Grand Arena Hotel

We Stayed at the Kempinski Grand Arena for one week from the 30th Dec 2006 - 7th Jan 2007 and had an absolutely amazing time!! We were a group of 11 and the hotel in our opinion was... Faultless! The staff were always friendly and helpful. The rooms and bathroom facilities were always spotless... one of the cleanest hotels we have visited. Decor - cosy, warm, modern with a touch of the traditional 'log-cabin' feel. The Spa 'Wellness Centre' was just what we needed after a day of skiing - indoor and outdoor pools, number of saunas, steam rooms, snow room, gym, indoor and outdoor jacuzzi/ hot tub all in excellent condition. Generally speaking the hotel facilities definitely deserve their 5 star rating alone. The food was plentiful and to a high standard. Always something for everyone at the buffets and the hotel's Italian Restaurant 'Coma Prima' was excellent. New Years Eve was made special with a variety of entertainment, from singers to comedy acts to magicians for the children, which even the adults enjoyed! Followed by a beautiful firework display. In addition, there was a disco in the lobby playing all the latest in rnb, hip-hop, salsa, house, swing and jazz until the early hours of the morning! Atmosphere was electric! We didn't even feel the need to leave the hotel on the normal evenings - the lounge was so comfortable and cosy (lovely log-fire) serving drinks and desserts til late. Even though the hotel is so classy, the general atmosphere/ feel of the hotel was so relaxed; we always felt comfortable, even to lounge around in our kempinski slippers which we were all provided with! Found the Ski- Room So handy!!! Very organised. And the hotel is situated so close to the gondola and the Blue 'Bansko' run which takes you from the mountains right into Bansko meant that we could literally ski into our hotel's ski room! A most scenic route to say the least.. leading into what we felt was complete luxury! Definitely deserving of its 5 star rating we have all agreed that the Kempinski Hotel is one worth re-visiting and Bansko as a ski resort has much to offer for the intermediate-advanced Skiier with some beautiful scenery and a variety of runs (should the weather allow!!). I agree the gondola queing system could do with some work, along with the Balkan Holidays Ski-Hire Kiosks if the resort is to handle and maintain the growing in-flux of tourists and its growing popularity. However I must add that for a new resort, the mountains were brilliantly equipped with 50 snow cannons which restored the 'Bansko' run for us to enjoy and many of the other slopes which might not have otherwise been available due to Europe's lack of snow this year! All in All - A fanstastic Ski break!

To put the review into context let me explain about the local area as at Jan 2007 and then the hotel where I stayed: Bansko resembles a "building site up in the hills" atmosphere at the moment due to all the construction work with various apartment and condo complexes being built....and despite the UNESCO designation the old village wasn't really that pictureseque in my opinion. In Bansko village there are lots of estate agent shops all selling fifty grand get rich quick apartments which kind of kills off the unique ski village vibe which Bansko is seeking. There are numerous ski equipment hire shops peddling their wares at top dollar close to the Gondola so no fear if you loose a glove or ski pole on the chair lifts or forget to bring a jumper. Just dont lose the credit card !! Nightlife in the village is pretty basic at best. In my opinion the local restuarant quality is poor. And not particultaly cheap - it is cheaper to eat in Sofia than Bansko. But.... Staying at the Grand Arena Hotel was a welcome relief when compared to the lacklustre village. The cuisine in the hotel was top notch, the restuarants were comfortable and staff really friendly - speaking good English too ! There is a comprehensive breakfast buffet with a plentiful array of options, both hot and cold, and fresh cakes and pastries. My favourite restauant for dinner was the Italian, serving both traditional pasta dishes plus creative fish and meat dishes. Wine list is comprehensive with good international varieties and vintages. The main dining room (also used for breakfast and buffet lunch) buffet dinner had a good selection of four main hot dishes, plus salads and soup. Although not a particularly intimate venue for a for couples it caters for larger lively groups well. The hotel has a Sushi bar and a separate pizza pub in the hotel complex although I did not dine in either during my stay. A top culinary tip : there are some sinful chocolate desserts only available in the sumptuous lobby bar area which aren't sold in the restaurants. Hotel accomodation : The room in which I stayed was a standard double, but had spacious wardrobe space and also benefitted from a large balcony with chairs and a table. If visiting in the summer months this would be a nice place to have room service breakfast served al fresco to breathe in the fresh moutain air. In the bedroom we had a comfy king sized double bed, a Samsung LCD flatscreen TV and a large modern bathroom with separate tub and a powerful shower unit, everything brighly lit and sparkling clean. The hotel also has an excellent storage room for ski boots and equipment and it really is a one minute stagger in ski boots from the hotel to the gondola lifts to access the slopes. The Spa. It is the jewel in the hotel's crown. Beautifully designed, with a good sized indoor pool and jacuzzi, a heated outdoor pool plus an outdoor hot tub for 4 persons. Not forgetting two steam rooms, two saunas, hotbeds, and an ice room plus some funky showers that spray you in a refreshing cool mist after sweating it out in the sauna !! Top tip when visiting this establishment : If visiting in the winter season, bring light (summer) clothes to wear in the hotel. It is very warm and somewhat stuffy at times, so lightweight clothing (T shirts and jeans) is recommended when staying in the hotel to stay comfortable. We had to sleep with the balcony door open at night as the room got quite stuffy. Overall, a brilliant hotel to come back to after a long day on the piste, and luxurious enough to pamper yourself in if you want to have some time out away from the snow action. Great food and great bars to relax in apres ski ! Enjoy.....

We stayed here for a week's skiing in March 06 and could not fault the hotel. The rooms were spacious, clean and in excellent decorative order and the room we stayed in had a lovely view of the mountains. We opted for half board and found breakfast and dinner to be excellent, especially by Bulgarian standards. With the half board option you could choose either the set menu or the a la carte. The ski storage room was lovely with a designated space according to your room number. There was also a member of staff on hand to help with your skis and boots, very much appreciated at the end of a hard day's skiing. The pool and spa areas were superb. The location couldn't be better for access to the slopes - it was directly opposite the gondola. However a good tip is to arrive either very early or later in the morning as the queues for the gondola were quite horrific at around opening time. Also if you can stretch to it, have a private transfer from the airport as the roads in Bulgaria once you get off the motorways are absolutely terrible. The coach took forever as it had to drive around the many potholes in the road, some of which were almost as wide as the whole road itself.

The Kempinski in Bansko really is a gem, a luxury hotel with great service and above average food for the region. The hotel is spotless and the mix of German and Bulgarian staff were very courteous and helpful. Given, there is a lot of building work going on in the surrounding area which is a little bit off putting but this will all be stopping in the near future as the local mayor has put a limit on the amount of new properties that can be built. The infrastructure is getting better all the time and the hotel is literally right next to the main ski gondola which is a big bonus when walking in ski/snowboarding gear. In my opinion this will be one of Europes top hotel/resort combinations in the very near future. Go see for yourself!

We stayed in this hotel for a few days in July 2006 and was part of trip through Bulgaria that we organised ourselves. The hotel gave us a great deal because it was basically empty: There were more staff than guests. Prices are much more expensive during the winter season. I had the impression that the management of the hotel was mixed German-Bulgarian (which was a positve element in keeping up the standards of this hotel). It opened in the Fall of 2006 and was brand new. There were two swimming pools (inside and outside - empty) and a my wife told me that the beauty centre was great. Breakfast was excellent (thanks to the Food and Beverage manager who kept a close eye on everything). The restaurant was average-good (italian food) but was overpriced for what it offered so where the drinks. A good alternative is to walk to the centre of Bansko where there is a great choice of "mehana's" or taverna's serving local food in a typical atmosphere and for 1/4 of the price. The hotel is situated outside the town of Bansko in a new development. The town of Bansko is worth visiting. It is not a summer resort but is being developed for winter tourism (ski). The construction works (big apartment blocs - hotels ) that are going on all around town have basically destroyed the "atmosphere" in this once nice town. The place became just dreadful and tourist guides need to be updated. There is no infrastructure (roads, street lighting, etc.). This hotel is like an island in an ugly environment. We spend most of the time relaxing near the pool (inside and outside) and visited the old town. However, I sincerely have some doubts if I would like to spend my skiing holdidays in that place.

Fanstastic hotel with great service and great views. STaff were very friendly - hotel was very quiet and there seemed to be more staff than guests! Spa area and pool absolutely top notch.

This hotel offers everything you'd expect from a 5star hotel with fantastic spa facilities, very friendly staff and excellent room standards. It is on the pricey side especially when Bulgaria is the "cheap alternative" but it does show and set the standards that the resort aims to obtain. Sat right on the main ski lift, you could not wish for a better position.

The Kempinski is a superbly located hotel. We stayed for 4 nights and were very impressed by the facilities. Rooms are excellent and clean. Some staff need some customer care training but that was about the only down side. Food was excellent but does not compare in price to food and drink offered only a short distance away where you can get excellent value. Lifts for queues were horrendous and this needs to be improved drastically as many people were pushing in and led to Queue rage. Blue runs were also very busy.

I stayed in the Kempinski Grand Arena Hotel as part of a large group of forty people. Some of our party had skied in the resort last year but had stayed in Hotels Tanne/Perin within the vicinity. They had witnessed the Grand Arena under construction and it was with excitement that it was booked for this year. One of the attractions was the ability of guests to ski down the mountain and literally straight into the hotel's ski room, where boots were taken off sore feet, placed on a drying machine and replaced by comfy snowboots and tired skiiers were spared the burden of a walk or busride with skis underarm. This also meant that the cable car depot was a stone's throw away when departing for the slopes each morning. Each and everyone of us were impressed by the hotel's grandeur, its spacious, comfortable rooms and luxurious ensuite bathrooms, within which was both a large shower cubicle and separate bath/shower. Each room had a beautiful large balcony. The hotel's 'Wellness Centre' was well utilised by many of us. Whether we took advantage of the reasonably priced massages (an extensive menu of treatments was available), whether it was to swim in the beautiful indoor pool or outdoor heated pool, or whether we just chilled out in the plethora of sauna rooms, aromatherapy steam rooms or a favourite of some of us, the snow room, these facilities were certainly a welcome treat after a tiring day on piste or when the lure of the apres ski had got the better of us! The majority of us were very impressed by the restaurant food, both at breakfast and dinner, a pleasant surprise following pre-warnings of fatty, stodgy, cold meat dishes with not a vegetable in sight. Indeed, we found the opposite with interesting salads, soups, main dishes and desserts. Each night there was a different theme, for example thai, italian, fish and caribbean. So far so good? Why just the 3 stars? Well, with a handful of exceptions where some members of staff were extremely genuine, friendly, helpful and professional, the majority of staff overshadowed the pleasant ones with their extremely rude, abrupt and unhospitable manners. The hotel prices, in comparison to other hotels and establishments in the vicinity, were extortionate but as a matter of convenience and so that we could remain intact as a group, we often chose to spend our time and hard earned money in the lobby bar. We had numerous problems with certain staff members in relation to food and drink orders and their huffing and puffing and generally conveying to us how much we were putting them out. By the end, we felt awkward asking for things in fear of the cold reception we would get. Our group consisted of a variety of age groups, the majority of us professional people, several teenagers and a handful of children. The children played together well and mixed well with the adults and as someone with no children of my own, I can vouch that they were not at all disruptive or disrespectful to other guests or members of staff. However, we received complaints from the manager about the volume of the children and requests to keep them under strict control. As far as we were aware, these were directly from him and not from other guests as he was behind the reception desk when we were sitting in the lobby bar. We were told that the hotel did not wish to attract clientele such as ours. There are several confusing points here. Firstly, the hotel uses companies such as Neilson, who cater for large bookings such as ours. Skiing is very much a family activity and this fact is stated in the brochure. Secondly, there are no facilities for children in the hotel such as a games room, TV lounge or play area for younger children. Thirdly, we were baffled that they did not seem to acknowledge the large sums of money that were changing hands whilst we drank and ate in the bar. As far as we could see, nearly all of the other residents either went somewhere cheaper to drink or had an early night in preparation for some serious skiing the next morning. One thing that really did put a dampener on our stay there was that one of our party returned to his room where his wife was sleeping at around 3am only to find a bellboy snooping around. Following an inevitable 'exchange of words', his wife still in a state of shock and upset, the incident was reported to the management and stolen items were found stashed in a drawer in the lobby area. The management dealt with the incident extremely unprofessionally and practically denied any responsibility over the matter. Instead of treating our friends, and indeed the rest of us with an abundance of hospitality as would have been reasonable to expect (we were all very guarded and on edge following this experience), he continued to be hostile, as if it were we that had caused him and his hotel an inconvenience. I would love to award this hotel with a rating of 4 or even 5 stars but the problems we encountered really were grave enough to drop this down a good couple of notches. Overall I feel that the hotel, despite its convenience for the slopes, cleanliness, newness, grandeur, good food and gorgeous spa and pool area, lacked character, hospitality and warmth, that is apart from the stiflingly hot and uncomfortable temperature throughout the lobby, corridors and bedrooms! Whoops, there goes another black mark!!

We booked our holiday through Balkan Holidays and were told that the Kempinski was the best hotel in Bansko. I can totally agree with that. The whole experience was the full 5 stars. The hotel is brand new and this shows in every aspect. We paid extra and booked what is called a club room. For this you receive a larger room which is situated in a seperate wing with the best views. The bathroom is excellent as the pictures will show. The room also included a safe, large TV with cable channels and mini bar. The only thing the room didnt have was tea and coffee making facilities. Being a club member also allows you access to the executive lounge. Entry is allowed via your room key and as we found out on our holiday it was virtually empty at all times. The room is filled with lovely sofas and an open fire. There is also a bar where they serve complimentary hot and cold drinks and nibbles. We thought this was a nice touch. The hotel couldnt be better located for the ski lift as it is situated next to it. The hotel also has its own ski/snowboard storage which is manned throughout the day. With regards to amenities the hotel has everything including a massive indoor pool and a heated outdoor pool. There are also jacuzzis, various types of saunas and even a snow room. There is a well equipped gym and full sized table tennis. Also within the hotel is a health & well being spa. My partner had two treatments which where half the price of the UK. But be aware, the treatment was done by a male so ask for same sex if required. Overall this hotel summarises the saying, you get what you pay for.