Royal Castle Design & Spa

This used to be a nice hotel, but now it feels neglected. The food wasn’t fresh, nobody asked whether we wanted the room cleaned, and it was never cleaned during our five-day stay. The aqua park wasn’t operating and the pools were really dirty. It’s considered a five-star hotel, but this wasn’t a five-star experience. I don’t recommend it.

We were moved to the Royal Castle, Bulgaria after a terrible stay at the Royal Park. The food was better here, but after two days all of us came down with food poisoning. The manager was rude and arrogant when we told her, seemed to find it hilarious, and laughed at the word diarrhea. Being sick abroad in a hotel with no air conditioning was no joke. We were desperate to get home. Most advertised facilities weren’t available. The spa was basic, there were no massage therapists, and the salt bath and pool smelled like stagnant water. The rooms had no working air conditioning, though on our final night we were moved to one that had it, after being told it didn’t work in any room. That left us feeling deceived. Our room on the 8th floor at the back was a big improvement over the original one on the 3rd floor by the outside bar, where the staff played dance music until midnight, stopping every 30 seconds because the sound system was broken. Very annoying. The stairs felt extremely dangerous, with very dim lighting and every handrail loose. The corridors were dark too, with barely any working lights. Outside, the shade panels on the day beds were all ripped and useless. Bar staff didn’t clean up drinks or empty bins, so there were wasps everywhere and bins overflowed daily. Drinks were warm, and the bar kept running out of drinks and slushies. The best thing about the place was Viktor, a real asset. Everything else was a huge failure. This absolutely, 100% is not a five-star hotel. We wouldn’t stay again or recommend it.

Please don’t book Villas Premium. My fiancée and I paid for villas, but they moved us to royal castle. Some staff were nice, and the cleaner came every day to clean and change the sheets. The food was terrible. They lock the dining room doors, so in the evening you have to take a longer way to the lift. At 11 pm they shut off all the lights. The grass was so bad I felt like a snake might bite me. The pool was disgusting. During our seven days, they turned on the filters to clean it only twice. There weren’t enough staff for what the hotel claimed to offer. I felt bad for the young workers trying to earn money, because the owner surely abuses them. If you asked for a can of Coke to take to the beach, the manager had probably told staff to open everything so people couldn’t use or take it. And the bar was disgusting too, full of ants, with dirty fridges.

The sea and nature here are beautiful, which makes the rest especially disappointing. The rules around the area are confusing. On Sunday, the restaurant sign said it was open and staff invited us in, but when we tried to return today, a security guard chased us away unpleasantly. The place seems to be falling apart, and it feels like extra effort is being made to make tourists unwelcome.