Four stars have fallen on Chepelare, a town in south-central Bulgaria, in the form of the new Hotel Rhodopi Home. The opening ceremony occurred on May 28, where Chepelare mayor Todor Bozoukov and Dimitur Dimitrov, one of the owners of the property, cut the ribbon.
A project of the company Rhodopi Home OOD, shares in the luxury hotel complex are equally split between PONS Holding and Dimitrov, a banker. The total costs came to over 2.5 million euro.
At a news conference held before the opening ceremony, Bozoukov thanked the owners for the “serious investment”, saying that while Chepelare has always been connected with skiing and winter tourism, the hotel will help make it a year-round destination.
“In truth, it’s a beautiful place for tourism, and will increase the level (of the city),” he said, noting that from the time construction started in October 2004 to present, the price of property in the town has increased from $15 a sq m to its current price of 50 euro a sq m.
Bozoukov elaborated on Chepelare’s possibilities as a tourist destination for eco and cultural tourism as well.
“It’s a good base for fishing and hiking, also,” he said. “In Chepelare, we prefer complexes in which each guest feels like a friend, to not be anonymous. And this is what we want our guests to feel at Rhodopi Home.”
The town of about 6000 inhabitants previously had1700 beds – two hotels, 11 family inns and 20 guest houses. It now has bed space for about 2000.
Rhodopi Home – the first four-star hotel in Chepelare – is comprised of both a year-round hotel and an apartment complex. The 22 apartments, with bed space for 60 people, sell for between 900 and1000 euro a sq m. Their sizes range from 67 to 138 sq m. One hundred and fifty beds are in the 29-room hotel, with rooms of up to three chambers available
Low season (the month of March) costs are between 50 leva for a one-room chamber, and 130 leva for a two-bedroom apartment. In high season (the weeks around Christmas), prices are 140-300 leva. The rest of the year, such rooms cost from 80 to 200 leva. Children up to two years of age are free; from two to 12 years old, the cost is between 14 and 48 leva a night, depending on the season and type of bed desired. For those over 12 years, an extra bed costs from 26 to 70 leva.
In the complex is also a blue-tiled indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, a medical centre, a spa centre (a one-hour full-body massage costs 45 leva), a fitness centre, a conference room that can hold 50, a restaurant and a night club.
“There’s no man who will pay 100 leva (a night) if there’s no fitness centre, no spa for his wife,” said Milko Milkov of PONS Holding at the news conference.
Rhodopi Home will soon have internet connection available for its guests. There are also sufficient covered and open-air parking lots.
The architects and interior designers of the four-star hotel were Daniela Dikova and Ilko Nikolov. With its height varying between five and seven stories, Rhodopi Home has a size of more than 6000 sq m.
At the same conference, Dimitrov, a native of Chepelare, expressed his pleasure at being able to invest in his home town. He hopes that this project will encourage other investors in the region, for more hotels and companies to come, for business to revamp. As a result, the surrounding infrastructure and ski stations will also improve.
Three quarters of the town’s population makes its living, in some related form, from tourism.
The opening ceremony took place during the evening of May 27, where the ribbon cutting was preceded by a gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe) player and singer in traditional Rhodope dress. After the ribbon cutting, priests performed a mass of blessing. The project’s investors and their families, politicians, household names and other notable figures attended the party.
Such guests included 1998 Nagano Olympics biathlon gold medallist Ekaterina Dafovska, a Chepelare native, former speaker of the National Assembly Ognyan Gerjikov and Mihail Mihov, floor leader and deputy chair of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Live music from the electronic-rock-classical quartet Intro, singing from the well-known Bulgarian Toni Dimitrova and a drag queen provided entertainment for the guests. Todoroff wines and top-brand liquors accompanied the fine hors d’oeuvres. Later in the evening, a fireworks show drew party attendees and Chepelare citizens.
The accommodating staff at Rhodopi Home speak serviceable English, and were selected due to their previous hotel employment experiences.
Rhodopi Home saw the arrival of its first guests – Bulgarians – on Monday May 29.
