Boutique Spa Hotel Orchidea

“Could be so much more! ”

Ok so we had a lovely holiday here, but so many things could be improved. I'll start with the cons first. The room was not cleaned to a high enough standard. There was an old dead centipede decaying on our carpet the day we arrived. It stayed there for entire two weeks. The bathroom was superfici… more

Ok so we had a lovely holiday here, but so many things could be improved. I'll start with the cons first. The room was not cleaned to a high enough standard. There was an old dead centipede decaying on our carpet the day we arrived. It stayed there for entire two weeks. The bathroom was superficially clean but don't look too closely around the toilet or in the drains. The hair dryer is actually a blow pipe in the bathroom, not very useful and gets too hot to hold after a minute or so. We did not have any seating in our room even though the photos all show little tub chairs. The radio in our room did not work at all and the TV is the old style with only 1 English channel... I've now come to love watching Animal Planet. Ha! Now the reason we had to watch tv was a lack of anything to do in the hotel itself. The hotel doesn't have anywhere fun to hang out, the 'lobby bar' is a few sofas around a very small bar serving only 3 varieties of beer, 2 wines, and soft drinks/coffee. Yes they have cocktails but we personally don't enjoy drinking syrupy, sugary drinks. They just need more options. The only music played in the hotel is decided by the local young ladies who work on the bars. Inside they have Bulgarian radio playing. Outside by the pool and at the Sky Bar they play very serious house music or drum and bass.... all day, every day. It's so unbelievably dull. Maybe if they looked around at their guests they might understand why no one hangs about in the hotel for long. Over 50's and families with young children don't really appreciate it and they told me as much when chatting. The Sky bar is ok, it opens at 8pm which is the best time to go so you can see the amazing views of the sea. But once it is dark, it gets windy and cold so take a jumper or may be even your duvet! The food is not great. Breakfast buffet consists of a plain pasta. 3 types of red sausage. Thick processed ham (as a bacon option) and fried eggs. They have pastries and 2 types of muesli and also Cakes? The fruit option is just sliced oranges. I was sooo dissapointed. They do make some nice fresh pancakes though but the only topping is chocolate spread. The drinks at breakfast are frankly awful.... fake OJ, cherry squash and fruit teas and some truly undrinkable coffee which tastes like gravy. Dinner is somewhat better but still gets very boring. There are only two meats used.. pork and chicken. Always over cooked and dry. Usually they are stewed with some veg. There is always some basic rice and basic spaghetti pasta with cheese on. I saw chips one time and got excited! I don't understand why they have such limited options? Dessert is some chopped melon, little shop bought pastries to which they add some cream inside or ice cream. Do not eat from the a la carte menu... seriously.... The food is just terrible. It made us appreciate the plain pasta and dry meat at dinner! Plus there aren't labels on the food so we had fun guessing. Tables are not cleaned or reset after a diner has finished, so if u arrive half hour into food service you will have to hunt for cutlery and napkins and sit amongst the food debris left behind. The problem is, there are no alternatives... to get food elsewhere involves going to golden sands strip. The noise can be outrageous at night if there are young children around. We had an entire week with children literally screaming up and down the corridors until 3am and the staff did not deal with it. I could hear them through my ear plugs. The good points! The hotel has a lovely pool area. It is very clean and has lots of loungers available even though the hotel is full. (Because everyone goes to the beach for the reasons above). The hotel is perfect if you are looking to stay at the pool all day, chill out, read your book and have an early night. The pool bar is swim up style and it's fun to sit and have a little drink in the water. But service is slow and sporadic. The young lady we saw working is more interested in tanning than serving. The grounds around the hotel are very pretty and well kept. Everywhere you look there are flowers and plants and the hotel is surrounded by trees. The lobby is very unique and interesting with trailing vines on every floor. The strip is about 30 minutes walking or you can take the hotel taxi for 12 leva, he will also give you a number for you to call a pick up too. Some of the staff we encountered were absolutely fantastic. Special thank you to Maria and Keety in the lobby, Riseilin in the restaurant, Viktoria on reception and the taxi driver who were all genuinely happy and very friendly. The room was spacious and had plenty of towels (a little threadbare) and complementary shower gel and shampoo although no conditioner. Our balcony had some plastic tables and chairs outside and a view of the trees. It's not private and your neighbours can see you but we didn't mind. There is also a fridge in the room but u aren't allowed to use it- it's mini bar stock only but the prices weren't too bad. A chocolate bar is around £1.50 and a can of Pepsi is about £2. We visited the spa for some treatments and had a lovely time. It was very relaxing and professional and the lady who massaged me (with red hair) did a fantastic of fixing my knotty shoulders. It was superb value for money at 50 leva on a soecial deal for a full massage, facial, face mask and sauna. Overall we had a good holiday but I would recommend having a little shop in the hotel. There is no where to buy snacks or treats nearby once the pool bar closes at 6pm. I would have preferred a better selection of drinks and more upbeat music in guest areas.

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