lovely staff especially oggi , up a hill not bad for nights out but it is a trek from the beach

We had stayed at the dana palace 3 times before and loved it which is why we decided to book again. We really enjoyed ourselves and made lots of friends, all the staff at the hotel are very friendly and helpful, the loation of the hotel is very good as it is away from all the hustle and bustle. It is a bit of a pain to get to the beach but if you dont mind walking it is fine and it is a lovely walk and a chance to have a look around.The hotel is very clean and you get are provided with clean towels every day, we did have a little problem where somebody had smashed one of the wall lights in the corridore, we reported this and it was dealt with straight away which we were very happy with as we felt if we had any more complaints they would be dealt with. The staff in the hotel made us feel very welcome especially Ivo, pepe and joe (vesco) We went bed and breakfast and the breakfast was very nice and a good variety, we had dinner in the hotel on a few occasions and it was very satisfactory. We are trying to book to go back again this year as "we love it"

This was the best holiday I have ever had. You can't go bored, there are too many things to do. Lots of cheap shops, bars, restaurants,and clubs. In the day you can go down to the beach which only takes about 5 minutes to walk and is down a slope which some people complain about, saying there is too many steps, but there is no need to walk the steps when there is a slope.

At the bottom of the slope is two roads. If you go left this takes you to the beach and the quiet part, which is good for the daytime, but if you take a right this is called party street where there are hundreds of bars and clubs for the night time. I would recommend the Havana snack bar to have a lovely evening meal and the Lions bar for football matches, because there are big screens to watch them on and it is full of English people.

The hotel itself was great. It is very clean in all of the rooms and the pool and the pool bars were also very clean.

The rooms constantly had clean towels, moped floors, neat beds and even my clothes were folded up for me. When I first arrived I thought the maids might steal but I left some money and my mobile phone on the cabinet and when the maids were gone they were still there. After that I felt very safe.

After you have had your evening meal which you can have in the hotel of near the beach I suggest you sit in the bar at the hotel all night. It's so funny, you can meet lots of English and the beer is very cheap. The bar staff are also great at making cocktails and one cocktail I would recommend is heroin. They set it on fire, drink it and snort the rest. It was a laugh watching peoples faces.

Now to the staff. These people were the wost amazing staff I have met and they are always smiling, except for Costa the lifeguard. I am going to miss them all because I was there for two weeks and got to know them all very well. George, Joe, Pepe, Slav, Ivo, angel (ancho) were all great and always made me laugh. Angel was my favourite and I promised him I would tell people he was the best, because he was. He works from 9am to about 1am which I think is very hard. It was fathers day whilst I was there and the staff sorted out a cake and 2 bottles of champagne for my dad.

I am definitely going to visit again and can't wait to get back there.

This was our first visit to Bulgaria, and the resort of Golden Sands was just excellent - we'd love to visit again, and would definitely recommend it. However the same cannot be said of the Dana Palace Hotel, which we wouldn't recommend to our worst enemies!
The Dana Palace Hotel was really disappointing. We were dissatisfied with the dirty unhygienic conditions, the poor state of maintenance, and the lack of Customer Service.
The Thomson brochure states the Dana Palace Hotel has been recently built. Although this may be the case, it is in a worse state of repair than much older hotels. The corridor to our room on the 4th floor was in darkness, because seven out of the 10 wall lights were not working. The corridors were constantly thick with smoke, due to hotel cleaners sitting around smoking. The lifts seldom worked correctly, and doors would open and close three or four times before eventually changing floors. On several occasions the lift was Out Of Order for days at a time.

The general condition of the bathroom was unacceptable. It was dirty, unhygienic and never thoroughly cleaned throughout our two-week stay. The WC constantly leaked all over the bathroom floor (the smell on a morning made your eyes water!). The shower curtain was black with mould, and the wall tiles around shower/bath were never cleaned throughout our two-week stay.

The bedroom was a reasonable size for 2 people, with plenty of wardrobe space to hang and store clothes. There is a mini-bar containing drinks and snacks at the supermarket prices (not the rip off prices you will find in an English hotel mini-bar), and a TV. However the surfaces of the bedroom units were constantly gritty with dirt, and there were spillage marks to the front of the cupboards from previous occupiers, which were never cleaned off throughout our two-week stay.
The bed base was broken and the ends of the wooden slats were smashed so would not stay in position. Also, the bed sheets were too small to fit the mattress, and too small to stay securely tucked in - therefore every morning you woke up on the bare mattress which wasn't pleasant!
The air-con in the room was inadequate, as room temperature remained the same even when aircon had been working for several hours. The rooms didn't include any tea making facilities either. So make sure you pack a travel kettle, cups, cutlery, etc.

The restaurant should have been better. We were B&B for a fortnight, and there was a daily shortage of cutlery & crockery - our breakfast was spoilt/cold every day due to these shortages.
The canteen only served breakfast until 10am, which for us was too early. Especially when, if food/drink ran out after 9.30am it was not replaced, and staff were very unhelpful when this was brought to their attention.
The tablecloths in the garden area were always dirty/unhygienic due to spilt food/drink, and the dried in food attracted a constant stream of wasps, flies etc.
However there was always food to our liking, and certainly enough to choose from (cereals, fruit, breads, cakes, eggs, sausages, bacon etc), so we never went hungry. We ate breakfast 12 mornings from the 14 days we were there, and never had any stomach complaints. We just wish breakfast had been served until 11am, so we could have had a lie in.

The room had an average sized balcony, but the condition was generally scruffy and dirty. On our very first evening there, we accidentally dropped a couple of peanuts whilst enjoying a nightcap - those peanuts were never cleaned up during our fortnights stay!
The balcony railings were loose, there were paint spills to the tiled floor and balcony railings, and the Patio table was black with grime and never cleaned throughout our two-week stay - I rested a book (page side down) onto the table, and the pages came back striped with black grime!

The Thomson brochure states the distance to the beach is approx 400m, but neglects to say it is down a dangerously steep and badly lit road that is in a hazardous state of repair! The hotel is set towards the back of the resort, which on the plus side means it is away from the main bustle. On the bad side, it does take a good 10 minutes to walk down the steep uneven path leading into the resort.

The Dana Palace swimming pool was dirty with unhygienic grey water and floating scum and debris. The Jacuzzi did not work for 13 days out of our 14-day stay, and some of the tiled area surrounding the children's pool had collapsed into rubble - very unsafe for children.

Reception Staff at the Dana Palace were not interested in helping resolve problems. We complained on two separate occasions expecting the staff to log our problems. However Reception told us they couldn't help, saying we would have to come back later - there was no Customer Service at all.
Many other guests had complained to the Thomson Holiday rep (us included), who acknowledged there were problems at the hotel, and that management were aware. Several of the guests we spoke to complained about bad food and upset stomachs, although we had no problems ourselves.
Another word of advice - don

We absolutely loved Dana Palace. When we first arrived we were put on the ground floor, which was quite noisy, but we asked for a room change and they were really helpful. We ended up on the top floor, in a lovely room with a balcony.

We weren't too keen on the breakfast, but it wasn't bad. It was continental, so lots of bread and cakes.

The walk from the hotel to the seafront was absolutely perfect for us, as it wasn't too long and was quite pretty. There was a lot of stairs though, which I imagine could be a problem for small children. It was lovely and quiet because of the distance though, so totally worth it.

Brilliant pool, excellent poolside food and drinks, and the staff were incredible. Oggy in particular! So friendly and made it the best holiday in a long while.

We are thinking of going back this year, and staying at Dana Palace again- no complaints at all.

I hated the hotel. It was filthy and retched. the manage meant were rude and nasty.

So don't ever go there it's a waste of time!!!!!!!

We stayed in this hotel last year,thats why we booked it again for this year. But standards have dropped in this hotel.

I had to fight to get clean linen. The towels did not get changed and the room was never cleaned they came in made the bed and lifted the rubbish bag.

The toilet was never cleaned either. We were told there was a lot of cut backs as the owner was in the middle of building a new hotel.
The smell in the corridor was disgusting.

Breakfast was fine the first week, but the second week there was not much of a variety to choose from.

The hotel was filled with lots of young people and they were very noisy kicking balls in the corridor at three o'clock in the morning.

We were realy disappointed with the hotel standards this year as last year it was realy clean hotel.

The Dana palace is really clean with rooms cleaned daily and towels changed every other day.

The breakfast was a buffet style with plenty of variety to cater for everyone, fried, cereal, cold meat and cheeses, fruit and greek yoghurt.

The location won't suit some people who have walking difficulties as it's a steepish climb from the seafront, also it might not suit people with buggies or wheelchairs. But it is in a quiet location so will suit people who want to be away from the resort centre.

The hotel staff are really nice and can't do enough to make your stay pleasant, always smiling and saying hello, definitely the friendliest staff I've had the pleasure to meet.

There was no real entertainment while I was there apart from a band on the last night.

All in all I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone going to Golden Sands, only said I wouldn't go back to this hotel as Golden Sands wasn't for me.

We found the hotel very clean with rooms made up every day with clean towels. The food was not up to much we only had two meals in a week and didn't enjoy them. The location of the hotel was up a steep hill or a lot of steps which the kids moaned a lot about.

Can't really say much about the hotel staff only Ogie and he was fab and great with the kids and very helpful. There is no entertainment at all so the kids were really bored. We didn't find it child friendly as there was only one high chair for the baby and the pool and restaurant are downstairs with no lift.

The Dana Palace in Bulgaria was very clean, the breakfast was very good with a wide selection.

The hill was a bit of an obstacle but was easy enough, the staff were very friendly and our cleaner was fantastic the rooms were spotless and the hotel gleaming.

The weather was a bit bad but would go in higher season next time, no entertainment but staff were very friendly.