I was soon to discover, several thousand pensioners moving at the speed of continental drift. The hotel has apparently been “recently renovated”, a phrase which in this case appears to mean that someone was allowed loose with a budget smaller than the GDP of a medium-sized carrot. The architecture is of such determined ugliness that it makes some more adventurous architectural firms look positively inspired. The overall effect can best be described as “municipal regret”. The complex contains some 550 rooms, although “accommodation block” is probably more accurate than “hotel”. It now serves as a pilgrimage site for the retired populations of Bulgaria and neighbouring countries, all arriving to “take the waters”. At opening time for the spa each morning, the migration was magnificent. Imagine a tsunami wearing dressing gowns. The appliance-white aluminium joinery was a particular delight. Even the bathroom door had been fitted with double-glazed mirrored panels, suggesting that somewhere, at some point, a designer sat back proudly and thought: “Yes. This is luxury.” Everything in the bathroom was bolted down. One suspected that if the plumbing could have been chained to the wall, it would have been. Dunny paper emerged one translucent sheet at a time. Communism may have failed, but its ghost still wanders the corridors here. It peers from behind the reception desk, supervises the buffet queue, monitors the tea bags and keeps a watchful eye on the toilet paper.

Good stay

This was very disappointing. The hotel is big, but we had coincidentally booked it when others were coming. The hotel staff was rude. At first telling us we can park out front to get our bags in the room, instead after about 30 seconds while doing just that another staff member said that we cannot - since a bus with Israeli guests was arriving - this was a yearly reoccurrence according to another member. I was also appalled by the lack of proper cleaning. Bath tubs were all green in some areas, a lot of the hotel was empty and everything was far. The area nearby is better since there was a park but, overall this stay was a complete disappointment- if it weren't for the people water - this would've been a huge waste of money. Overall 2/10 stars would be the max I would give this... Avoid

The hotel in general and our room in particular was clean, refreshed and welcoming. The pool T was perfect, kids loved the water slide. There was an issue with the payment, but the staff worked out the problem and it was solved in the end. Overall an amazing 3 days there.

Good stay