Park Inn By Radisson Cosponsors Familiarization Trip To Sochi With Destination Sochi

            

Destination Sochi is offering a 4 day/3 night familiarization trip to Sochi from September 23-26, 2012.  The Park Inn by Radisson is a co-sponsor of the trip. The trip, featuring 2 nights in Rosa Khutor at the Park Inn and 1 night in central Sochi, will cost $1,695.  All meals, accommodation and ground transportation in Sochi will be included.

Guests will be greeted at the airport and escorted to our motor coach for the ride to Krasnaya Polyana and the Park Inn by Radisson Rosa Khutor.  There will be a champagne welcome reception at the Park Inn, with a welcome speech by General Manager Harald Buerkle, followed by a tour of the new Radisson Hotel and the Park Inn.

Later that evening, Destination Sochi will host a dinner at the Park Inn. Monday's highlights will include viewing the mountain cluster at Rosa Khutor and a tour of Gornaya Karusel resort, an unforgettable Russian banya experience and dinner at a top mountain restaurant.

Tuesday, the 24th, we will depart after breakfast for Adler to view the Olympic Park, view official transportation venues and central Adler. Then our route will follow the picturesque Black Sea coast about 25 kilometers to central Sochi.  We will stop at a locally prominent restaurant for a genuine Caucasian lunch followed by a tour of the city center.  

The tour will be full hosted with bilingual guides (English, French and Russian).

Please contact us for a complete itinerary and also to reserve your place. The tour will be limited to 40 guests, so make your reservation as soon as possible.

Contact via email:  yelena@destinationsochi.com

Call +7 962 859 1776

New Video of Sochi Expats Club party

We have been hosting parties at Gossip Cafe in central Sochi, owned by Martial and Bastien Simonneau.  The parties are attracting an ever larger and more international crowd.  This last Saturday, we had guests from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, the netherlands, Serbia, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom (Scottish guest) and the United States.  More than 100 people have joined the group from the nations above, as well as Canada, Lativa, Finland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.  

Find the Sochi Expats Club on Facebook and feel free to join our parites when you are in Sochi.  I expect to host a reggae-themed pool party for the Club in the near future.

Pavel Lesnevesky filmed and edited the video shown below for SochiChannel.com. Please have a look:

Andrei Ponamarenko

I recently wrote an article about Larisa Alexnodrova that was published by the Ski Channel.  The article has been picked up by several other websites in the United States, including one devoted to surfing.

Yesterday, I noticed that Sochi.com is carrying the article with a Russian translation. However, for unknown reasons the poster had removed my name as the author. This is unusual.  Andrei Ponamanreko, the owner of an English language school, had posted the link to Sochi.com on Facebook.  So, I wrote to Andrei, politely telling him that it was fine to use my article, but to please ask the administrator of the site to credit me as the author.  He agreed.

This morning, I looked at the site again to see if I had been credited as the author. I saw this had not happened.  I also saw that the article had been altered.  The final line of my article had been changed.  The original version:

"If you want to catch up to Larisa, she can often be found at the Sochi Expats Club parties, telling us about her latest travels."

The new version:

"If you are interested in meeting with Larissa and talk in English about her recent travels, come to the English Club (www. inyaz-sochi.ru, st. Park 19, ie 239-44-49)."

Only when I read this did I realize that Andrei Ponamarenko had posted the article himself as advertising for his school.

I wrote to Mr Ponamarenko and explained to him that the article was the intellectual property of the Ski Channel and Bruce Talley and that he did not have permission to alter the article and use if for his commerical purposes.  I explained that the law is clear on this subject and that what he had done was intellectual piracy.  I asked him to change the aritcle to its original form or remove it.

A short time later, I was forwarded a link to a video about Mr. Ponamarenko's school.  A few weeks ago, i went to his school, which I have done occasionally over the last 7 months, to speak English and to talk about American culture.  When I got there, Mr. Ponamarenko said that they would lke to interview me for an advertisement.  I had little time to think about it or ask what the content would be. They interviewed me for a few minutes. Today, I saw the video clip.  The viewer is told that I am at the school constantly teaching students.  This is false. I have been there twice in the last 3 1/2 months.  I have never been paid and I am there not as a teacher (I am not a teacher, nor have I ever been).  

So, Mr. Ponamarenko is purpusefully using my image to mislead people.  I believe in truth in adversiing. Also, I have carefully built my image over a number of years.  I have appeared at the World Russia Forum in Washington D.C.  I have been interviewed by the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, Delovaya Gazeta Yug and Real Business.  I have developed an English language tourist application for Sochi. I have a video channel on Sochi in English.  I write this blog and a private newsletter about Sochi that is read by many Olympic organization officials, media company executives and journalists the world over.  My information is positive, accurate and helpful for the many foreigners coming to Sochi.  For many westerners, I am Mr. Sochi.  

I hope readers will entreat Mr. Ponamarenko to desist.

May Sochi Rental Summary

The residential rental market in Sochi's Adler District (home to the Olympic Park) continues to tighten.  We are working with several companies renting apartments and are seeing a rapid absorption of available capacity and rising prices in the few newer buildings in Adler's center that conform to western standards.  A one room apartment with western standards will cost from 40,000- 50,000 rubles per month (about $1,330 to $1,660).  A two room apartment will cost from about 65,000 rubles to 80,000 rubles a month (app. $2,160- $2,660).  A larger apartment with three rooms, runs from 90,000- 120,000 + rubles each month (app.$3,000- $4,000).   Utilities will vary according to size and location.  Bear in mind, that Russian apartments consider rooms, rather than bedrooms, the standard.  A room is anything other than a kitchen, bathroom, corridor or balcony (living rooms frequently double as bedrooms). 

Adler Rental

Central Sochi, regarded as a more desirable location because of its physical beauty, shopping, restaurants and a larger number of western-style apartments, is now somewhat less expensive than central Adler District.  The distance between Adler (and the Olympic Park) and central Sochi is only about 25 kilometers, but the commute can be long.  Nonetheless, for those who work in the center or with flexible schedules, Sochi is becoming an increasingly attractive opportunity because the ruble goes further.

Sochi Rental

One room apartments with western standards in the pedestrian center of Sochi will run from 35,000- 60,000 rubles per month (app. $1,160- $2,000).  Two room apartments cost 40.000 to 60,000 rubles each month (app. $1,330. $2,000).  An apartment with three rooms  (85 - 100 square meters) will run from 70,000 to 100,000 rubles monthly (app. $2,330- $3,330) and up to 120,000 (app. $4,000) for the best and largest apartments on the best streets.  There are large, two-floor penthouses with spectacular views available at monthly rentals of 125,000 to 300,000 + rubles (app. $4,160- $10,000).

Penthouse View

Office space in Adler runs about 1,200- 1,500 rubles per square meter per month ($3.68 to $4.60 per square foot per month).  Central Sochi offices also typically costs from 1,200 to 1,500 rubles per square meter per month.  A new mixed-use building in the center with sweeping views of the city offers offices from as small as 18 square meters to a larger suite of about 220 square meters at 1,300 rubles per square meter per month ($3.99 per square foot per month). The new Class "A" building (shown below) near the Sochi City Administration has offices ranging from 2,500 rubles to 5,000 rubles per square meter per month ($7.68 to $15.35 per square foot per month).

Please contact me directly for workforce accommodations, office rentals and all desination management needs, including transport, documentation, communication and event management: bruce@destinationsochi.com

New Office Building