Newsletter Update

4th July 2021

We thought it was time to update you all on what’s happening at Vassaliki right now. We have not done this for a while because as soon as we write something everything changes again!

Well, the resort is open and ready for what is left of the summer season. We have been ready to open since 1st May but up to now we have only had a handful of guests. Our occupancy for May and June has dropped from 80% in 2019 to 18% this year, and with over 80% of our guests for the coming months travelling from the UK, if things don’t change very soon the inevitable is going to happen!

So what next? We wait still for the UK government to start making some solid decisions and more importantly stick to them. At least then we and the thousands of other resorts, hotels and apartment owners can make a plan. Not to mention the suppliers, taxis, tavernas, laundry etc who rely on our trade. There are many businesses here on Kefalonia set up and ready to open, but also a large number of hotels and resorts have decided to just not bother and they remain closed. We don’t blame them, this waiting, running up huge bills and not knowing when or if this will end is extremely stressful. The sad news is our neighbouring naturist resort Panorama on the island of Zante has also remained closed, we hope they can recover and open again in the future.

On the brighter side we do have some European guests staying with us plus some UK guests, who are prepared to tackle the Amber restrictions, will be joining us soon. BA, Ryanair and EasyJet are, at the moment, keeping some flights going.

Five of our guests enjoyed their stay so much this year they moved their flights back and took an extra weeks holiday!!

One of the issues many people are finding is that their travel insurance will not cover them if they visit an amber country. But never fear we have a solution! Many of our customers have booked with Staysure. Single trip cover including the add on to cover travelling to an FCDO unlisted country (amber) is coming in around £45 or so. (More maybe if you have health issues to declare.) https://www.staysure.co.uk/

We still have some rooms available before the 20th of July and if you want a cheap flight and empty beaches, it really is an amazing time to stay. Remember the Covid cases on Kefalonia are 0.3 per 100,000 person over a rolling 14 day period.  

After 20th July things look very different for us and the resort is pretty much full with our occupancy back to 82%. Let’s hope that Boris makes the right announcement so these bookings can be honoured and we can get all the staff back to work to start to try and recover from this situation.

Samantha and I would like to thank all of you who have sent us best wishes and emails of support throughout the pandemic, it really has helped us through this. We know all of you have had your own difficulties and disappointments over the last year and we know you cannot wait to return to Kefalonia and join our Vassaliki family again. 

Whatever happens we will do everything possible to keep Vassaliki going. We know we have a tough road ahead and some difficult decisions will need to be made but we are determined to keep this piece of paradise alive for all of you.

Lucy enjoying the empty beach yesterday evening.