Hotel Pamporovo

I have just arrived back from a week in Hotel Pamporovo. I went with my boyfriend and another couple.I booked the trip and I must say I was very disappointed for everyone by what I had chosen.On first impression the hotel seemed nice. The foyer was lovely and there were nice bars and a few little shops within. All the bedrooms have twin beds and the bathroom is of a good size. However there was no shower curtain and there was an awful smell of fumes from the bedroom for the first few days. I didn't complain about this as I watched other guests complain and they got nowhere. I found it was better to complain to your rep. The staff in the hotel were very rude and unhelpful. Breakfast was ok but to get the best out of it you would need to be there for the start. We only ate twice in the restaurant at night as( eventhough we were half board)The first night and on NewYears eve they had a banquet for all the guests. They had lots of bottles of wine and champagne left out on the tables. The food was awful pink chicken!!!We left it and just ordered chips. We found out from other people that the food seemed to be pretty bad in most hotels. We found a lovely Italian restaurant in the hotel Perelik and ate there for the remainder of the week. We enjoyed the skiing.Bus sergvice to skireorts was excellent. I would however have preferred smaller ski schools There was over 25 in our group so after we learn't how to stop we left. Id go skiing again but definitly not back to Bulgaria

31DEC06. Where do I start.....I went to Bulgaria with my boyfriend, parents and little sister, we just got back last week. My boyfriend and I are well travelled but we normally travel independantly this time we went with a packge holiday, booked with Bulkan holidays. From the start we have had problems, our flight was underbooked so we flew via Cardiff to pick up some extra passengers. We had a delay in Birmingham Airport through customs so people were starving on the plane even looking forward to the plane food. I have never seen such bad food or heard so many people complain, dried out chicken and some sweetcorn. Little did we know this was just ths start of things to come. After an excessivly bumping landing we arrived and were transported like cattle to the hotel. On the bus we were told by people that the hotel had building works something we were not advised before hand. To be honest this did not impact me personally as we were out on the slopes most of the day, however the night clubs do not exists that is what they are building and I could not find a gym. So do not belive what you see in the broucure. You have to pay extra to use the pool, sauna etc, in fact anything u want to use you pay extra for. The food! We arrived latish and went straight down to the buffet. We were greated with mean staff, no drinks (they are extra even tap water), and cold nasty food. I can not tell you how gutted we were at this point. I have recently been to Montenegro and the food there was excellent, they have the ingrdients they just dont know how to use them. The food actually got better as time went on, the best part by far is the salad bar (which lucky for me I love), the hot food was consistencly bad but the cakes are pretty tasty. Coffee and water were provided on the first few nights but when they realised people wanted them they started charging. We spent Christmas day in Bulgaria, where we were provided with a speical meal, which we now find out cost us an extra £30 supplement on our bill. Needless to say it was pretty nasty. We were bunndled in the dinning room with so many people you could not move your arms to eat, the staff were rude, the food was cold and I persoanlly could not eat it. See the picture for the main meal. I maybe a bit of a food snob but I am 100% sure that the Turkey dish served up two days later weas the remains reused that most people left. This was an experience. If you do stay at this hotel take earplugs, they play music in the dinning room and its so loud and pretty bad, so sit near the buffet end of the dinning room and get there early before all the good stuff goes. Anyway enough said on the food. The rooms are OK, pretty big but all have twin beds no doubles, if you have a triple room be prepared for someone to sleep on a broken camp bed. Our bathroom was nice but anything that breaks has not been fixed over time, so shower curtains missing and our bed was broken. If you need a snack the food in the hotel shop is atleast half price, the shop in the town is even cheaper. The hotel was lined with blacked out expensive cars, hummers, BMW etc. After a time it became apart that like someother hotels this was run buy the mafia (no jokes), there are men in black suits and ear peices everywhere, the secuirty is so OTT, but its not to protect you its to protect them and the prostitues that work in the hotel. Keep an eye out as there are lots of them. I did feel safe in the hotel but my step dad complained alot and he had lots of threatening clance from the mafia clan. If you do complain go through your rep as the hotel staff could not careless. When I asked to see a breakdown of out bill on the last day I was shouted at, I felt so disrespected by the staff the whole trip. They dont understand the words Customer Service, they are just looking the whole time to see what they can get you to spend. In regards to the skiing, I have skiied before so booked an intermediate lesson. These dont exist so dont pay for them , they resort is 100% focused on beginners and they group people in sets of about 20 and go through the basics. If you are not a beginner dont go here. I loved the skiing, even though it was icy and the slopes were not maintained (stones eveywhere), the lifts breakdown all the time and I ditched my lesson halfway through as there is not instruction just a guide to follow. If there are any probs with lessons no one cares or helps you, Bulkan holidays never helped with any questions or problems and just blamed things on the snow conditions. The slopes are tiny and as more people come each year there is not enough to cope with the people that want to ski. I know people that have been to other ski resort in Bulgaria and they say this is the worst. In my opinion it was OK but I would not go back, as from skiing in France and Italy I know how things should be done. To make the best use of the hotel you have to be on a scheudle. Get up early as the food is better and you will def get one of the ski buses, the rest of the time you run the risk of it being too crowded and it not stopping, then you have to get a taxi. Cold water runs out by about 5, so get straight in the bath when you get back. Avoid this hotel and anything through Bulkan holidays.

Hotel Pamporovo - DO NOT STAY HERE. Just returned from this hotel in Pamporovo. I felt I had to write this review asap so you all know what to expect. Here it is:- 1/ They STILL OVERBOOK. My sister accompanied me to this hotel on 23rd December until 30th December 2006. she booked 2 rooms for herself, boyfriend and 2 teenage sons. They gave her 1 room only insisting that she only booked one room. This is rubbish, even when they a/ showed the booking form b/ got the travel company to fax confirmation - They still would not budge until we had been there nearly 2 hours. Even then she got a room on the 7th floor next to staff rooms and her 2 boys 13 & 15 were in a completely different part and floor of the hotel, hence unsupervised!! Everyone else seemed to have the same problem, some worse than ours where a 27 year old daughter and friend were spending the week in 1 room with her parents. The receptionists admitted that the hotel had overbooked. My advice is ring ahead and get them to fax confimration of your booking otherwise be prepared to squash in 1 room. FOOD - queues every night for buffet meal. Dining room far too small for the amount of people staying there. BUILDING WORKS - They have built an extension on the side and were working up to midnight. Bang, bang bang POOL- Freezing NIGHTCLUB - Being renovated BATHROBES - None HAIRDRYER - Fine if you are bald, HEATING - Kept on going off due to building works - freezing This hotel has potential if they can sort out the staff, overbooking etc.

We stayed at the Hotel Pamporovo for a week in January 2006. When we first arrived (late at night & very tired), we were told that they only had 3 rooms left, when we had booked 4. This meant that 2 of our party had nowhere to sleep. After reading other reviews of this hotel, this would seem to be a common problem. Even though the mistake had been made by the hotel, they were extremely unhelpful when we asked for a fold down bed or a matress that could be used to sleep on instead. They eventually found a fold up bed, but this still meant that one person from our party had to sleep on the floor in one of our other rooms. Luckily, another room became available the next day. Our room had a soaking wet floor, due to a leak under the carpet. When we first got in there, we thought that maybe something had been spilt & hadn't had time to dry yet. We informed our rep & the hotel & kept our fingers crossed that it would dry. However, it didn't & began to spread. We kept informing the hotel, aware that they couldn't move us as they were fully booked, but hoping that they might do something to stop the leak so the carpet wouldn't become completely saturated. As it was, we were having to jump on & off the bed over the carpet to avoid getting wet! We eventually resorted to laying spare towels onto the carpet to try & soak the water up & encourage the area to dry out a little, but this did nothing. In addition to this, these towels were not collected by the maids and we were not given any more spare towels to lay on the floor. After 5 days in this room & with no sign of the leak being fixed, we were moved to another room. This was lovely, bigger than the last one & with no problems at all. If we had stayed in this room for the whole week, we would have hardly any complaints at all. We found the reception staff to be rude, unhelpful and unapologetic. I started to avoid dealing with them at all as I found it so frustrating. There is a big language barrier, which doesn't really help, but I can't fault them for this, as I don't speak any Bulgarian! However, a suggestion would be to have at least one member of staff who is fluent in other languages working at the hotel. Apart from this, the hotel was great, with 3 good bars & a nightclub, a shop in which you could buy anything from chocolate to cotton buds in (as usual, buy things from here rather than using the minibar in your room as much cheaper) and also other gift type shops. We found the staff in the restaurant to be very helpful and cheerful, considering the punishing hours they appeared to be working. On our arrival night, we were told to go to the restaurant while they sorted the room problem out & the staff were more than happy to look after us, despite it being very late. The rooms (when we got one!) were warm, clean and of a good size. The food wasn't fantastic, but it was edible. We ended up getting a taxi to the ski lifts every day as the bus service was unreliable & usually full. Negotiate the price before you go anywhere though! Overall, the hotel is probably one of the best in Pamporovo & is still extremely cheap to stay in compared with any other ski resort, which is what I kept reminding myself of whenever I soaked another pair of socks on the carpet in our room!

We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights as part of a working trip. I thought this hotel was lovely. On arrival the reception area is very grand with a huge chandelier and a burning log fire. There are plenty of seating areas to enjoy a drink here which were q reasonable considering its a 5* hotel. Check-in was quick and easy - our room was lovely. The whole room was decorated with velvet drapes and bed covers, v grand!! Bathroom was lovely. Plenty of space!! Food was ok, but this is Bulgaria, the food is similar everywhere. In the hotel there are a selection of bars and a nightclub. We had so much fun here. There is also a bowling alley, shops, swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna. We visited the spa and had various treatments - amazing!! The location of the hotel is quite far out but there is a courtesy bus which we had no problems with. Quite a quiet resort only a couple of bars, we tended to make our own entertainment but the White Hart is pretty good. One good thing I found about the hotel - I had ran out of money - asked if they could change it at the reception - they couldnt but got a driver to take me to the nearest cash point, wait and bring me back - thats some good service!! I found skiing here was great. A selection of runs for all abilities, cross country ski and a variety of slopes. Also lots of places to grab lunch whilst on the slopes. All in all a good hotel, maybe not 5* that people are used to but i've seen a lot of hotels in Bulgaria and this is definately 5 * in Bulgaria. Another good hotel is the Belmont!! A bit more modern. Happy Holidays!!!

We arrived at Hotel Pamporovo on March 11th (06) the hotel itself is lovely. It is set a little way out of the centre of Pampovo (which i like) but its only a 5 minute walk. Beautifully decorated, the rooms are more than comfortable, with nice little extras such as mini-bar and cable TV. Many bars to choose from in the hotel, including a bowling bar and a nightclub. Both of which have alot of atmosphere. Swimming pool looks lovely but is freezing cold, shame that Jacuzzi and Sauna's cost extra (considering it is supposed to be 4/5 star). Also DO NOT change currency in the hotel, they take an extortionate rate of commision. Go to HOTEL MURGAVETTES (opposite the Alaska supermarket) where there is a cash point in the lobby which is free of charge (to Barclays customers) Contrary to what i was told, US dollars are NOT as excepted currency in Pamporovo so stick with Levees. We had power cuts throughout our stay, but on our second day the power was out for the entire day, which also meant the pistes were closed (due to the chairlifts not working). The area in which we felt that the hotel was lacking was service, the staff (especially in the dining room) were nothing short of rude! Huffing and puffing at every request we made. It seemed the only time they responded with manners was when the word 'Tip' was mentioned. This was something we found throughout the resort, in 'The White Hart' in the centre of the town the waiter actaully THREW a menu at us after we asked for one. Poor organisaton also was a big problem, with the shuttle busses just turning up whenever they wanted, and sometime just driving straight past our hotel. Infact after our Bum-Boarding excurtion our bus actually crashed into a snow drift, meaning we all had to get out and push. The reps were never where they said they would be and the time they said, meaning alot of waiting around for only the smallest of inquiries. This all seems a bit damning but we did have a great holliday, and would return but probably not too this hotel. I think Pamporovo has got alot of work to do before i can reach the standads of other European Ski-resorts. Cheap and cheafull i think is the phrase.

Hotel was fab, really nice. About 5 Years ago it would have probably been rated as the best hotel in Bulgaria. Still very nice now, but starting to date very slightly. Saying that, they are doing renovations on the hotel when we where there (not noisy or anything). Our room had just been renovated, it was really really really nice, massive and looked like a real 5 Star room. We had a Leather bench at the end of the bed, nice carpet and full length Velvet curtains etc. Food was tipically Bulgarian, but still, fresh and hot. We ate in the resturante everynight as we were all inclusive. As a side note, bulgaria is cheap... Very cheap. You have to think about how much you spent against how modern and up to date the hotel is. We spent £500 which included flights/Hotel/Transfers/Ski Passes/Ski Tuition and Board Hire. What more do you want. In New York City, you can spend £500 every night just for hotel room if you want a 5 Star. All round, it was great and as a side note, the Snowbaord instructors where quality (Cheers Ivan).

My teenage son and I stayed at the pamporovo for two weeks at the end of August 2005. It was a good value holiday and we were expecting it to be 'different' as it is just trying to become an all year round resort. The worst part of the holiday was the trip to and from Sofia airport in a beat up red transit with kitchen vinyl on the floor! The weather on arrival was thundery and those mountain roads with all the bends made it feel like Pamporovo maybe didn't really exist! However when we finally arrived the hotel looked nice and the restaurant staff were waiting to serve us our choice of meal. Every morning the weather was clear and sunny but we had some spectacular storms in the evenings, which occasionally affected the electricity supply. The room was nice sized and the beds were comfy but it was a pity the sheets were too small and there were no mattress covers. Also because we were out of season, there was a bit of maintainance work going on, mostly the rendering on the outside of the balconies. A lot of the time there was only about 8 or 10 guests and it was like having your own holiday home! We had a great choice of meals every night and some mornings, when there were too few of us to have a buffet we were given a menu and could have whatever we liked! The people in Pamporovo were great and the taxis were something else, our favourite had a sock for a petrol cap. There isn't that much to Pamporovo itself unless you like mountain walking and that was a problem because of all the building work going on. We liked Bulgaria very much and it was such amazing value (2 espresso coffees and 2 hot chocolates for about 70pence!). If I went again I would go to a mountain resort that is a town in its own right. Just to finish, we found the staff and management at the Pamporovo very nice and kind but maybe we just got them at a good time when they had the time to show how kind they could be.

I have just returned form a week at the hotel Pamporovo. As part of a group of 12 people (4 families) only one family got the room and balcony they paid for. The hotel is very well equipped with a lovely swimming pool, indoor bowling alley, nightclub and 3 bars. The problem is the very rude staff and the rip off prices compared to elsewhere in the resort. For a reported 5 start hotel you would not expect to have to pay to use the sauna, steamroom or jacuzzi. If you go swimming they even have the nerve to charge you for the use of a towel. The staff have much to learn about customer service particularly in the diningroom. On one occasion a member of the staff physically grabbed my 16 year old son by the arm because he accidentially knocked over a chair. This was reported to the management who couldn't careless. As the hotel is at the end of the run for the ski bus on a number of occasions the bus either didn't stop outside the hotel or was completely crowded out with people standing on the journey to the slopes. If you opt for a taxi make sure you sort out the price before you get in, as this will be inflated before you get to the ski lifts or the resort centre. If you have a hard day on the slopes make sure that you return to the hotel by 4.00pm if you want a warm bath, as on every occasion I tried to have a bath after this time the water was very cold. The heating in our room was stifflingly hot during the day when the majority of people were out on the slopes and during the night the room was literally freezing. Pamporovo is a fantastic resort, It is a shame that most of the people we spoke to said it was being spoiled by the aggressive rip attitude of the hotel staff. Some of the prices in the resort on menu's had stickers covering last years prices, in most cases the prices for drinks and food have doubled in less than a year.

I would strongly advise anyone to consider other hotels in the area ie the Orlovets or the Murgavets. This hotel REGULARLY overbooks. I arrived with my husband and two teenage sons to be told that I could not have the two rooms I had booked and paid for I had to take one room with put you up beds! My lads are taller than me and it was uncomfortable especially after a days snowboarding. All the ski instructors knew that this happens all the time at this hotel, the tourist industry has grown quickly and the hotel can not cope. The restaurant isn't big enough to serve that many guests and the hot water tanks aren't sufficient to provide everyones hot water so if you want a bath you have to get back early from the slopes. To sum up if you don't mind being hungry, squashed into a room like sardines and smelling of BO this is the place for you. Good Luck.