The hotel looks great. we had a family room with the separate side room for the kids. the room was huge which was ideal for the kids, TV in the kids room had no socket to plug in an ariel so that never worked, our TV was dead when we arrived and it took 4 complaints to reception and me walking a manager up to our room to get it sorted. The air con never worked but i couldnt find anyone who had a working unit. the only english TV channel was BBC world news.
The 2 pools that are with this hotel are okay but both were freezing. The area around the pool was usually full even though the hotel was only at one third full occupancy, i would imagine that in august its a complete nightmare. The food is not brill. The buffet restaurant was always busy and i dread to think what its like in the summer, i was usually able to find something to eat but it gets a bit repetitive after a few days, its regularly stone cold and quite often the chicken was not cooked. there are 3 other restaurants
that you can use, the first is Talyana which is a BBQ style restaurant and was not bad, again watch for the raw chicken, the second is a Bulgarian style restaurant called Sozzapol (not sure of the spelling), we did not eat here but heard good reports about the food, the last one is in the 5 star hotel next door, its called Sunshine and is only open from 10pm till 11pm (great idea that) this one has waiters and you get to choose from a menu. All 3 of these need to be booked in advance, although Sunshine was always empty, probably because of the opening times. Ther are many snack bars around for hotdogs, kebabs (or as the sign says kepaps), pizza and sandwiches. the only place on the whole site for ice cream is in the back of the coffee shop. the poster in reception says that there is a baked potato stall next to reception but no one could find that. another thing i find strange is that there is nowhere to get food after 9:30. we found ourselves going accross the road to Pacos Bar, dont be put off by the fact it looks like it was built by robinson cruso, its a great place and opens from 4pm till whenever they feel like closing.
The entertainment was awful. the ampitheatre was closed for repair so the only place for entertainment was the animation hall. my kids will usuall watch any old rubbish but even they complained about it, imagine getting the krankies and the chuckle brothers together, getting them drunk and watching them, well thats the quality of the entertainment.
the kids clubs are good but only take 24 kids so the chances of getting them in is pretty slim, also some of the clubs have to be paid for (6 levs for the chocolate club for example)
The reps (first choice) are a waste of space, they are only there to sell the product (trips) all of which are VERY overpriced. The trip to Khans Tent is 89 levs per adult and kids are 54 levs, total for our family would be 286 levs, for that you get a coach to the dinner show and a 4 course set meal. if you go to Pacos Bar he will arange a taxi for you to go, entry is free and you can choose from a menu, cost of taxi 60 levs return plus food 28 levs, total of 88 levs, so we saved 198 levs on this trip alone. all the other trips can be booke else where, we found the best place to be at a travel shop called Condor, its about 100 yards past the sunny beachbus stop, all the trips are much cheaper and are exactly the same including being picked up by coach from the hotel.
the water park is quite good, drinks and food are expensive, and for god sake dont break anything, they wont let you leave till its paid for.
now this is where it gets scary....... THE GREAT ROYAL PARK TOWEL SCAM....... we had heared about a great many people being charged for missing towels when they tryed to check out, so we kept count of ours each day and if they were incorrect we would go to reception and ask for a replacement, after being accused of leaving it on the beach or by the pool we would get another one. when we were checking out 2 familys were being asked for payment for missing towels, one lady, staying with 3 kids was being told she had to pay 155 levs, she had no money left and could not pay and why should she as it was a mistake, within half an hour 6 big Russian (not Bulgarian) men arrived in reception and were following her around intimidating her. some of the male guests tryed to intervine in this and they became very theatening. the gates to the resort were locked and no one was alowed in or out. she was told that she could not leave the hotel until she had paid, this went on for about 2 hours until we had a whip round and paid it. while this was going on the reps (Alan and Vlado) did absolutly nothing to help, saying it was not their problem, after a stand up row with some of the guests Alan admitted that this was a known problem and a regular occurance. quite why first choice still use this hotel if this goes on, and why they dont warn people is beyond me.
when you book out they try and cut your wrist band off, DO NOT let them . if you are on an early in the morning flight it means that you could be sat around for over 12 hours with nothing to eat or drink. you cant even go to Pacos because they wont let you back in without a wrist band.
this hotel is classed as 4 star but is no more than a 2 at best. im just really glad i didnt go in the summer.
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Get your best letter writing head on and complain like mad to first choice. All 4 families in our party have had some money back. First choice also told me that they no longer use or promote this hotel? That was back in December last year. Obviously a lie.
We have also since learned that this hotel, in fact the whole elenite resort is owned and run by Russian gangsters/ mafia whatever you want to call them.
jm160 10.06.2008 02:05
Jesus Christ! That hotel sounds like a set out of a Carry-On film. Great review. Joe
headcase44 10.06.2008 00:31
very good review...Hotel from hell or what ? How did you remain so in control ? Thanks. J.
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