Horizont Hotel, even the cockroaches were desperate to get out. (Hotel Horizont (Golden Sands, Bulgaria))

Member Name: GillMN

Product:	Hotel Horizont (Golden Sands, Bulgaria)
Date:	06/07/09 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely staff (mostly).Fabulous climate. Pleasant gardens. Lovely tea garden next door.

Disadvantages: Tiny rooms, No A/C. Filthy hovel bathrooms. Building site round pool. Vile manager. Need I say more?

Hotel Horizont is a two star hotel located somewhere between Varna and the resort of Golden Sands in Bulgaria.
The hotel is advertised as being in Golden Sands resort but that's like saying Britain is in Europe. Politically maybe, but geographically it's a bit of a stretch.

The coach dropped us off outside a pleasant looking hotel and we struggled inside with our suitcases. The hotel lobby looked reasonable and we were greeted by two very helpful staff. Check in took ten minutes and off we trundled to our 2nd floor rooms.

The patchily lit corridor was a bit daunting, no decorations, just bare walls and doors. We found our room and went in. Oh dear! There was barely enough room to get around the twin beds and it looked as though the decorators had been on something halucinagenic when they painted it. There seemed to be more paint on the scant fixtures and fittings than there was on the walls. At least it was clean, I imagine any dirt had been painted over.

There was no air conditioning but the windows opened and the evening breeze made the room comfortable enough. During the day we found it pretty stifling.

The bathroom was tiny and looked like it had been in use since the last war. Cracks, wobbly bits and mould abounded (No, I'm not talking about me!) I backed out hurriedly. (Turning round wasn't really an option.) The shower was in the bath with no curtain. There were two thin towels each which were clean and had probably been white originally. Insects abounded!

Straight back down to the desk where the two cheerful receptionists had been replaced by a very unhelpful Manager/owner. I explained the situation politely and he said "No more rooms!"
I asked if there was a cleaner available. "No cleaner!"
I asked him to come and look at the bathroom. "I am working!"
I gently suggested that this was part of his work. He waved me away like an annoying fly and then ignored me.

I stomped back to my room and called the rep. (Thompson) No reply. I had been grimly amused as I went back to my room to see a makeshift sign another holidaymaker had put up over the corridor entrance. "Welcome to Stalag 89". I wish I had taken a photo of it because it disappeared very quickly. (I wonder why?)

We decided we would sort things out in the morning and went to find something to eat. I thought a wander around the resort and a look at the sea would cheer me up. Down at the bar we discovered that an informal escape committee had formed. Our fellow travellers were similarly upset by the state of their rooms. Nobody had a decent room or habitable bathroom.

The bar was clean and cheerful in an Eastern European Sixties fashion. Abstract artwork adorned the walls and the barstaff were attentive and helpful. Their English was good unlike my Bulgarian! I asked where was the best place to eat around the hotel and they smiled nervously.
It turned out that the hotel was situated in the middle of nowhere and miles from the resort. The hotel restaurant was closed but they would make us all some chips if we were very hungry. We were. The chips were good too. Fortified by inexpensive Bulgarian beer and free chips we went back to our cells and slept.

Down at the pool the next morning, we were greeted by the sight of a massive hole that ran almost the length of the swimming pool. Demolition of and old building and excavations for a new block had been started and then abandoned. There was nothing to stop a child falling into the crater except a bit of tape around the edges. Bricks, concrete and a worrying white fluffy material (asbestos?) were everywhere. One side of the pool looked fine, the other side was a complete tip. It was incredible.

The pool itself was clean but the edges were uneven and I saw quite a few people trip and fall. The ladders were not attached properly so getting in and out was tricky. There was a big shortage of usable pool furniture.

Breakfast was quite good, a mixture of cereals, fruit, strange juice like liquids and meat and cheeses. The bread was very dry and eventually the cook threw it out of the window and brought a newish batch in. Waste Management Bulgarian style!

Eventually the rep appeared and explained that there was nowhere they could move us to. She was pretty appalled by the state of the pool area particularly. She offered to get the rooms cleaned etc. One couple were adamant that they wanted to go home because the hotel was not a safe place for their children. (They were right, it wasn't!) It was the first time that Thomsons had used the hotel and we were assured that it would be the last. In that they were true to their word.

To be fair, some areas of the hotel were perfectly okay. The bar and dining areas were spotless, the corridors were clean but a bit dowdy. The lifts worked and you got sound effects as they slowly moaned and groaned their way upwards. The staff were delightful and did all that they could to help with two notable exceptions. One I have already mentioned, the manager, who must have attended the Fawlty Towers School of Customer Relations. He continued to be rude and dismissive throughout our stay. The second problematical Staff member was the lifeguard/pool man who played music very loudly and continously which was annoying but what was much worse was that the lyrics of the music were absolutely obscene. Many of the parents complained to him and he would remove the offending disc for five minutes and then put it back on. I was shocked at the graphic language and content being played in a venue that was filled with children.
Eventually it was all too much for one Mum who took his CD collection and threw them into the pool! A lot of shouting and screaming followed and then he retrieved them. The outraged Mum promised him that his expensive equipment would be next if he didn't stop playing the offending music. The next day he did it again. The fool!
In the end he had to go to the loo. I was amused and delighted to see five women seize their chance, storm up to the disco area and proceed to frisbee his entire CD collection into the crater. It was so entertaining it made up for the rest of the week's annoyance. Later that day I found out from a staff member that he was the nephew of the manager and thought he could do as he pleased. The staff were highly delighted with the whole performance because they hated him too!
The rest of the time all was quiet by the pool. Bliss!

We ate in the Hotel restaurant once. The food was swimming in grease, tepid and unpleasant and that was just the salads! No local dishes were available. I think the cooks were McDonald rejects. The tables were dirty and the menus sticky and barely intelligible. It was cheap but I would have expected to be paid to eat there.

We found a little tea garden right next door that looked like a bit of scruffy spare ground but the food was extremely good!
The old lady that cooked there was very endearing, part of the deal was that you had to hold her dogs while she cooked, to prevent them getting into the kitchen. Bizarre but entertaining! We ate there a lot, we told her what we wanted to eat the next day and she went and got it for us. I think we must have made her a rich woman by local standards because by the end of our fortnight nearly all the English guests from the Horizont were eating there and we were eating free! The dogs were looking a bit sleeker too!
I have to say that that little old lady redeemed the holiday for us. I even found myself bringing some chairs and plates back from the market for her as a suprise.

Wheelchair access would be limited in the hotel and impossible in the rooms. The surrounding roads and paths were very uneven and there were a lot of steep gradients. The area had it's own little beach but the walk down was hazardous because of the traffic and a lot of blind corners. It was a very steep climb back too!

It was possible to get a taxi or bus into the resort of Golden sands or nearby Varna. This is what we did most days and we had an enjoyable holiday.

I am fairly sure that the hotel had originally been student accomodation or possible a bail hostel in a previous incarnation. If it had been built as an Hotel, the architect needed shooting. It was listed as three star when we were there. It is now awarded 2 stars in the brochures and websites. I think the two it has got, must have been awarded, one for the roof and one for the floor. To be honest, it shouldn't have any stars at all.

The state of the fabric, the situation, the management, the dirt, the dangerous carpeting and loose wiring, the fact that I had to thump the light switch to make it work, all contributed to making this the most dismal and dangerous place I have stayed in.

I am giving it one star because I have to and because most of the staff were really lovely people working under difficult circumstances, with an inept and impossible manager.

Summary: An hotel hovel in the middle of nowhere.