Mercure Sofia City

With clean and large bedroom, it is a real european 4 star hotel. Continental breakfast served in the hotel is good for the price. Good relation cost/benefit and it seems to be a child friendly place. Dificulty to understand servants english and to ask something.

We have spent 2 nights in this hotel during the New Year. Rooms are huge, clean, quiet, warm. Bathroom is also very clean, with hair dryer, bath tub, towels are changing every day. Room has tv, mini bar, table with chairs, huge bed, extra pillows... Food was basic but enough for breakfast: several salads, hams, cheese, eggs, cereal, drinks like tea, coffee, milk. Our room was on the mountain side so the view was spectacular. Stuff is nice, always ready to help. Hotel is well connected with the city center by tram no 7. You need 15-20 minutes ride to NDK from where you can take a walk through Vitosha Blvd. Near the hotel is shopping mall.

Stayed two nights in this hotel for work nearby. Location is good for accessing main areas of Sofia. Arrived late, the Evening receptionist was overwhelmed with people trying to check in or people on the phone with queries. It took 20 mins to check in. The room was basic, bathroom was ok, shower was not very powerful, air con was dirty. We wanted to eat as it was late, reception told us that the restaurant shuts at 10pm. We went straight to Hotel Restaurant, it was 70% full, must people finishing their meals. We sat down and waited for 5 mins before anyone took an interest and offered us some menus. We ordered a bottle of wine, 6-7 starters to share, our main course, desserts. My main was a steak which was ok , price was LEV30.99 – which wasn’t even on the menu, the waiters suggest it. At the end of the meal we were bluntly told we had to pay in CASH ONLY, no cards, no add to hotel room. At no point was this explained at the beginning of the meal or during. Other guests were paying by card and adding to room. SCAM – be very wary – we were bullied into getting cash from the Cash machine in reception. There was a horrible standoff for 20 mins – waiters were very firm and rude, one was even drunk by this stage. I did mention this to the receptionist and he shrugged his shoulders – must be part of the extra service. Apart from the restaurant scam – hotel was ok.

Just checked in the hotel and everything just went terribly wrong! First, the telephone and air conditioning are not working. I contacted the front desk and someone came. The guy tried to fix the AC but apparently it is working very inefficiently (the front desk guy told me that I don’t really need the AC since it is only 20 degrees. However, it is July now and it is actually near 30 degrees!) and he even asked me why I need a telephone in the room ! I mean, then why did you even have a telephone in the room?! Their attitude is unbelievablely bad, and they just want me to accept whatever they have. And this is not the end of the story. The whole hotel needs improvement, from service to fixtures. I uploaded pictures of my room and you can see how bad it is. I don’t even get it how this hotel is rated as a 4-star hotel! DON’T EVER BOOK THIS HOTEL!