Grand Hotel Velingrad

Nice hotel in a great location overlooking the town but also only a short walk to the center of town, good food with plenty of choice. Spa is of good quality and everything seems well maintained, treatments are a bit expensive but are to a good standard. The service by some members of staff is not great, some were grumpy and rude to level that was comical, not sure if this was standard or just because we didn't speak Bulgarian🤷 Overall a nice hotel

The hotel features multiple pools and spas, and the staff are friendly. Unfortunately, they put guests at health risk because they cannot answer basic questions about the amenities, give the wrong answers, and the amenities are seriously limited. For example, neither the front desk, nor the maid knew whether the pillows contained dawn. Dawn can put one member of our group in the hospital. The front desk person said the hotel had both dawn and “other” pillows, but they did not know what kind were in the reserved rooms. The maid contradicted them, saying that “they are all the same” and did not know what kind they were. Furthermore, the heat was on in the hotel at 20 degrees outside temperature, and the rooms were very hot. The front desk explained that this is centralized and there is limited ability to regulate the heat. This contradicted directly the answer given to us by phone prior to reserving the rooms, which was that each room had AC. The front desk person advised us to “crack open the balcony door” to manage the heat. This is, of course, not an option for members of our group who have pollen allergies. Additionally, air in the rooms is extremely humid, so they must be breeding grounds for dust mites, and that is probably the reason one person in our group had a midnight allergy attack. Stay away from this hotel if you are looking for comfort and an environment safe from excessive heat and from allergens. If you come here, watch your step, because the floors and even elevators have many unexpected changes in level that are not well marked, further posing danger to visitors. Furthermore, we used the pools more than once, and we never saw a lifeguard. So, if you visit, be extra careful if you decide to swim, and watch over your children. Finally, and this is unpleasant to write about, but our room’s bathroom, while looking perfectly clean, had a whiff of stale urine. This was quite off putting.

I want to first start this review off with that this hotel does not deserve its five stars anymore. If you are looking for a five star hotel and experience, this is not the hotel for you. The view of the room was a roof, when the hotel is located at one of the highest points overlooking Velingrad and they still didn't manage to make all the guests feel treated to a five star experience. When we addressed our dislike of the room at reception we were told all standard rooms had a view to a roof and that if we wanted a different room we could pay an extra 50 lv a night, when right next to the lady there was a price list of the rooms and the difference between the standard and the deluxe was not 50lv a night it was around 30lv. The room itself could be cleaned better. The shower door was not alright it was missing screws and did not slid properly. The matress was old and way too soft to the point of discomfort. The aircon was making a noise and the thermostat did not work, but when I called reception to tell them they sent someone immediately, at least and fixed it. You can see the condition of the room from the attached pictures. The spa was not great considering the 5 tars of the hotel. A lot of missing tiles, the walls were falling apart. The steam rooms were awful. One was too big and could steam up properly, while the smaller one had a giant gap in the bottom of the door and was letting cold air in. The saunas were nice and the water in the pools was nice, as well. The restaurant staff were mostly not open to help you and grumpy. What I noticed was that they were very helpful and smilling towards guests that they knew. There was no non alcholic beverages included in the dinner buffet and something I had never seen before, was reservations of tables at the hotel buffet. There were times where people with full dishes in their hands couldn't find where to sit because there were many empty tables that had been reserved. The food was often cold as they did not take care of the food properly to keep it as warm as possible. Overall, definitly will not be visiting this hotel again. Does not deserve the five star rating.