"Galin, Bilyana, and Kristiana very helpful at the reception desk.
This is a category A all inclusive my expectations were pretty low going into this.
Reception staff are helpful and friendly. As a globalist I was welcomed and upgraded to a suite on the top floor overlooking the pool and the Black Sea. I was also given a parking spot.
Room:
Note: keycard must go into the slot by the door for any power to be on in the room, this includes the mini-frig and the AC. Decent sized room with 2 balconies! Furnishings were decent kind of like IKEA basic level. Main room has a wardrobe with a small keyed safe - your laptop, kindle, and iPad will not fit in the safe. There are several shelves in the wardrobe too. No iron/ironing board. I don’t travel to iron anything but I would consider that a standard staple for any hotel. There’s one large spot to fit a large checked bag- it’s a piece of furniture not a luggage rack. There’s a 2 -seat sofa that pulls out to a bed, coffee table. Small flat screen TV. Desk and chair with cabinet where small mini-frig is located. The TV is above the desk diagonal from the sofa I would have expected the TV to be on the wall in front of the sofa.
There’s a separate AC unit and remote control in each room. AC worked excellent.
Bedroom: bed, 2 nightstands, desk, and chair. No TV in the bedroom. Bathroom is connected to the bedroom and there is a door (nice for families). Pedestal sink with 2 small glass shelves. Hair dryer and makeup mirror. Small towel bar. One towel hook by the sink. There’s literally nowhere to hang a towel that’s near the shower. A towel hook by the shower should be added. You cannot flush toilet paper in the toilet here. Shower is very small and has no door, so when you shower, the floor by the toilet gets soaked. I hate this! Water pressure was good though and there was plenty of hot water.
Balconies: each of the two balconies had 2 chairs and a small table. One had a small towel bar to dry towels or bathing suits on.
Housekeeping is good. I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing but most of the male staff around the pool for example weren’t very friendly.
Pool: large pool with connected smaller pool for kids. Lots of loungers and umbrellas. You get one towel per person using your pool towel card. There doesn’t seem to be a place to return the towels. I took mine to the front desk and they gave me a replacement towel card. There are free (public) areas of the beach and there are paid areas. There is a large public area right in front of the hotel so you can bring your own umbrella and stake out your spot there. The hotel does not include beach loungers or umbrellas for the beach. There is a swim up bar in the pool. Probably the most disappointing part is not being able to order food/beverages and eat it by the pool. You can walk over to the bar for a drink anytime but there’s zero food options at the pool.
Food/drinks:
All meals are served in the dining room buffet style. You cannot order anything à la carte. There is no room service. Dinners were decent with a lot of choices, plenty of salad/green options in addition to the meat/pasta. Dessert was ok. They could do more there, like have a set of tongs for each dessert would go along way. Add some hand sanitizer stations in the dinning room. Every food item has a sign in both Bulgarian and English. My first dinner, they were playing traditional Bulgarian music in the dinning room - loved it!
Breakfast was disappointing every day runny eggs, overcooked French toast, a few pastries. Lots of cheese options but the room is so warm, the cheese is sweating. The same breakfast options every day.
Lunch:
Disappointing - bruschetta that was mushy, plain spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce pasta, plain white rice, tilapia, Mexican chicken (not clear as to what was in this), hamburger patties (no bun), hot dogs (no buns). Salad stuff, lots of cheese, desserts. This will be the only lunch I’m eating here.
Both breakfast and lunch the dining room was entirely too warm. Is there a reason that the air conditioning isn’t being used?
Snack: leftovers from lunch literally hamburger patties, hot dogs, cheeses, and some salad stuff.
There’s a large boardwalk that goes to where the stadium is next to the Alua Helios Bay and you can walk out to the South Beach area. There’s a lovely park next to the hotel. There’s horse drawn carriage rides available there. There’s tons of restaurants and shops as you walk up the street there too.
Overall it was an ok stay, would I come back, no way. The food was the main reason I can’t stomach coming back to this property. The staff at reception are excellent but that doesn’t make up for the food. There are better places to stay."
