Bulgarian hotels want the introduction of a guaranteed minimum price per night

A minimum price for overnight stays in Bulgarian hotels should be introduced. This is what the hoteliers in Bansko want, according to Marin Bistrin, the chairman of the Union of Tourist Businesses in the winter resort, who spoke to Economic.bg. He motivated the revived idea with the need for a minimum revenue level for hotels because of their mandatory categorization as accommodation facilities.

He gave as an example a three-star hotel, in which the minimum room price per night should be BGN 70 (35 euros).

For a four-star hotel, for example, the price should be BGN 100 (50 euros). Below this limit, hoteliers cannot meet their operating costs. The minimum nightly price is a kind of protection against the dumping practices of the gray sector," says Bistrin.

The idea of ​​a minimum price floor is not new. When the Bulgarian minister of tourism was Nikolina Angelkova (GERB), in 2018, this was proposed and even the procedures for its introduction were very advanced. But then the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection on Competition (CPC) issued an opinion that the introduction of such a price floor would affect the price competition between hotels and will not improve services.

According to Malin Bistrin, who was also at the heart of this proposal, the minimum price per night is the main way to fight the gray accommodation sector. "With lawyers, there is a minimum price, with taxis as well. It’s the same principle," he says.

This mechanism will work in areas where there is a strong gray economy, such as Sunny Beach, Bansko, and Borovets. We can see that the state has failed to deal with the gray sector," says Malin Bistrin.

Talks with the acting minister of tourism, Evtim Miloshev, about the introduction of a minimum price per night have not been held. Bistrin is of the opinion that it is extremely important for the hotel sector that there is a regular tourism minister in order to create predictability.

We cannot have only a 40-day horizon. During the summer, the contracts for the next year are concluded," he says.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov