April 2009 - Posts
I must admit that my weakness is good food. I cannot resist to the invitation that promises new taste experiences. Last night I accompanied my sister and her husband to probably the best restaurant in Cyprus.
In my life I have had the luck to work with great chefs. I had the luck to taste new tastes that made me feel what we call a gastronomic orgasm. Last night I had a very well prepared beef carpaccio that combined the aromas of the Mediterranean herbs and the high quality of tender beef. The lemon marinated mushrooms with the combination of pesto and parmesano were honestly one of the simplest ways to impress my palate. I asked Marios (the owner) to take care of my main course and the only condition was that I wanted no meat, I was scared to spoil the carpaccio. The seafood paupiette on a bed of fine potatoes aromatised with lime and herbs was nothing else but an extraordinary surprise.
I will not write anything about the dessert. I will let you discover that area. If it happens to be Nicosia visit Domus Lounge Restaurant and Bar. Its just a few meters before the entrance of the Archbishops’ Palace, call Marios at 22433722 or before you land to Cyprus or arrive in Nicosia make sure you have send your reservation at reservations@domusloungebar.com
Enjoy your Dinner. (do not forget the desert).
On Friday the 10th of April 2009 I made a survey to 12 hotels in
Paphos, Limassol, Agia Napa and Troodos in order to find out how
Cypriots book their weekend holidays. The result of this mini survey is:
- 80% make there bookings online
- 10% book over the phone
- 10% with travel agents
Now the Cypriots who use the internet prefer www.bookcyprus.com , www.booking.com and www.expedia.co.uk
. This would have been completely normal if the Cyprus Hoteliers did
not have what we call special prices for locals. The funny thing is
that these special prices are more expensive than the web of the
hotels, more expensive than Booking.com and more expensive than expedia.
Then,
today Saturday the 10th of April I have made a test on the 12 hotels I
mention above. I called their reservations department, I checked their
own web, I looked for them on the 3 web sites mentioned above and I
also called to a travel agent.
The result was:
- 8 of those 12 hotels had 5 different rates for the same dates for the same room. One rate on the phone, one on their own web, one on expedia, one on booking and one on bookcyprus.com
- 3 of them had the same rates over the phone and on their own web but different rates on the 3rd party web sites.
- 1 hotel had price parity all the way thru.
I
felt like an idiot when I mention to one reservation officer of the
first 8 hotels that on booking.com I see that they have available rooms
for 55 euros cheaper than the price is giving me over the phone and on
their own web is 45 euros cheaper than the phone price. The answer was
very embarrassing, those prices are for foreigners. I asked what would
it happen if I book on booking.com and the poor lady got upset, she
told me that I cannot make a booking from abroad if I am a Cypriot, and
that the prices for Cypriots are the ones she told me.
I thanked
her and I hung up the phone. I stared at my computer and I thought of
sending an email to the General Manager of the hotel and the owners
with a copy to the CTO and the 2 hoteliers associations. I decided that
I will not do it because the reservations lady came all the way from
Russia to work in Cyprus and she only follows orders of those I was
going to send an email to. I will not mention the hotel, I will only
say that is a five star hotel in Limassol.
I am wondering if hotels in Cyprus really want Cyprus residents to stay in their hotels.
After several conversations with hoteliers in Cyprus and Greece I realised that Libra Holidays Group, also known as Alburry Travel Group
has literally sent to bankruptcy lots of hotels and their families.
This is well known but what was not that known is that the same
situation happens in Turkey and Egypt. After some investigation I found
out that Mr. Adreas Drakou and his environment managed to cheat many
more naïf hoteliers also in Turkey and Egypt.
I have a list of apox 60 hotels and correspondence with some of them that proves that.
I
am wondering why the hoteliers do not reveal and go against the owners
of Libra worldwide. The owners are Andreas Drakou and other honourable
businessmen form Cyprus and the UK and at the end of the day they are
also victims of this big fraud since Drakou dragged them in the ditch.
There
is a law office that deals with cases like that, very successful in
similar cases and if the hoteliers of Cyprus, Greece (E.U countries)
can join forces they will be able to recover their money. The money
Libra and co took form the hoteliers is not lost, they became plots in
Sharm el Sheik, in Bulgaria and Romania.
In these times of crisis we need to be united and get those companies and their owners out of the market.