White Fir Valley Complex

The only little snag was the double bed, which was made up of two separate mattresses. We’d still happily return. The hostess was so welcoming, and the rest of the staff were friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the relaxation area, the breakfasts and dinners were delicious, and our room was clean and comfortable with a fantastic view of the mountains.

The view is lovely, the bathroom is spacious, and the sheets and towels were clean and new. Housekeeping were very friendly. That said, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel. The rooms are dark and spacious with new furnishings, but you can feel drafts from the windows. All the doors and furniture were loose and held together with tape. We paid for an apartment, but another room with other guests was part of the same apartment. We had to share the hallway and balcony, had nowhere in the hallway for coat hangers, and had to keep our shoes in our room. When the children slept on the sofa, they had to close the curtains. The hotel isn’t in Bansko, either. The all inclusive offer only applied in the restaurant during certain hours, despite us paying for it. When we arrived, reception said we had only booked HB, so I had to speak with the manager, who was a local politician, to sort out the misunderstanding. Reception was terrible and seemed interested only in money, with no real care for guests. Some mafia guys were counting the money. There were no useful notices about the dishes, opening hours or pool water. The food wasn’t bad, but it was the same every day, and the restaurant was too small for all the guests. The spa looked renovated, but the pool water wasn’t clear. The Turkish bath, fitness centre and outdoor hot jacuzzi weren’t working. A very strange hotel. I definitely won’t come back.

We were six people, including two children, in an apartment of almost 100 square meters with three bedrooms. Heating was a constant problem. The radiator in one downstairs bedroom didn’t work at all, and its electric replacement only worked on the lowest setting. Upstairs, the heating technically worked but barely made the room feel warm. One day, when most of the radiators stopped working, reception offered three small fan heaters for the whole apartment, with two children and -10 outside. The apartment had cupboards and appliances, but beyond six glasses and six mugs there were no utensils. The fridge was completely empty, not even a welcome bottle of water. We wouldn’t have expected it to be free, but an empty fridge was disappointing. Water in the bathroom was often lukewarm or cold, so we kept trying to time our baths. Only the pool was working in the spa area. The gym was out of order, and there was just one masseuse for the whole hotel. Staff at reception didn’t speak English and were rude when we tried to communicate with gestures. If someone who spoke their language showed up, they ignored us and spoke to that person instead. The restaurant was too small for the number of guests, and one day we had to bring dishes to our room. The cleaners came in but didn’t collect them. Our sheets were changed once during our six day stay. We emailed for two days about something we’d forgotten and got no reply. The number on the website didn’t work, and the phone in our room didn’t work either, so we couldn’t contact reception during the stay. They don’t know how to say “good morning” in English, and it didn’t feel like they wanted to work. I hope sharing this helps others avoid the experience we had.

The shuttle to Bansko felt unsafe, with plastic chairs instead of proper seats. The pool water didn’t seem clean enough, and the outdoor jacuzzi wasn’t warm enough either. There was mold in the bathroom, and the rooms showed plenty of wear. This doesn’t feel worthy of four stars. It may once have been luxurious, but the pool, restaurant and lobby are overcrowded because there’s another building with rooms but no services. That means twice as many people using the shared areas as they can comfortably hold.