Vihren Palace Ski & Spa Resort

Initially we had booked the hotel for 5 nights. But the bad behavior of many of the staff and especially the morning receptionist (November 3-5) combined with not cleaning the room (while we had put the green card) forced us to end our stay at three days. Initially, while we had seen in the reservation that the hotel has a parking lot and upon arriving there we asked about it, they told us that it does not exist and that we should look for it in the surrounding streets. As a result, the people of the state who were responsible for the parking lots in the area locked our car in a public parking lot, telling us that we have to pay a fine of 30 leva plus 50 leva for the days we would stay to have the lock removed. While at the hotel or parking space it cost only 12 leva. The next day after we had paid all this another gentleman told us after we asked him that of course the hotel has a parking lot and we are happy to use it. The internet was a black carpet as it kept dropping and we had to alert them to reset the router but still the signal in the rooms was very poor. On the second day of our stay, I took out the tag so they could come in to clean, but in the afternoon when I returned to the room I was surprised to discover that they had simply thrown toilet paper and towels on the sofa in the room, they had only taken the trash and had made the bed without to change sheets. The bathroom as well as the rest of the room was dirty, I went down to reception and complained and they said they would do it the next day. But we, having already spoiled our mood, left the next day. The pool was nice, but with too much chlorine, which made it difficult to breathe. The only things that were worth it were the buffet when it was busy otherwise they didn't bring out they just gave you menus and the guys working in the restaurant especially a boy and a gentleman from the reception. In general, we understood that they maintain a very racist attitude towards the Greeks because they had a completely different treatment with the Bulgarians. If you want tourism, you probably also want fast-paced seminars on the subject. You ruined our vacation and we certainly do not recommend it nor will we ever do it again.

Terrible stay, very noisy, dusty and dirty corridors, smell of dampness and toilet. The walls are very thin and you can even hear the conversations of the neighbors. the walls are very thin and you can here your neighbors.

We were at the Vihren Palace for our first ski holiday as a young family of three. The hotel in general was handy and good value for money for a first family ski trip. Location of hotel was perfect. It was so close to the gondola and very near good ski hire shops/good restaurants. The Aldo supermarket is only just down the street which was super handy for us and our 5 year old daughter! It also has a really late opening time for after dinner treats/last minute bits at the end of the day! On the other hand, the hotel is was very out-dated and could do with some modernisation! Besides the huge selection of breakfast options, the food quality was very poor. Waffles were like cardboard, cereal tasted like basic cheap cereal you buy in a poundland back home, etc. I’m general, we found the food in Bulgaria not great (not just the hotel) compared to back home so maybe it’s down to what we are used to. The coffee machines were terrible. I pressed for a latte and it was just luke warm milk that came out with no coffee in it whatsoever. I tried the other options but in the end, resorted to buying cold starbuck coffee bottles from Aldo every morning to get my coffee kick! Not food related but some of the female dining staff had sneakers and ripped skinny jeans on which would be unheard of in a UK hotel. I know it’s 2023 but it’s just unprofessional and doesn’t give the hotel a good image. Hotel needs updating/modernising of rooms. The bathroom did not feel like a hotel bathroom at all. It was very basic, bath was poorly fitted and leaking. Shower was temperamental with the heating setting. Room has a kitchenette but there is no cups, plates, cutlery or even washing up liquid for the sink to wash cutlery. So why even have a kitchenette taking up the space if you can’t use it? The shelves were also dusty, which isn’t very reassuring about the hotel cleaning service. The spa area was very disappointing as this was one of the main reasons for booking Vihren Palace, for the pool and hot tub after a long days skiing! Hot tub wasn’t worth getting excited about…wasn’t very hot and could be larger/updated as the jets aren’t good and it’s quite old. The swimming pool was too cold. The area between the swimming pool and hot tub/sauna was never mopped or drained properly so it was a massive slip hazard.. even with the slippers provided on. This just made it slippier and I near keeled over countless times from walking across (even for an ex-gymnast! Ha). The streets could do with tidying up and bigger industrial bins provided as all we could see was bags of half-sealed rubbish being left on the street (nothing to do with the hotel but it just brings everything down). The hotel has a lot of potential if they can make improvements to what I have stated above. Nonetheless, we had a comfortable stay and were super close to the gondola to beat the ques and get up the mountain every morning.