Alua Helios Bay

"Stayed the last 10 days of the season. If you book Bulgaria be aware the weather can be chilly. Our first few days were cold without sunshine. Having the My favourite club privilege made this bearable. The room with snacks and drinks only accessible by your key card was warm and comfortable and everyone was chatty. We met a lovely couple that we socialised with for the rest of the holiday. There is a section of the dining room for people with this privilege but it's uncomfortable and everyone who hadn't paid extra used it. Nobody stops them. There's also awful repetitive loud music playing at every meal. It should be background music. At breakfast it was particularly annoying. There's also a long stretch of little private nooks with sunbeds in for this privilege but again anyone used them. There wasn't a separate check in either. As the holiday was nearing its last days the hotel began closing down!! Snack bar closed and relocated. It wasn't good anyway. Cold food. A la carte all closed. Cheese and crackers disappeared from the buffet for 4 days. Crackers and nuts disappeared in the special room. The food was definitely not 'fine dining '. Fried eggs sat stone cold. Other trays of eggs heaped up and put in an oven.Bacon looked raw. Yoghurt terrible with oats or something in. Coffee not great. Spoke to more than one couple who were ill with vomiting. Choice of food wasn't great. Hard to put a meal together. The bread for toasting always stale and hard. Pizza has no tomato sauce on and is tasteless. Even the cake that looked like a teacake at breakfast times you could knock it off the table it was that hard and stale. Nothing for vegetarians, gluten free or diabetic. Badly labelled too. Entertainment is mainly live music. But we had the same saxophone player 3 times!! Not good. Unrecognisable tunes and he looked awkward. Some singers were ok. Beer in the entertainment area was awful. Cocktails all tasted the same. No ice in them. Every black Straw smelled foisty. Rooms are nice and big and the shower is hot, hairdryer ok. Everything provided in the bathroom shower gel etc. Maids didn't do much but we weren't bothered. The last 2 days in the My favourite club room because the snackbar that adjoined it had closed down, nobody was coming to check or top things up or clear dirty crockery away. No tea bags. The jars of crackers disappeared and the cheese selection was gone. The jar of nuts were gone. The room felt forgotten about. Beer supply ran out. We noticed the hotel allows dogs to stay in the rooms. That's not great. One lady was getting a sunbed for hers around the pool. 2 days before we left they started removing sunbeds. The little town of obzor was practically shut. Only a couple of shops open. No bars. No trips available. So the holiday you see advertised isn't what you get at the end of the season. The price of the holiday didn't really reflect the fact that you don't get the same experience as any other time of the year. We wouldn't return. Been to a different resort twice and it was much better than here"

"Stunning hotel, amazing food and the staff were brilliant. The outdoor pool was cold but our overall experience has been one we won’t forget."

"A great hotel, nice and friendly staff who are willing to help in anyway they can. Food is top quality (think fine dining), pool and lobby area is immaculately cleaned and the maids are very accommodating. Couldn't get closer to the beach than actually on it and the wonderful golden sands ."