British holidaymakers have been left stranded in Croatia after event organisers cancelled the opening of a new festival the night before it was due to start.
Obonjan, promoted as a new £60-per-night arts, music, and lifestyle event, was due to open on Thursday 28 July but suffered a power failure, organisers said.
The festival, on a private island recently leased by UK and Croatian investors, has been postponed until at least 3 August, leaving some ticket holders stranded or forcing them to cancel their holidays altogether.
Organisers, who described the event as "a holiday island, a bigger undertaking than a festival", were forced to text, email, and call guests to deliver the news overnight.
But the short notice meant some had already boarded planes to Croatia and are now in the country struggling to find accommodation in peak season.
Charlotte Graham had already travelled to the city of Sibenik, where the transfers to the private island were meant to take place, when she spoke to BuzzFeed News.
She said that although the organisers had offered to refund the price of tickets and were helpful, they had been slow in responding to queries.
Another festivalgoer, Ben Liam Jones, who is still planning to fly to Croatia on Friday as his friends were unable to cancel their holiday, called the company an "utter shambles".
He said: "They emailed about midnight last night to tell us they had no water or electricity [on] the island. It is postponed until 3rd August at the earliest. They must [have known] there [were] issues way before the email last night."
Jones said the flights, tickets, and accommodation would cost around £1,400 in total and that because his friends were unable to move their holiday, they were going anyway to "see if we can secure some Airbnb magic".
He showed BuzzFeed News the email he received overnight, which said that the company will refund the cost of flights and festival tickets but will not pay for accommodation, meaning many could be left out of pocket.
Other ticket holders complained the company had been slow to respond to all queries, with emails and calls going unanswered long before the power cut yesterday.
Some who spoke to BuzzFeed News said they had previously considered cancelling over concerns over the organisation of the event, including frequent lineup changes and no response to email queries about their bookings.
"There is no way I will ever recommend this to anyone else, ever," said one person who preferred not to give their name.
"The lineup for events has changed without warning, the transfers and boats to the island have been cancelled and rescheduled at times which don't appear to fit with anyone's schedule... It's just a disaster."
Another said: "Overall it's been chaotic. There's no one answering the phones or emails in any kind of timely fashion. ... I could see quickly they have underestimated the logistics involved in this."
One woman, due to travel from Brazil, said she had struggled to confirm her booking and had been trying repeatedly for four days to get a response from the sales team. She called the festival staff "incompetent".
A spokesperson for Obonjan acknowledged the company had been overwhelmed and apologised for delays in responding to guests in the runup to the festival. She said the decision to postpone was "extremely disappointing" and "heartbreaking".
"The team is working tirelessly to resolve these operational issues to open as soon as possible and, in the meantime, doing everything possible to look after those who have been affected to help with alternative arrangements, refunds and/or reinstating their trips to later on in the season," she said.
BuzzFeed News understands 160 customers will be affected by the late opening of the festival, which has a maximum daily capacity of 500. This is because, the spokesperson said, many of the tickets had been given to friends, family, and supporters for the launch.
Among the consortium of event organisers is UK company Sound Channel, the promoter behind Unknown Festival in Croatia.