked up to be!

The photos are exactly as the hotel is - from the outside it looks every inch a 5-star luxury hotel.

The Kempinski will definitely be the best hotel in Golden Sands with the possible exception of the Admiral.

We originally booked a family room (2 adults 2 children) - these weren't ready, which was a bit of a result as we ended up with 2 connecting sea-view rooms, one with twin beds, one with the most enormous double bed [we could have all slept in it]!

The hotel is in a fantastic location - there were earlier comments on this discussion group regarding the steps (there's about 75 of them) and being difficult for families with small children, however, there are ways to get to the hotel without using the steps and I wouldn't let that put anyone off.

The hotel is in a quiet location compared to any other hotel. It has good access to the beach (but the Admiral is in a better location in this respect).

The hotel pool is great! Nice loungers and clean pool towels daily. At the start of our holiday there was no problem getting sun loungers round the pool and with a large umbrella shade if you wanted it - it was getting busier towards the end of our holiday and it might be harder to get loungers when all rooms are occupied - there were a couple of situations where someone had put towels on loungers, gone off for breakfast (or whatever) and others had taken over the spot.

Having said some good things about the hotel, we and many others had lots of problems there and will be expecting significant compensation from our holiday company:

the hotel is still far from finished - lots of facilities advertised in the brochure weren't available (e.g. indoor pool, thai restaurant, casino, shops, hairdresser, massage, brewery bar, billiards, table tennis, and others). If anyone tells you different they are lying - we have video to prove it! I would suggest that the hotel will not be fully completed this year - which is in line with the Kempinski development web site.

- our rooms had lots of problems:
-- couldn't use the showers when we arrived (they were just installed)!
-- no curtains for first 5 days! When did you ever hear of a 5-star hotel with no curtains?
-- no coat hangers!!!
-- showers leak badly - reported numerous times, but no action!
-- air conditioning innefective at start of holiday.
-- no information in room on how to use basic services (how to call reception, how to call room service, how to use the safety deposit boxes, etc.)
-- no information about hotel facilities, when they were open/closed and where to find them

- many people we talked to also had problems with their rooms, e.g.:
-- rooms not ready for arrival
-- incorrect room types given
-- one girl sat on her loo and it fell off the wall!

- the hotel has lots of teething problems:
-- not enough staff in dining room at breakfast (we were B&B) which was buffet style, food ran out and took time to be replinshed [especially the fruit and fruit juice, sometimes difficult to get a table [all used and not cleared and reset], have to wait ages to get someone to bring you tea/coffee
-- reception staff seem to be incompetent and are occasionally uncourteous, e.g. we requested our passports back the day before we were due to return - they said thay couldn't find 2 of them, but not to worry they'd show up. After much stress and many visits to reception and holiday reps they eventually found them about an hour before we were picked up by the coach to come back home. A minor filing error, but a basic mistake. Imagine if they hadn't found them - a trip to the Embassy
in Sofia (200+ miles away), missed flight, etc., etc.!
-- almost everyone I talked to, ourselves included, at check-out were presented with a bill for services not used. We didn't charge anything to or room ever and were asked to cough up for some room service that we didn't have. Even though it was only a few quids worth we stuck to our guns and didn't pay it - if you're going there please look out for this - it could give you grief (see later).
-- room service is hopeless. We arrived after midnight with hungry and thirsty children. We had a choice of cheese/hame sandwich and cold dring, nothing hot! We decided to have a quick drink - 2 small cokes, 1 small sprite, 1 small beer. They arrived about 30 minutes later, none of them cold enough, he didn't have a bottle opener or a pen to sign the chit! This also cost 30 Leva (about £11) which is rediculous as we could have walked a couple of minutes from the hotel and got the same for about 5 Leva.
-- drinks and food at the hotel (pool bar) are very expensive compared to anywhere else in the resort. Hardly anyone was using the service, most people preferring to wander down the steps and back up agin to get bottles of drinks, fruit, snacks, etc. I was especially drunk off to be charged the best part of £1 for (unavoidable) service charge in the cocktail bar after ordering drinks when sitting at the bar - it's not as if anyone had to go out of their way to take them to us!

- there is still much work ongoing:
-- The indoor pool area / spa is far from complete and there are many workers there. Lots of plastering and tiling.
-- Builders milling about the place and leering at the female guests - my wife and a few others found this quite disturbing.
-- workers carrying items (mirrors, tables, etc.) through the pool area - this I thought was quite dangerous.
-- they were putting up awnings by dangling workers from balconies on slings. This work was on-going above the pool area. On one occasion something was dropped - it missed everyone, but this could have been anything from a small bolt to an electric drill and the outcome could have been far worse.
-- at then end of our corridor there was a small metal ladder which lead to windows leading onto the roof. These windows were not fully fitted with one panel missing. This meant that there was unrestricted access to the roof for inquisitive children - this could have been fatal!

Our holiday company didn't tell us that the hotel wasn't completed or up to standard before we left. I wonder if they are in breach of contract - any lawyers out there?

It is still very cheap out there still. We were B&B and ate out well every night, had a couple of tour excursions (you may be slightly cheaper doing these yourself - see other groups), bought all sorts of rubbish and spent less than £1000 for the 2 weeks. This included a £100 trip to the clinic when my 8-year old daughter felt unwell (with suspected appendicitis), which was money well spent - they were absolutely fantastic. I was dreading it. The clinic was like something out of the 1950's, but the doctor spoke fluent English, was really nice and friendly - you couldn't get better!

So, is the Kempinski value for money and would I recommend that you go there this year?NO!Go to the Admiral instead! Go to Kempinski next year if you want to go to Golden Sands.

What would we do next year? Well, GS is very busy and if we went back to Bulgaria we would probably try a top hotel in Albena next time.

Edit- very informative report. I have edited to remove the bold and coloured font as per posting rules.
Fiona HT mod

For anyone who went to this hotel and are really unhappy with their holiday, send me a personal message and I will contact you regarding the possibility of setting up an action group to take matters further with the holiday companies.

Thanks tons for the info Golfer. I had been checking this site hoping that someone would be back with comments before i go.....but now i'm really concerned!!
We are going to Kempinski Grand on the 11th September. I was hoping by then that all probs and teething troubles would have been sorted but now i'm not so convinced!
By Bulgarian standards we have paid quite a lot of money for 2 weeks there so we have a right to expect 5 star accomodation and facilities.
Think a phonecall to Balkan holidays might be in order to see where i stand at this point as i haven't heard a peep from them at all.

Golfer....which holiday company did you book through??

I called Balkan Holidays yesterday and they were quite good in the respect that the things they said were unfinished we more or less the same as you had listed. They said they are sending letters out to people travelling in September soon, and said that if i rang back Friday they would have an update from the rep in the resort (will post an update once i've spoken to them)

I don't generally trust holiday companies as they are usually to busy trying to line their own pockets but was quite impressed with the accuracy of information they gave me.

Just trying to gauge whether i can trust what they are telling me or not as my departure date gets nearer....

They did say that i could change but i can't decide whether i want to or not. We don't have a family and the other 5 star options - although they look great - look way too family oriented. We were trying to avoid places that do all the volleyball on the beach at 2pm and aerobics in the pool at 10am type thing...and were hoping that Kempinski fit the bill. We also liked the fact that the location was a bit quieter but still within easy reach of the resort facilities.

We booked through Balkan.

They never mentioned anything to us prior to departure which I thought was really poor, bordering on deceitful.

I notice that if you try to book the hotel through their website they have an Errata section describing the facilities not yet available.

I suppose that the fact that they are now writing to people now is a reflection on the number of complaints they must have received from early visitors to the hotel.