Hotel Sveta Elena

We stayed for 9 days, a friend and I. The room was clean, and the staff were kind and always willing to help. It's a very large place with a lovely pool surrounded by nature, plus facilities like a tennis court and table tennis. The beach is a 10-minute walk away. By car, you can quickly get to interesting places such as Varna center and Golden Sands.

The pool and arcade area are nice, and the amenities are decent, though you have to pay extra for them. The rest felt bland. You're also charged extra for a room card, which a place calling itself 4 star would usually include, especially when you've paid for 2 adults in the room. The night manager tried to charge me 10 euros for parking even though it was free, and the aircon seemed like it was from the 1990's, old and noisy. People who only speak English may have a hard time here, especially checking in late. The night manager couldn't communicate in English. It's rated 4 star, but honestly I'd call it 3 star at best. The stay was somewhat pleasant, but I won't be returning. If it were rated 3 star, there'd be less to complain about.

The setting felt dead, with hardly anyone on the streets, and it looked really unsafe. The hotel is far from the beach and difficult to reach even with GPS. Nearby hotels offered evening activities for adults and kids, but this one had none. Our room had no balcony view, just the back of a nearby hotel and some trees. The AC couldn't cool the room even at the highest speed and lowest temperature, so at night it felt like we were suffocating. The service was terrible. Nobody spoke English, and the manager wouldn't talk to us, just kept gesturing for us to wait until I'd paid by Visa. I asked what facilities there were and what all-inclusive actually included, but he refused to discuss it until we paid everything up front. The staff had a very bad attitude. When I asked for the POS receipt after paying by credit card, the manager acted like he didn't know what I meant. There was only half a roll of toilet paper in the room when we arrived. Housekeeping didn't come in for 3 days, and we had to keep looking for someone to bring toilet paper and fresh towels. The food was very bad with only a few choices. Drinks were basically cola, juice, and very bad beer, and you could only get them during meal times. This has been my worst hotel experience so far.

The building is nice and the pools are excellent, but pretty much everything else was sloppy. The all-inclusive food and drink were rubbish: the coffee was like dishwater, the dishes were dirty, there weren't enough cups, and the food was tasteless and in short supply. They seemed thrifty with everything. In the afternoon, you had to chase lazy staff for ice cream and drinks. Our room wasn't cleaned every day, and we had to chase staff for toilet paper too. The site claims there's a children's play area, but it's just two plastic figures thrown in the dirt. There was no programme for tourists. I'd give this 2 stars at best for the nice building and big sunny rooms. Calling it 4 stars is a lie.