Royal Park Hotel

First impressions of this hotel were great, looks fantastic, scenery second to none. Arrived 6.30am, waited to 7.30am for restaurant to open for breakfast, cups were chipped and filthy. Bolied eggs that ran out of the shell. Decided from then to protect my young family, not to eat there.
Tried the Talyana restaurant which you have to book, watched chef's cooking frozen chicken kebabs.
Pool area filthy, hotdogs from pool bar freezing cold, whole family had to queue to get two slices of pizza each person. Day 12 of the holiday after the GMTV expose was the first time i seen staff hose the pool area, terrible smell from the drains also.
Staff were nice if you were nice to them ( money !!)
First Choice advertise the ampitheatre as the main venue on website , however this was charged at 28 levs per adult and 12 levs per child. All other venues for entertainment you had to queue for, the venues cannot cope with the amount of tourists.
The only thing all inclusive aside from disgusting food was the booze.
First Choice reps were uninterested and very defensive about the complaints regarding food, denied that there was an issue with people being ill due to this. Hoever they were quick to remind you to fill in review form on the plane home to ensure they have their jobs for next year,
I felt ripped off, and i will never book another holiday through First Choice again.

Well, where do I start. First of all I would like to say that myself and my family have never been so afraid in all of our lives in this resort. After being in a room for three nights and felt has though we were sleeping in a bus station with all the fumes coming from the buses into our room, this was every night and our children could not sleep. My husband went to reception to request a change of room, reception staff totally ignored him, they then called security and security started pinching and pushing him slaped him around the head, tried to pinch his mobile phone off him because he started recording the incident. This all happened in front of my 2 children. Other guests tried to phone the emergency line for help but could not get through. A rep finaly came, for what use I do not no. This incident happened at reception area and was on CCTV which I later requested to see which was very distressing for myself and husband you could cearly see my husband being pushed around, but bulgarian rep was dismissing it, they tied to blame my husband. Reps totally useless, no support over incident. They lied on complaint form Food was discusting, room was dirty, bare wires coming from electric points. Pool was dirty, but most of all all Bulgarian staff are so rude. There is alot of pinching going on with the hotel staff. This hotel should be shut down, take my advice do not go to the Royal Park. Down graded from 4 star to 3 star, it should be graded 1 star. I could go on and on really. It is not safe there if thigs like this can happen, it is in thn hands of my solicitor for further action.

We've just returned from this hotel (Aug 30th). After reading the reviews i decided to go with an open mind. There were 10 of us ranging from 3 - 50yrs.
I have to say i was very impressed with it. The hotel was superb. The rooms were cleaned every day and there were always cleaning staff around in and outside 24 hours. We had no problems regarding towels. Yes we queued for food but hey we queue all the time in this country! I was ashamed to be a brit sometimes. If you have to have chips etc then you'd best stay in Britain!! The food was repetitive but it was always well cooked and hot. The other thing that appalled me was the waste that people left on their tables. Food piled high on plates left uneaten or was pure greed!! Go to the Barbecue to eat that was lovely. Yes there were wasps around but what do you expect? Not alot can be done about them despite the staff trying.
The drinks were fine and as below they did go mad when pouring spirits. I did end up having half pints of Vodka with 2 glasses of lemon to go with it!!
The water park was good fun, despite having to pay for a sunbed/parasol. Still a small price to pay for fun! At least you didn't have to get up early to bag a sunbed by the pool!! The pool was cleaned everynight but there was lots of sand around as people didn't bother to wash the sand off as they came off the beach at a shower area supplied next to the pool for that purpose.
We ventured in to Sunny Beach a couple of evenings on the bus. This is something!! Other tourists just don't know how to queue and it's a case of just piling on the bus. This is perhaps something the hotel should think about and maybe have their own designated transport.
My great niece had great fun in the kids club and we made our own entertainment. Perhaps there could have been more but what they did was good and those reps certainly work long hours!
We had a great relaxing holiday and would consider returning. I really wonder sometimes what people expect when they go away. If you're not one for trying foreign food then stay at home and go to McDonalds or KFC!! After all we are guests in their country and they are trying really hard to make us welcome!

Having read the reviews and bad press before travelling we were very apprehensive and tried for 5 days to change to an alternative hotel without success. I have never written a review before but feel that people still due to travel to this hotel should hear an honest and fair review.
None of our party were ill from the food, yes it was slightly repetitive and more like a canteen than a restaurant but we did not go on holiday to sit in a restaurant all evening with our children. Yes you do have to queue for food if you arrive when it first opens but the food was always hot. The fruit tends to run out very quickly but this is mainly due to the number of greedy people that take piles of it back to their table only to then leave it! Take a walk over to Paco's for a fantastic Sunday dinner, have to say this was the best meal I had in the fortnight and the staff there are so friendly.
The pool was cleaned every morning although it did tend to look dirty by the end of the day, but then what do you expect when parents allow their children to wash off the sand from the beach in the pool! The water in the pool did feel cold but when you have been sitting in the sun for an hour of course the water will feel cold!
Wasps....these were a problem around the pool, but not really the hotels fault. The maids were always cleaning and sweeping up dirty cups etc. In two weeks only two were stung once in our party of five.
Towel scam....we checked out without a problem and did not hear of any others that had been accused of stealng towels.
Our room was clean and very spacious, the maid tidied and changed our towels every day and we had clean bed sheets every other day. A 2-3 lev tip each day went a long way, the maid even put a piece of folded card into the key slot that keeps the air con working so that our room was cool when we returned at the end of each day.
We had one power cut whilst we were there, and although very frightening trying to find children in the dark it only lasted 5 minutes, take a torch out with you in the eveing just in case!
Entertainment, typical holiday entertainement. The reps try their hardest to get everyone involved with the quizzes and dancing. Jamie is great to watch, especially when he dances to Cartoon Heroes....definitely his favourite!!
Drinks, these were certainly not watered down! My only complaint would be that the bar staff need to learn what STOP means, one measure of vodka will see you through the night, especially when they pour it into a pint glass, something that tends to happen when they run out of smaller glasses!
All that is left to say is to go and enjoy your holiday...we certainly did!

i have just poped on to see if any thing had changed from when we were at the royal park. i think its good that some of you had a really good time with no problems . how ever we did stay at this hotel, and we did have to pay for towels. i have the proof wish i could put it on here but dont know how to. i have been intouch with first choice twice lol sent them emails and a letter asking for our money back. but they say they didn't recive an email, so i have sent them a new set, a letter, a writen stayment from a rep and the bill we had to pay all signed. if it wasn't for the towels then yes we would of probberly had a good holiday too. they did make a sex movie it was going on when we were there, only thing was we didnt know it was a sex film till we come home and read the reviews. all our problems we had all were based on towels. my mate stayed at the same hotel same time too she was on a different floor and she had a great time. she couldn't beleave we had to pay for towels. we even had our passports, but the reps said that they would come looking for us if we left the hotel, and they wouldn't let us get on the bus if we didn't pay up.

don't let all the bad comments dampen u lookin 4ward 2ur hol. i was worried b4 i went with my partner and 2 children but if u expect the worse it can only get better. it was the perfect hol for us the first week and loved it but it did start getin very busy the second wk and glad we were going home when we did. second wk there was queing in main canteen restraunt all the time,portion sizes at the poolside snack bar went down so i can see where ppl are coming from with there comments.all ov which are true but most greatly exagerated!! at the end ov the day there still a poor country and our standards are far 2 high when we go away to what we are use to. how can ppl enjoy there hol if there only gona moan all the time.no wonder brits have a bad name!! if the kids love it then ur getin a break as there bein good.u got the sun,free drinks and maybe food aint 100% but it aint gona kill u.you paid 4 it so enjoy it b4 it over and ur bk in borin england.
watchin dolphins in the sea is amazin,a la cart restraunt is lovely and it that cheap on bus go to sunny beach or nessebar is beautiful i loved it there!! if there a group get a taxi and split it and always haggle in sunny beach you can get it cheaper!!
overall it was gr8 it now august and ma son still talkin about it,would i go again?? yes but in a few yrs when elinite bit more developed but id never stay in sunny beach to crowded 4 me.

meals were dreadful long queues for food most times the end of the queue was a plate chips or pasta the rest of trays were normally cold or unappealing !can' describe how bad it was!!
cutlery cups glasses salt tables hard to find at times. ala-carte restaurants always booked 12th in queue one day and still full.there at 9.15am for 10am opening to book table
3 out of 5 of us ill and we were very carefull.it cost us 6 days of a 14 day holiday!
Most people we meet were ill or new someone who had been ill . Most talk was about poor food and who was sick!Every one who left to leave for home seemed happier than those staying
Hotel staff were ok and chambermaid 10/10 restaurant staff did there best were over run by the volume of holiday makers hotel seemed to have a 1000 guests and catering facility for 100 if you know what i mean.
The reps job seemed to involve defending the catering and to deny any illness
who ever rated the hotel 4* went there along time ago its a 3* at best and catering possible 1* but at a push
we tried to swap hotels after the bad press but were told £2000 to do so have since read 1st choice now letting people change for free ! would take up the offer if your going
pool was also very cold water park dirty at times crazy golf also rubbish could go on and on Perfect hotel if you enjoy a queue and not sure what its for or are on a diet.

Having been basically terrified by previous reviews about the Royal Park and after numerous emails back and forth to First Choice, it was with great trepidation that myself, my wife and three boys (along with another party of 5 family members) traveled to this hotel on August 4th.
Firstly let me reassure those who are still to travel. The adverse reports which create the pre-holiday misery, whilst not entirely inaccurate, are greatly exaggerated. I can hopefully provide a fair and balanced review of this accommodation and leave those reading it with a sense of reassurance rather than of dread. I’ll split my review into sectors which I think will cover all aspects that those still yet to travel will wish to know about. So; let’s get started……..
The Hotel. Part of the Bulgarian owned “Victoria Group” and one of three hotels within the vast Elenite complex. Your all inclusive wrist band won’t work in any of the other 2 hotels. Situated on a beautiful white sandy beach. The hotel is spotless and is cleaned 24/7. There are 8 floors, although guests are not normally allocated top floor rooms – these seem to be staff accommodation. Smoking is permitted in public areas – indoor and out. We had one power cut whilst there which lasted about 2 minutes. The queue for the lifts is exasperating at busy times and as we were only on the 3rd floor we didn’t use them much.
Tip – The hotel provides a currency exchange at their reception desk. Straight £notes incur no commission but Maestro/Visa/MasterCard incur a whopping 10% service charge; so if you need to withdraw cash then try and tie it in to a visit to Sunny Beach and use one of the may cash points situated there.
Rooms. We had a family suite which was essentially 2 rooms within one. Extremely spacious and come with an unstocked mini fridge. Only one wardrobe with 4 hangers was provided (not even a chest of drawers were in the room) for the storage of 2 weeks worth of clothes for 5 people. The air conditioning worked but was pretty much ineffective and needs to be on for a good half hour before you noticed any drop in room temperature. The bathroom is spacious if a little worn around the edges and the shower is incredibly powerful. The rooms are cleaned daily and the sheets and towels changed twice a week. We had 2 balconies with wonderful sea views. Each balcony is kitted with a table a 2 chairs. Due to a pump breakdown we endured our last 2 days at the hotel without hot water. We didn’t suffer from the towel scam, nor did we hear any reports from others being “victims.”
Hint :- I gave our maid a 20 lev tip on day 3 and we seemed to receive a much better service after that…..
Tip: - Your air conditioning is operated by a credit card sized key fob which you need to take with you when you leave the room. To keep your air-con operating whist you’re out of the room take something like a Tesco clubcard and leave that in the slot when you’re out – you’ll then come back to a nicely refreshed room…..
The Restaurant and the Food. Before traveling this was my greatest concern and no doubt will be a major concern to those about to travel as many reviews totally slate the food and the restaurant.
The restaurant itself leaves a lot to be desired. It is presented like a large self service canteen, something like you would find in Woolworths, Debenhams or BHS…. Soft drinks are from machine dispensers and there is a staffed bar for alcohol. Avoid going at opening times if you dislike queuing as you’ll be waiting for a table, crockery, condiments and your food. Don’t leave your table unattended if you’re in between courses as you’ll go back to find it’s been cleared and somebody else sat there……
So – on to the food itself. Initially we had no problems and throughout the entire two weeks none of out party of ten was ill from the food. The quality of the food was definitely not four star and only just acceptable. The choice of food was good. The breakfasts had cereals, freshly baked bread, fried food, fruits, cheeses, etc. The lunches and evening meals had excellent salad bars and a good selection of fresh veg such as garden peas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweetcorn – no issues there. However, the main issue we had was the total lack of variety in the menu. Very little changed on the menu from lunchtime to evening meal and very little changed on the menu from Sunday to Saturday. Essentially after three days you’re fed up of seeing and eating the same food. I questioned Alan the First Choice rep about this on a complaint form and his parrot fashion reply was that the food met four star standards…… My comment was that the food may well be cooked by Gordon Ramsay and meet seven star standards, but nobody wants to be presented with the same food day in – day out for a full two weeks. My wife and sister in law enjoy fish…. Over the fortnight they had a choice of greasy mackerel or fish fingers…… not exactly four star ?? So to summarise on the food…. It won’t make you ill, the choice is good, the quality is just about acceptable but the variety is boring, boring, BORING………
We ate out on 7 occasions, and it was a needed and welcome change to taste freshly prepared good food at extremely reasonable prices. Pakos bar is ideal for an evening out or try The Jupiter restaurant in Sunny Beach for a real blowout meal.
If you’re not hungry enough for a full meal then throughout the day there are pizzas, paninis, kebabs and hot dogs available along with unlimited (really good) ice cream.
There are also two restaurants which you need to book for. The open air BBQ and the a-la-carte restaurant. The quality of the food served in these eateries is only marginally better than the main restaurant but comes with waiter service. You have to book the same day for these and they don’t open for bookings until 10am. As they are so popular people actually start queuing as early as 8.30am to secure their places…… so get there early and take a book if you want to join the queue…..
The Pool.
Yes, it’s cold – but swim around for a minute or two and you’ll soon warm up. Get your towels on your beds by 7.30 latest or you won’t get one…. The pool is cleaned every morning and is a constant 1m40cm in depth. There’s also a children’s splash pool attached. Having a drink or food around the pool area or any other outside area can be a problem due to the large number of wasps. They are evident in their hundreds around the pool bar area and they’ll be hovering around you continually when you are in possession of food or drink. Between us we were stung six times throughout the holiday. The water park on site is good for a few hours over the course of the holiday but avoid the orange tube slide – the sections on this are mis-aligned and rip the skin off your back if you’re not careful.
The Beach.
Lovely white sand which gently shelves into the sea. Pedalo’s cost 20 lev for 30mins, Jet skis cost 60 lev for 12 minutes.
The Booze.
The beer and local spirits were perfectly ok, we didn’t suspect anything was watered down. The local spirits cost about £2 a bottle anyway and are opened in front of you. Expect to queue for up to 15 minutes at the bar in reception at busier times. Ice is a rarity most times and an impossibility at busy times. When they run out of normal glasses expect to receive your gin and tonic (or whatever short you order) in a pint pot – half pint spirit / half pint mixer….. warm and without ice……. Yummy…….
The Morris bar is where the part of the evening entertainment (Bingo / Mr. and Mrs.) takes place and is always heaving…. Didn’t try it much as it was far too hot in there and not our scene.
Entertainment.
Basic stuff really – the reps do loads for the kids throughout the day and there’s a show on at the animation theatre each night at 8pm. The queue to get in starts building up around 6.30pm…… After the show it turns into a nightclub until 1am.
Other stuff.
Bulgaria is now in the E.U. so you won’t be able to buy any duty free on your way out. The shop keepers and airport staff at Burgas will tell you there is no limit to what you can take back to the U.K. but this is not the case. As Bulgaria is not yet a “full” E.U. member, you can still only bring back 200 cigarettes which work out @ £14/carton in the shops. Return with more than 200 and if you’re stopped by customs you will either have to pay duty on them or forfeit them.
Don’t change money with street traders – most things in Bulgaria are fake or replicas and this includes currency. Change only at banks or change shops, or even better withdraw from cash points.
The shopping centre at the hotel although small provides a pretty good selection of what’s generally available throughout the area. There’s even a tattooist. If you have a PSP there’s a shop that will modify the firmware in it for you and give you a set of 25 dvds with 100 PSP games on it for around £40…. (and yes, they do all work ok….)….
There’s a 24 hour medical centre on site which liases directly with all UK insurance companies so if you do need medical attention then your bill will be paid directly by your insurers.
Internet is available at 6 lev/hour.
Go to Nessabar for more relaxed shopping and a more authentic experience of Bulgaria.
Go to Sunny Beach for all your football kits, designer belts, handbags, jeans and good quality replica high end watches.
Conclusion.
Hopefully this review has given you an accurate picture of what to expect at the Royal Park. The overall experience there still left a lot to be desired but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I was anticipating it to be. First Choice are well aware of the repeated issues customers have and will reply parrot fashion with their well versed responses. If there is anything there serious enough to warrant your complaint then ensure it’s submitted on a comment form, keep a copy and follow it up on your return. Above all, please don’t worry about this accommodation - it’s nowhere near as bad as it has been portrayed in so many other reviews

excellent holiday...
myself my husband my daughter (age 10) & son (age 8)all went to this hotel from 8-18th august.
we had a great holiday.
good points:
food - there was always something to eat a great choice of hot and cold dishes and desserts galore. the kids loved the ice cream. there is ice cream on offer at the bar opposite the henna tattoo studio as well as other snacks. make sure you have a good look around to find out about these things. we did queue for 20 minutes to try and get into the al a carte restaurant but didn't get in. but like i said more than enough choice of food and drink.
room - great size for the 4 of us and all our stuff. cleaned everyday and cleaner very appreciative of tips.
pool and beach - cleaned every nght. pool was cold but that was great when you are so hot.
water park - this was great the kids loved it...small warning don't go on the orange bowl side with small children. the life guards don't stop you going on any of them so use your own judgement.
shops in resort - just as cheap as sunny beach great designer bargains.
reps - very helpful and worked very hard to keep us and children entertained.
great holiday.
now for not so good points:
entertainment - not the best this was provided by the reps so would have been nice to have something else. but was excellent some nights. you did have to pay for some in the animation hall so watch out.
other tourists - some people are so rude, greedy and can't help but moan. we are all on holiday to have a good time, relax and spend time with our families. but you would think that it was some peoples last meal the amount they took and queue they didn't know the meaning. but we did try to ignore these people.
bar in main lobby - you always had to queue, they would often run out of hot drinks and there weren't enough people serving. but try the morris bar this was great and always had hot drinks.
overall great holiday, we would definately go back again

My wife myself and 2 children just arrived back from Royal Park Hotel Elinite Bulgaria and I must say we all enjoyed ourselves and found it great value for money. Prior to going out I read the reviews and tried to get myself upgraded with a contact I knew in Falcon Travel which I am glad now he could not upgrade me. Bulgaria is not a fully developed country like most countries in Western Europe and what they call a 5* Hotel certainly would only 3* over here as Falcon awarded it on their ratting system. The Hotel and Rooms were clean the Hotel staff would be considered business like but would not be experienced enough to be more than friendly to be awarded with a good tip on departure. On saying that the people I tipped were very appreciative and could not be any nicer to me. It must be remembered that the Bulgarians have had years of Communism and probably look on people from Western Europe with envy. The Beer and sprits which were given out on the all inclusive deal was very watery and you would need a hell of a lot of them to get you any way a bit tippsy. You had the choice of paying 5blv = €2.75 for a beer which is as cheap as any place in Europe for a large beer. The food became repetitive if you dined in every night but you can get up early and queue for A la carte meal or BBQ as part of your all inclusive and it is a change as well as the choice of going into Sunny Beech to eat out in one of the many restaurant there at a very good price. The final night the hot water ran out I thought myself I was just a little late showering and persevered with a luke warm and got on with it. I was surprised when the following morning the rep was surrounded by a load people complaining about the fact there was no hot water the previous night. She tried to explain there was a fault with the hot water system which was been rectified that day, I must say I felt sorry for her as there was nothing more she could do.
In general it was way cheaper than going to France, Spain or Portugal. The Bulgarians are not great with Tourists and could do with adding a bit more charm and smile a bit more but that is not a complaint. The Hotel is to big and has too many guests in the building but on saying that you might have to do a bit of queuing if you hit meals at the wrong time I said before going on holiday that if the hotel was not as bad as the reviews I read I would write in my own review that is why I wrote this go there if you have kids they will love the water park and it does not cost a arm and a leg. Enjoy