Ela Hotel

After a 15 hour delay at Gatwick, myself, my husband and 13 year old son finally got to the Ela at a day late. At first the staff and rooms seemed ok, however as the week progressed we found the rooms to be too hot, the food was really bad (especially the xmas dinner, which was a joke)the staff were either in your face or indifferent, the Crystal rep was useless, it was like Ibiza with snow (teenagers waking u up at all hours of the night)AND as for the snow........we never saw a flake fall all week. We could have put up with everything else if the skiing had been good, but there were only 3 pistes open and they were all steep reds. I had a couple of nasty falls because I was taken on these by my instructor well before I was ready to attemp them. On a good note, if the pistes were al open and you stayed at a different hotel, you would probably have a great time.

rooms reasonable but very hot. Food abysmal, if your a vegetarian forget it. Lift a health hazard especially for children as it has no inner door. Don't let the kids watch tv late at night if you don't want them to see pornography] -------- channels. -------- [Sex shops an insult to females and unavoidable decorated as they are in large pictures of women in various poses and states of undress. Several near this hotel and spread throughout borovets. English is spoken a little by staff but not much and if you need something out of the usual run of the mill hotel stuff like key, pillow, room, it's very difficult. Would never ever come back. Oh and everyone but the unsuspecting tourist knows that the snow, if there is any at this time of year, is very, very limited. In fact don't expect to get off the nursery slopes.

We stayed at the hotel Ela in Jan 09 for 1 week, booking through Inghams. Hotel room was spacious however the beds were really uncomfortable. The smell from the toilet in the bathroom was horrible and we had to keep bathroom door shut all the time. Plenty of hot water any time of day.
The staff in the hotel were dreadful. If you didn't buy a drink with your meal or use the bar they were really rude to you. While you were eating the waitress's would stand watching you and they played dodgy techno music really loud while you were trying to eat. The food was always cold and lacked variety. We ended up eating out a few nights at the mexican restaurant which is a must, the food there is divine!
The new years gala meal at the hotel is an absolute joke, do not go to it!!! Disgusting food and poor entertainment, all the staff were just sitting with their friends eating and drinking.
I think this time of year over Christmas is a bad time to go as all the Bulgarians go here aswell so the place was too crowded. We had to queue for nearly an hour to go up on the gondola and the slopes were far too busy.
Not alot to do in the resort unless you want to go drinking every night which is expensive. BULGARIA IS NOT A CHEAPER OPTION ANYMORE, and the people are unfriendly unless you give them money!!

Me and my friend went to the ela hotel in febuary, the hjotel was clean and nice and the rooms were nice modern,clean and have a power shower which was good, the best skiing accomadation i have stayed in!!!!! the staff were really friendly and always helpfull! would definately go back to this hotel, we got moved from the iglika because of how bad that hotel was and this was a lot lot better, perfect location for the gondola and if you ski back down the mountains you can literally ski into the hotel!!

Visited the Ela Hotel from the 12th to the 19th January 2008. The Hotel is very clean and the rooms have certainly been updated since the photos have been put on the site, they are clean, modern and even have a power shower. Hot water for the shower never seems to be a problem, there was always enough for us to have a hot shower at any stage of the day. The Hotel maids are very efficient, nothing went missing from the hotel at all despite me managing to leave my mobile phone on the bedside table a few times. Hotel television had a few English channels, Zone Thriller, BBC News, SKY News and Real Estate TV. The Hotel staff were all ok, some better than others, some of them can be a little grumpy but I put that down to a lack of English speaking. Bar was amazing, a selection of 25 cocktails on 'buy one get one free' every night from 8pm to 1am. Rough cost of the cocktails was 8lv (£3.17) so very good value. Food at the Hotel was the main problem however this seems to be a hotel wide problem for Borovets and Bugaria in general. Food is mainly luke warm at best. Mainly a selection of potatoe, a meat and veg. There are some really great Restuarants in Borovets if you decide to eat out. I would advise skipping breakfast (especially if you have been drinking the night before) as I personally thought the food served for breakfast was appalling. I would certainly go back to the Hotel Ela, on our return journey we were delayed and put up in the Rila and the only difference was that you had a bath, infact I'd say that although the room at the Rila was bigger it certainly was no better

This was our 3rd time to Borovets in 3 different hotels.
We booked with Inghams who had the best deal at the time for what we were looking for.
The hotel is in a good location situated near the gondola and in the resort centre.
Our room however was at the back which was very small and basic and consisted of a lop sided double bed, TV, shower and WC. Be warned to close your window once the smell of the wood smoke enters your room though.
The cleaners’ came every morning to tidy rather than clean our room, but from our experience this tends to be the Bulgarian way of cleaning!
The hotel has a cocktail bar, a comfy but very smoky seating area with TV, 2 pool/snooker tables, a luggage room, 2 saunas’, a gym and restaurant, where breakfast and evening meals are served.
Meals are buffet style with cold and not so hot limited choices, which were not upto much!
Borovets is ideal for beginners/intermediates on a budget and for those who want lively après ski. There are also plenty of pubs/bars, cafe/restaurants and gift shops.
During the day there's of cause the slopes including the crowded nursery slopes in front of the Rila hotel, or up the gondola for the more experienced skier/boarder.
Other activities include; Tenpin bowling in the Samokov Hotel (opposite), skidoo's, horse drawn carriage rides (or smelly rides) day & night, folk nights, excursions to Rila monastery and/or the Capital Sofia.
Hope this help's you to make the right choice. Happy holidaying.

I thought the Ela was a nice hotel. Position was great for all the slopes, especially the gondola. Only a two minute walk away. It was clean and basic. We were in a room at the front of the hotel, which faced the road. It was a fair size, but it was very noisy. The food was ok, lots of cheap restaurants near by if you fancy something different.
The resort it's self was perfect for what we wanted. The gondola was only closed for two days. Brilliant when it was open though. All the other lifts worked perfectly the whole week. If you want to buy cheap boards, this is the place to get them!
As a whole I had a fab time, so go and get gnarly on the slopes.