Rachev Hotel Residence

We held our team-building event here recently and were very happy with how it went. Everything was coordinated smoothly, and the service was thoughtful and professional throughout. The manager helped us at every step and always made us laugh, and the whole team felt welcome and looked after. We’ll definitely be back!

One of the dirtiest places I’ve ever seen. We booked two so-called apartments for 1 May 2025, at around 170 leva a night with breakfast included. One of them seemed to be a decommissioned restaurant. We checked out that same day at 10 p.m. because of a spider infestation and mold, and the property offered no alternative. They told me to pay a fee of 100 leva for both apartments because we’d used them for half a day. That wasn’t true: we booked, then went to visit Veliko Târnovo, and when we came back, insects were crawling out from everywhere. Anyway, it’s a bad place, especially for families with small children. Maybe it’s for people who want to party on Halloween with real live spiders.

Getting to the hotel in Arbanasi was difficult, and finding reception was a challenge once we arrived. There was no staff around to ask and no directions. When we eventually found the desk, nobody was there, so we waited and called the hotel number. A woman came, but didn’t apologize for leaving reception unattended. The hotel is advertised as four stars, though the service and rooms don’t meet that standard. Our room was okay, but not cleaned well. There was a whole ball of hair on the floor. We also couldn’t work out the TV and had to call someone because the system was so unintuitive. The pool was quite dirty. When I tried to open an umbrella for shade, I found a bathing suit hanging on it and gave up. Staff lounged around the pool and carried on chatting when customers asked for their bill. There’s a children’s playground, but it seemed very unsafe to me. The wooden slide is old, and the crooked boards could hurt children or the structure could fall. Breakfast was mediocre at best, so we didn’t dare try lunch or dinner. We found it best to take a taxi to Veliko Turnovo and leave the car at the hotel, but I don’t think we’ll return and can’t really recommend the place.

The garden is large and has a space for children, there’s good parking, and our room was spacious and comfortable with a nice bed. Best of all, pets are allowed, so we could bring our cat. Breakfast was okay, and even as a vegetarian I found a few choices despite the limited variety. The restaurant was full when we walked past, though we were tired and didn’t try it for dinner. The hotel was very dark, including the parking area. We arrived around 9.30 pm and nearly missed it because it’s hard to see from the road. The garden was dark too, so the next day was the first time we saw how pretty it was. Reception apologized, but there could at least be some solar lamps along the path to the rooms.