A Bulgarian from Varna wins 2018 best hotel manager award on the Balkans

Pavlin Kossev from the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna received the prestigious award for Best Hotel Manager on the Balkans in 2018. He was presented with the award at a forum organised by the Balkan Alliance of the Hotel Association in the Serbian town of Palic. The official ceremony was attended by hotel business representatives from 12 countries.

The forum discussed main issues in the development of the hotel and restaurant industry in the region.

Pavlin Kossev: The gray economy is growing at a very fast pace in the renting of apartments and houses for rent. Many of them have not been categorized, or have not paid taxes and social security contributions. This makes them unfair competitors because they literally steal our guests and make extraordinary price dumping.

For hoteliers, the lack of qualified staff emerges as a leading problem in the sector and during the next tourist season.

Pavlin Kossev: We have to create them! Very important in the recruitment of hotel staff are the personal qualities. We look for them in every candidate, not how much experience and how many diplomas the person has!

In many Balkan countries, decreasing number of tourists prefer all-inclusive packages. After the removal of the service, the revenues in hotel complexes have gone up significantly.

Pavlin Kossev: There, the distribution of all-inclusive package is limited by law because they want to have a specific tourist product. They do not want to be an all-inclusive destination. And this significantly increases their average cost.

According to Pavlin Kossev, all-inclusive packages are still preferred by many tourists in Bulgaria. It is necessary, however, the quality of the food to be of a good quality.