This was the third hotel on our tour and we stayed here for 2 nights. The ‘official’ rating is 5 stars, but we thought it barely deserved 3! Our room on the 9th floor looked like it was stuck in a 1960’s timewarp – orange furniture, bed spreads and lamps, no ceiling lights and a bidet that came out of the side of the bath. We had dinner in the Evredica restaurant on the first night – which is reached by what can only be compared to a Metro station tunnel and which wouldn’t look out of place as an Austin Powers film set. The food and the service were both poor. The Four Seasons restaurant, on the other hand, was lovely and the food and service were impeccable. Both meals were included in our tour so I don’t know what the difference in price was. Breakfast was rather chaotic with food running out and tables not being cleared. The service at the lobby bar was good, but it wasn’t always open, whereas the staff at the Café Vienna were quite rude and you couldn’t buy wine by the glass, or get a cup of normal (black) tea, despite the fact that ‘imported tea’ was on the menu. The one saving grace was the bowling alley, where we had two games of bowling for 10 lev each (less than £4) – definitely our saviour from boredom on a wet afternoon. You had to pay to use the swimming pool and swimming hats were compulsory so we didn’t use it. Our view was that the 5 star rating must be based on the flashy looking reception area; the reviewers obviously didn’t see the rooms we stayed in and had better service from the staff. Allegedly this is the best hotel in Plovdiv though – I’d hate to see what the rest are like!

Dear All, I booked the hotel - the description was quite ok: swimming pool, massage etc. When I arrived the hotel looks nice from the outside: it is renovated to look modern, but still you can see this touch of comunism. Anyway, the lobby looks quite impressive, so my first steps went to reception. First they could not find my reservation. It was quite weird - I was booking it through the Accor website and this is also Accor hotel. When I showed them my printed reservation, they surprisingly found it. Receptionist said that it will cost me EUR 90. I refused, as I had guaranteed reservation from the website for EUR 63, which as for 5* hotel would be fantastic deal, but please keep in mind that it is Bulgaria, so the hotels are not that expensive. Anyway, receptionist had to consult it with the manager - which did not even want to show up and talk to me. Finally (45 mins. & call to Accor) all was ok. The rooms are quite large with furniture remembering the comunism time, but I could stand with that. It became worse when I opened the bathroom - it was not renovated for a long time (at least 20 years i would say) and it looked much more worn out than old Ibis hotels in France. Except being old, the bathroom was also not very clean. Immediately I went to the reception - after waiting over 10 minutes for the lift, I decided to use personnel lifts (as per sheet of paper sticked to the elevator doors). As you can imagine staff lifts were ***, but they were appearing almost immediately and I was using them until end of my stay in the hotel. Anyway, there was no other, renovated rooms free officially (although receptionist told me that they still have some left, but for friends of management). I spent long time talking, but no efforts. I would like to point that I have Accor Favourite Guest Card, so usually I get upgraded room in most Accor hotels, but not on 5* in Bulgaria. As I said I did not get any better room, but I was promised to get one the next day - and I got it indeed. I must say that the renovated room was like regular, nice hotel room with clean, new bathroom, where I felt comfy at last. Why I did not give "Terrible" rate? 1. there is a lot of amenities in the hotel, including great food in Four Seasons Restaurant 2. minibar is very reasonable - when I saw the prices, I did not even want to get out to buy anything from the shops in front of the hotel 3. internet is free, although sometimes you are connected to the hot spot, but it does not give you internet access - all you have to do is wait I will also contact Accor and send them the pictures from their 5* hotel - complete tragedy. To sum up: if you get the renovated room, you will be really satisfied.

Good hotel with all the amenities. Rooms air conditioned and well equipped with mini-bar and television. Only two English langauge channels. Breakfast average. Located within a short walk from the pedestrian only areas with shops and restaurants. Inexpensive meals and drinks.