Riu Viva Hotel

Very warm welcome, the room was lovely with a view of the hotel pool & sea.
All inclusive food very good and I couldn't fault the hotel service, cleanliness, and reception facilities - so far, so good!
Oh dear...the evening entertainment was dire! The only bar available in the hotel was like a NAAFI junior ranks bar - if you've ever been in the services and toured Germany you'll know what I mean!
A very small bar served a brightly lit canteen with round aluminium tables and chairs - the flooring was 'kitchen style' black & white tiles and the atmosphere was dreadful! - a very loud television, always showing World Cup football (which dominated the week) and a pool table used by very loud participants.
There was no music at all and conversation was impossible.
The laid on entertainment consisted of a Mr & Mrs competition (in German), Bingo (in German) and a really bad Karaoke playing 70's Europop. My Husband and I spent most evenings in our room watching The World Cup (the only thing showing in English!)
Guess What....We had to get up incredibly early to beat the Germans to the sunbeds, not always successful - I like to sleep past 7:00am while on holiday! I used to think the jokes about Germans and sunbeds were just that - not anymore!
Having said all that, we met some very nice people from Germany, though very little conversation took place. If Thomsons want to make the most of the British market in this hotel there is a lot of work to do.
By the way, Bulgaria is beautiful, we took a couple of lovely trips and the locals could not have been more welcoming or friendly. The beach service is out of this world and there are bars and restaurants on the strip behind the beach well worth a visit.
All in all, the holiday was pretty cheap, mostly cheerful but with the hotel 800 metres from the local entertainment, they really need to sort out the in-house entertainment.
Would we go again? Probably not.

Hotel very clean and tidy, food very good slightly set back from the main resort but only a 5 minute walk to the main resort. Staff very friendly and helpful.
On the negative side not much quality hotel entertainment, probably not suitable for elderly or disabled or very young children in prams due to the 100 steps to get access to the resort. There is another route however this is a much longer walk. All in all an enjoyable holiday representing good value for money and by no means a holiday disaster.
Nearly forgot the all inclusive lager is forgettable only 2% and there seems to be a problem with supplying descent ice to chill drinks.