Family-concept, the style of tourism adopted by Bulgarian tour operators

Family-concept has become in the last ten years a style of tourism successfully implemented both in Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea, in Antalya, but also in some resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The accommodations have been modernized, equipped with aquaparks, outdoor and indoor pools, sauna, spa, various massage or body treatment rooms, kids clubs, game rooms for adults and children, machines of fitness and body maintenance, all included in the all-inclusive packages offered to tourists.

Among the accommodation units that have modernized and grown a lot in recent years, there is the Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, which benefited from a mutually beneficial partnership from the travel agency IRI Travel from Romania (company that collaborates with over 1000 agencies in our country).

On the occasion of a press conference in which he presented the balance of the summer season 2024, a conference held in the Golden Sands resort, in Bulgaria, Lucian Bădîrcea, CEO of the IRI Travel travel agency, told us: "We have a very good relationship, a real partnership with the managers of the Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club, who every year respected their commitments, thus responding to feedback, wishes and recommendations from tourists, but also from our partners in the country. We have other hotels that we recommend in other tourist destinations abroad, but we have not encountered such a partnership and such an emotional involvement on our part and those at the Prestige Hotel anywhere so far. Moreover, the hotel owners are open to our proposals and recommendations, something that I have not found with other hotel owners, neither in Romania, nor in Austria or any other country. This denotes a superior quality of business, an exceptional management, an understanding of the business phenomenon in tourism on the part of the owner, and as proof it also has results. If five years ago the occupancy rate was 20%, now it is almost five times more. This positive leap was achieved with the combined efforts of everyone: us, our partners, the management of the Prestige Hotel and the owner of this location".

For her part, Angelica Chirică, marketing manager of the Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club, stated: "If last year, the hotel occupancy rate in the summer season was over 90%, in the 2024 summer season we reached 98%, from which 90% Romanian tourists. This would not have been possible without the good collaboration, without the partnership we have with the IRI Travel agency and its partners in Romania. When I was appointed the manager for Romania of this hotel, I met with the CEO of IRI Travel, Lucian Bădîrcea, and we discussed what we had to do so that the occupancy rate of the hotel, which was then somewhere around 20%, to grow exponentially in the coming years. It seems that the solutions discussed then and implemented all these years were the best, as long as in 2024 we reached an occupancy rate of 98%. Our partners also supported us when we had a drop in sales. With their help, we designed specific offers every year, through which we managed to attract as many Romanian tourists as possible to our accommodation unit. I hope that in the 2025 summer season we will maintain the same level or, if possible, reach a maximum degree of occupancy, i.e. 100%".

Regarding the accommodation rates for next year, Mrs. Chirică told us that they will increase by 5%, 10% or a maximum of 15%, but these increases will be practically much reduced if the reservations are made early-booking, a system that it also worked very well for the Prestige Hotel.

"For example, in November 2023 we had the most sales of summer tourist packages, so tourists did not feel these small price increases due to special early-booking promotions. In August 2023, we even had a reservation request for August 2024, which shows that the tourists who come to us are satisfied with the services they received for the price they paid," Angelica Chirică told us.

One of the two accommodation units of the Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club will be completely modernized by next year, after this year it benefited from the renovation and transformation of the lobby in the reception area. Practically all the rooms will be renovated and the furniture in them will be changed, after the number of parking spaces has been expanded at the beginning of 2024. The Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club benefits from a total of 450 rooms in the two accommodation units, some of which are economy - without balcony, and the other part are standard double rooms, family rooms, premium rooms and apartments. In the Premium Deluxe hotel, there are only double standard rooms, all with balcony, family rooms, studios and apartments. Most of the rooms are in double standard comfort and are the most sought after.

Most of the tourists who come to this resort are families with children, because practically, through the services offered, the entire location is intended for these families. At the suggestion of those from IRI Travel, the Prestige Deluxe Hotel Aquapark Club managers have established periods when the accommodation offer refers to two adults and free for two children of the respective family, in order to stimulate family tourism.