Helios Spa & Resort Hotel

To sum it up the Helios hotel should be no way near rated a 4 star, it should be at the most just a 3 star.
The hotels overall quality and cleanliness just wasn't up to scratch. The hotel looks dated, dull and the facilities were pretty basic (it does not reflect their website)
In addition to the fact that this hotel should only be rated a 3 star, our room was very dirty: marks all over the walls which what looked to be dried blood and snot. Also, after turning over my bed cover sheet I found a patch of dried sick!
The balcony was covered in bird droppings and had sand and dust all over the tiles.
Our holiday cost just over £800 and I really wish we had spent our money somewhere else.

10 readers found this review helpful

Having just returned from a week at Helios Spa and Resort, I thought it would be useful to counter some of the hugely over the top criticisms on this page. I went with my wife and two small children and we all had a lovely time at this very clean, facility-rich hotel. We went all-inclusive and yes, the food was pretty boring, but that's what happens when you go all-inclusive. To break up the meals, we travelled into town a few times for either our lunch or our dinner. I appreciate that defeats the object but it's cheap enough to do that there. Getting to and from town with a pushchair is a challenge (it's down and then back up 120 concrete steps) so we got cabs back to the hotel (10 levs, £5). The pools are lovely and clean and the staff were very friendly. Our children were made such a fuss of by staff and the animation team were fantastic. Forget what you read further down about some of the shows being inappropriate. That may have been the case a few years ago but it certainly isn't now. Golden Sands itself is trying too hard to be Faliraki. There's lots of 'Sky Sports shown here' signs and ludicrously generous drinks promotions. But in among it all are some really good restaurants and cocktail bars. I wouldn't hesitate to return to this hotel and this resort - some of the criticisms on this site are a good few years out of date.

1 reader found this review helpful

I think the best thing about going to this hotel was the people who i met, other 10 people we made friends. I didnt like the smell in the room, the food was cold and staff were to rude, you ask something and they just look at you. I was sick half of the holiday. we might come back next year to bulgaria but sorry i did like this one, only thing is that the staff and the food.

2 readers found this review helpful

Where do I start!!! I've never been so badly treated at a Hotel in all my life...Paid for a 2 week holiday here for my 10 year old daughter & myself. Arrived just before midnight on Monday 6th - left Friday 10th (this being the earliest flights I could get home at a reasonable price considering I couldnt transfer my flights, so it cost me another £680 just to get home!! Firstly got totally ripped off by the taxi ride from the airport 80 lev! then we arrived and there was 2 reception staff & a porter...the hotel was like something out of 'The Shining'...now don't get me wrong - the room was ok, well apart from nearly getting knocked out from the shower head that was broke & popped off at full speed! Went down for breakfast, which was proper disgusting, cold & just utterly weird food, which also gave u a horrid stomach ache. Anyway decided we'd head out down the promenade, down the million stairs....it was completed deserted!!! just me & my daughter and about 40 stray dogs (literally).... I felt we were in the making of 28 days later Bulgaria style....not 1 shop/pub open or person in sight...I feel we should have been warned from the start that the season had not started at all!!!! no waterparks open nothing. In the 3 full days spent here we spent £180 in taxi fares!!! taxis provided by Helios (their own taxis) This being as there was nowhere to get food, so we had to pay £40 to get to the nearest shopping mall, this we had to do everyday as being as we were B&B...& even when I offered to pay for us to eat at the hotel for lunch or dinner - the staff said it was not possible!! The staff were very clear english when they wanted to be but when you asked for help they were completely ignorant & downright rude. Even in the shopping mall - we never got any change, they were so arrogant..I will never come back here & will make sure I tell everyone I know what a complete disgrace we have encountered...They need proper training in manners if they want tourism in this area. We were left to starve on crisps & coke - which also set us back at around £11 from the lobby bar. Totally disgusted...& certainly not anywhere near 4 or 5*. I physically could not recommend anything about this holiday as it will certainly go down as the Holiday from Hell, couldn't wait to get home.

We stayed in the 3* (no choice when we booked online). Rooms were OK although cock-up with booking when we arrived which we had to be very assertive about getting sorted. Restaurant was ordinary and should be renamed from Gourmet to something more fitting. Confusion about where you can get all inclusive drinks. Definite class divide between 3*, 4* and 5* which is perpetuated by the rude rep. All inclusive is more like full board with a few free drinks. Staff were nice though, especially reception and poolside bar. Entertainment was wholly inappropriate. One evening the show had kiddies sitting very close to the stage and the animation team acted out sex below a sheet complete with orgasm noises and a sexy dance with 3 girls in short dresses opening their legs wide in front of the kiddies. The sketches seems to be about making fun of the tourists (their customers). My 9-year old son was concerned that a couple of tourists wanted to take his photo. When I mentioned this to the rep she said "perhaps the hotel are doing photos for a brochure" and brushed it off. Hope it was innocent -you just can't take risks nowadays.

All inclusive? Never again. The only soft drinks allowed are Pepsi cola (only in restaurant everywhere else is just cheap poor tasting cola), cheap fizzy orange, cheap fizzy lemon and lime, water. The only alcoholic drinks are local vodka, rum, whiskey, gin. All served with cheap soft drinks all of which taste vile. 3* bar on ground floor,4* & 5* bars are on 5th floor. Unfortunately it doesn't matter which star you are, the drinks are the same. Food does get better if you are 5*. However if you are all inclusive there are only a few biscuits available between meals. If you purchase drinks then you do get a far better quality. Rep doesn't want to know, she is well practised at given the answers learnt in training. If not all inclusive its ok, room cleanish. Usually a bit of a problem getting it cleaned or bedding changed during stay though. Reception staff are ok but others are quite rude. However reasonably close to beach and the pools are great.

just returned from Helios Spa (16th aug 08) on an all inc basis. Stayed in the 4* part of the hotel, room was of a very good standard (maid in every day). The food was varied but sometimes not overly hot. The hotel was generally very clean and the staff were o.k towards us. Only real downside was the all inclusive drinks menu which did not include cocktails which we have always had elsewhere on AI. People staying in the so called 3* were complaining constantly about their rooms and food, after seeing their rooms for myself i can hardly blame them. please dont go here on 3* basis as this is a 1*at best. Daytime activities included football, volleyball, water polo and darts. Evening entertainment was mostly staff and audience participation with only a couple of outside acts.
Hotel location was spot on, with pubs,clubs,beach and shops nearby. Would go back to this hotel but only on 4 or 5* basis. Overall had a great time despite reading varied reviews.

Balanced view here
Hotel Helios was poor overall ,Food was absolutely awful for British people ,Complete basic continental fayre ,nothing for my 12 year old daughter to eat ,friends we met felt that going All inclusive was an absolute joke as the food was the same and basic with it ,they had to eat out on regular basis
The room were in a state of falling apart ,only got bedding changed evrey 3 days ,typical stunt of squeezing 3 of us into a room designed for 2 although we paid adult price for 12 year old ,passageways to rooms were dark ,in fairness after complaining we got a nicer room with aircon ,but had to pay for the aircon per person and not per room !
It appears that if you are going insist that you go in the Spa part of the complex & not the 3 star part of the complex ,the room looked nicer and the rumours were on that the menu served in the Spa on all Inc ,were served in the Hotel on all inc the following day ,Meaning all the best food had been picked through ,Mind that was all rumour ,lots more to moan about if i could be bothered ,Resorts beach was great ,resort itself inc restaurants were poor and you got badly hassled everywhere you went ,you will remember Muppets bar long after you return ,restaurnat prices were on a par with UK prices but quality not as good as UK ,Yes as blokes you meet all the local good time girls who openly ask for business as you walk past
Overall the fantastic weather and beaches made the holiday but the People have a lot to learn ,you feel as though everybody is trying to rip you off ,The rep for balkans was OK but you felt as though she was battling a tide of complaints
Met some great people there but had hoped to enjoy Bulgaria more ,Would we go back ? possibly
If going to Bulgaria and you want conditions similar to Spain and the Balearics then you will be disappointed ,Bulgaria has a long way to catch up ,the Bonus of it being cheaper has also gone so side by side the Bulgaria experience is not as good as the spanish one

We stayed here for 1 week.
We arrived at this hotel at 2am in the morning. We had just a roll on the plane at 6pm.
We arrived at the airport about 11pm. We sat on a coach for about 2 hours, while taking others to their hotels, never again. When we finally arrived at the hotel at 2am in the morning no food or anything was laid on for us. Which was absolutely disgusted?
This hotel is not suitable for diabetics or vegetarians.
My husband is diabetic and the only drink he could have all inclusive was water. Diet or light coke or other fizzy drinks, even asked for a hot chocolate and that you had to pay for which didn`t come under all inclusive had to pay which we dicided not too as we paid for all inclusive. The food was not all that great either, but eatable.
Found the hotel to be nice. Room was great.
Paid for sea view got a room on the main floor no sea view as trees were in the way.
Hotel offered us the next day a 6th floor room we said no thank you didn`t want a high floor.
Hotel was spotless clean.
This hotel should have never been an all inclusive as they have no idea what that means.
This hotel is ideal for half board or B&B only.
Anyone that is diabetic and go all inclusive don`t bother.

I might only be 14 years old but I have very strong opinions over this hotel, I thought the staff were so rude there was only a few who were polite such as the bar staff and waitresses.
The shower was full of grime and the carpets were filthy, there was nothing for the younger ones to do such as myself. There was a few dangerous positions in the hotel which were not safe, my 3 year old nephew fell in a gap on the stairs and smashed all the front of his mouth.
So I would not recommend this for younger ones but its fine for Germans who were taking over the hotel which I was not happy with because there behaviour was a disgrace and so rude!