Tickets and accommodation for Bachata King festival happening in September 2023 have now been released!

https://www.bachata-king-festival.com/

Having reviewed the new website I am disappointed to say that there doesn't seem to have been much improvement from last year and my below points seem to have fallen on deaf ears. There seems to be lack on transparency on the pricing with lots of hidden extra cost not mentioned anywhere on the website.  Customers should  be provided with the full information on costs about the festival. As the organisers haven't updated the website with all the relevant information I have done so in my review. 

 

1 There is a room tax payable directly to the hotel on check in on the Hotel. Based on a triple room for 3 people sharing for 6 nights at approx. 3 Euros per person per night. 54 Euros (3 X 3 X 6) hidden cost.

2 Drinks after 10pm are chargeable at full price, bottled water is 2 Euros and there is no free water after 10pm and there are no supermarkets within walking distance. 

3 The bar after 10pm is a cash bar only so if you intend to buy drinks make sure you bring enough Euros as there are no cash machines nearby!

4 Another hidden cost is Transport to the evening parties Tuesday night, Wednesday Night and Thursday night is chargeable at 10 Euros and not included in the full pass or VIP Pass! payable on registration at the event.

5 Wi-fi around the Kipriotis resort hardly has a signal except in the main reception/lobby area despite it being a 4 star hotel. Premium Wi-fi is available for a extra charge.

6 Accommodation cost seems to have increased by 21% for 2023 compared to 2022. I paid 840 Euros for a triple room for 7 nights, half board in 2022 and the equivalent for 2023 for 7 nights, triple room half board is 1020 Euros. An extra 180 Euros or 21% increase for 2023.

7 A 5% booking fee (or 51 Euros for triple room for 6 nights)  is slapped on at the checkout when booking your accommodation for 2023. There was no booking fee payable in 2022. 

8 Sunbeds on the tour of KOS island are chargeable to use at 5 Euros - if you don't want to pay this make sure you bring a towel so you can sit on the sand. 

 

Based on 3 people sharing a triple room for 6 nights for Big king bachata festival 2023 you should expect the following costs.

 

Experience pass 130 Euros X 3                                                             390

Triple room for 6 nights                                                                       1020

Accommodation booking fee                                                                  51 (extra cost)

All inclusive Breakfast, lunch, Dinner 30 X 6                                       180

Hotel tax  3 X 3 X 6                                                                                     54 (hidden cost)

Transport to Evening parties 3 X 10                                                        30 (hidden cost)

Water for evening parties 2 Euros 6 nights  3 people                          36 (hidden cost)

Taxi to and from Resort (60 Euros each way X 2)                                120

Flights 100 Euros X 3 people X 2 return                                                600

 

Estimated total cost for 3 people                                                         2481

2481 Euros /3 people                                                                               827

827 / 1.13 (convert to GBP)                                                                     730

 

So to give you a realistic estimated final minimum cost, this is £730 per person based on shared a triple room for 6 nights, for the experience pass and doesn't include any boat parties, Drinks purchased from the bar after 10pm (except a allowance of 1 bottle of water per night included in calculation above), seat allocation or carry on cabin bags on flight. Flight costs maybe even more then 100 Euros budgeted each way above depending on airline you are flying with so this cost maybe underestimated. 

 

I have also included my reviews from 2022 which I made at the time below so you can see my full independent review of the festival I wrote from the time to give you a better insight in what to expect. 

 

I have finally returned from Greece from my visit of Athens and Bachata King festival from the island of KOS and here is my review of the weekend. I have to say It was disappointment as i felt i was being screwed over half the time while i was on Holiday!

This post is not intended to be disrespectful to organizers of the event as I know organizing large festivals like these take so much time and effort to put together and is just simply my honest views of the festival.

In summary there have seen some really good things while I was in Greece and I have seen some things that could be better.

Great things i have seen

1 Tour of the KOS island on Tuesday was organised really well and we saw some lovely places as well as dance on the beach and at a restaurant with a lovely view

2 Pool parties on Friday Saturday Sunday dancing in the sun was really good one of the best things at the Big king Bachata festival

3 evening parties on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the 3 different bars was really good as it was a open air event dancers managed to keep cool and atmosphere was great!

4 evening food selection and drinks was really good with a wide variety of options available catering for everyone

5 lessons / workshops on offer was a good selection with a wide variety of teachers from all across Europe attending

Things that didn't go so well that should have been better

1 Drinks after 10pm from the Bar were chargeable (even for all inclusive passholders) there was no free water and bottled water was chargeable at 2 Euros. I tried to take a open cup drink in (which i got from the bar before 10pm) and was refused by security saying drinks must be purchased from the bar inside. with cocktails costing 12 Euros bar spend could easily rack up to 50 euros after 4 drinks.

2 after 10pm Its a cash bar so no cards accepted. (As a all inclusive passholder you thought you wouldn't need to bring much spare cash with you since "everything" should be included) so anybody relying on card payments were screwed as there were no cashpoints nearby.

3 Friday, Saturday Night party was in the Lobby of the conference Centre, there was no attempt whatsoever to keep the room cool with fans etc and within 3 dances i had sweated through my shirt. (at Barcelona Hot weekender that bachata room was far hotter then the Friday/ Saturday night in KOS but at least the organizers in Barcelona had the air con on at full blast attempting to cool the room)

4 Wi-fi in the 4 star Hotel was non existent except in the reception area. You would have thought a hotel with such high standards.
would have wi-fi throughout.

5 Transport to the evening parties on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday isn't included for pass holders and is chargeable at 10 Euros upon arrival- You would have thought if you had a full pass or VIP Pass transport would be included (since we are on holiday and don't have cars) and this wasn't mentioned on the website when booking.

6 On the Friday party night the SBK room was so far away I couldn't find it and it closed at 3am (it was advertised to be open til 6am)

Points 7 to 12 are additional points raised by other participants which i do feel are valid

7. Maps and signposts. For someone that fears having to ask people for help, please make it obvious where all the rooms are and how to get to them in this massive resort.

8. Social media. If you use multiple platforms, ensure that vital information is syndicated to all platforms. Note, story's and reels are not the place for information.

9. Don't put QR codes on a story and ask people to scan it!

10. Keep hotel information available before and after the booking has closed. Days prior to the event and during, all hotel information disappeared, and I had no idea what I had booked or was entitled to as reference.

11. Transport information. We had already pre-booked taxi, but then only days prior to arrival info was sent about taxi discount codes. We need all information (taxi code, bus timetables) weeks in advance.

12. T-shirts. Surly Medium Size Men's is the most common size, and yet again at a festival, sold out before I went to buy. Disappointed.

external factors outside the event

1 I got a email at 3am on Thursday morning informing me my flight had been cancelled. this put a real panic in as i had to spend 3 hours trying to rebook for a new flight with the airline which is something not needed on holiday and lost 1 nights stay at the hotel as we were meant o fly back on Monday morning instead of Sunday night

2 there was a personal issue at occurred during my visit to Greece that remained unresolved for the entire weekend (despite my best efforts to resolve) that overclouded the whole holiday as i wasn't in the holiday mode when i arrived.

3 The taxi to the airport which i booked through the hotel never showed up so we ended up panicking and just tried to book any taxi that we could see drive by to take us to the airport.

Conclusion

Having travelled across the UK to dance at many dance festivals as well as international dance festivals I have seen better days i.e. BOS goes to Ibiza which was a lot better as in Ibiza all inclusive literally meant a all inclusive. Having spent £700 plus another £200 for new flights followed by all the paperwork to follow up cancelled flights to visit Athens and KOS for so many things above to go wrong its just not worth the money it as I remember in Ibiza 6 months ago for all inclusive it was just perfect with hardly anything going wrong.

On a positive note I am still glad I went to Athens and KOS as it has been a experience and I met so many amazing dancers when dancing in the local bars in Athens and saw the different culture of dance in Athens that is probably the highlight for me of the whole holiday as i have never seen a local dance scene which was so inclusive as many locals go to these bars to drink 50% of the time and learnt to dance as a hobbies 50% of the time so many dancers are beginners/improvers level which is something I haven't seen before. I know Good things don't last forever and although it hasn't been as good as i had hoped i have learnt one important thing whilst in Greece which is Friends are so important to have as i wouldn't have survived the week if my friends weren't around help me ranging from emotional support, helping me get my lunch (as i hadn't got the blue wristband) to keeping me safe when 4 guys wanted to beat me up at the local dance club in Athens.