Bona Vita Hotel - All Inclusive

A cozy, nice spot for a relaxed weekend with someone you fancy. The SPA is wonderful and has all the extras you could think of. Pools are clean and nice, and the saunas are some of the best. Staff are polite and ready to help whenever you need them. Definitely somewhere I'd come back to for more smiles!

The free chairlift down to the beach was the one real bright spot. The private beach only allowed one drink at a time, though, and the choices were weak local beer or juice. Getting there was a headache too: our sat nav sent us up and down badly potholed streets for over an hour before we tried searching for a nearby hotel. The place itself is old and run-down. We were put on the fifth floor despite being in our sixties, and there’s no lift; complaining got us nowhere. The bed was large and comfortable, but the room was tiny and had no air conditioning unless we paid an extra twenty euro a night. Music by the pool was loud and seemed to be whatever the barmaid had on her phone. Maybe teenagers would enjoy it, but most guests wouldn’t, I think. The photos online make the hotel look very good. In reality, I wouldn’t call it all inclusive: the weak local beer stopped at eight at night, and spirits at the pool bar were only available until seven. Once the daily allowance was gone, that was it. The gin often ran out early in the afternoon. If you’re English, there probably won’t be much for you to eat. I live in Bulgaria and do eat Bulgarian food, but meals here felt like a feeding frenzy, with guests piling food onto their plates and leaving half of it. They advertise a sauna and indoor pool, but those are only available when the weather is bad, so they’re effectively unavailable. I feel sorry for the manager, who must have to deal with these problems every day. I’m more annoyed with Booking . Com for not checking whether the hotel delivers what it promises. This was a lesson learned, and I’d never return. I wouldn’t recommend the hotel to anyone.

The receptionist was nice, but the room was much smaller than it looked in the photos, and the hotel itself didn’t match its appearance there. It was damp in the bathroom, and the shelf blocked the tap from opening fully. There were cracks in the ceiling, some lights didn’t work, and the TV was tiny. The sockets shown in the photos were dangerous and didn’t work properly. Internet cost extra, and after I paid for it the connection was rubbish. There was no air conditioning or heater, so at a temperature of 2 degrees we were freezing.

We’d happily come back. It’s a relaxing hotel with good food at a good price, and the private beach is connected to the hotel by cable car. The beds are king size, and the shower equipment is basic.