Charm Beach Hotel - All Inclusive

Where do I start? This is going to be a long one… I’m writing after having freshly landed back home, after a whole week spent there. I’m writing this review out of disappointment and to serve as a warning to other people like us, who will spend a salary’s worth of money only to end up counting the days till going home, with anticipation. We picked this hotel through a Bulgarian agency - Emerald travel, that recommended it. I’ll be in touch with them in due time, as well and they will get a similar review. The photos, uploaded on the site and in Booking made it look like the hotel was a nice place to stay and we NEVER expected what we got there… The common areas make the impression of a nice humble place to spend a vacation in. HOWEVER, - Staff hardly speaks English; - Overall, most of the staff generally doesn’t care (with a few people that were really outstanding, given the circumstances); - Rooms are in a really bad condition, especially the bathrooms (I will dwell into details later); Day 1: Arrival At this point we had no idea what to expect and just wanted to spend a week away in a nice place. We had been to places like Kusadasi and Antalya before and expected to have a nice time in a nice hotel. We never expected luxury or something over the top. We checked in. The girl at reception hardly spoke a word to us and left the bell boy to get our luggage and explain everything around. He got us to the room and our very first impression was the strong smell of old wet socks that hit our nostrils as we entered the doorway. As we entered the bathroom, another shock hit us, as we realised that it hadn’t been renovated in ever, and apparently it also hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned in about the same period. We went to reception to ask for a new room as obviously this had to be a mistake. We were explained by the same bell boy that all rooms are the same and they don’t have better ones. But he promised to get us the missing bathroom supplies and send someone to clean it. Someone came the same evening and left us supplies but the bathroom wasn’t at any point, cleaner than we found it. (There was mould, black dirt and grease everywhere, old stains uncleaned and generally, we strived to take very quick showers and not to touch anything, as it was gross). We reluctantly had dinner and started preparing ourselves for having to spend the next 6 days there. Day 2-7: Stay There are a lot of things to say here but I’ll stick to the key facts. We liked the beach and the common areas and strived to spend most of our time there. The food was 50:50. There were days where we could hardly pick anything good to eat and days when the buffet was ok. I understand that food is also subject to personal preference so won’t be saying much about the variety of choice. Drinks while on an all-inclusive scheme, were free at the bar. Issue was that most bartenders didn’t speak a word of English and we had to get creative when ordering. Cappuccino and coffee were mostly considered equivalent, well-known cocktail recipes were re-invented in ways, unheard of, wrong drinks were tossed, etc. Why are there so few litter bins in this place!? Anyway… We wanted to use the gym. They have a special glass room outside of the hotel with gym equipment. Gym was very dusty and dirty. Exercises on the floor were out of the question. Equipment didn’t exactly work well. A La carte restaurants: there are 2 - Ottoman and Fish. With the Ottoman, I can only describe the experience as pure chaos. Although prior reservations and a set menu are mandatory, the staff seemed unprepared, in a rush and utterly confused. When I ordered rum and coke, I got a martini glass full of rum and olives, plus a separate glass of coke. The meat of our chicken skewers was undercooked. The baklava was amazing… I have a lot more to say but I’m nearing the character limit. In the end one of the managers asked for our feedback and wrote everything down. Told us they are working on improving. Good for them, but a terrible experience for us overall.

Hotel location is great. This facility has a lovely bay. We stayed here for 4 nights. Restaurant service is poor. Meal quality is low. Cutlery plates and glasses were dirty. Most main courses for lunch is not enough for all guests, even in an hour most of them is over and no more food is served. We booked the ala Carte fish restaurant, even if they wanted us to select some food from the menu in advance they couldn't provided. The hot starters were served cold and all fish and starters were from frozen foods and not fresh. When we tried to have some food from main restaurant the owner of the facility told us that we are not allowed to take food from main to ala carte. We have complained that we couldn't eat there, Owner of the facility was so rude, he yelled in front of everybody and suggested us to leave the facility by mentioning that they can not make us happy. We had never experienced such a lousy experience. I strongly not recommend this place to anybody.