We arrived late at the hotel after we were told that we were getting upgraded from our original hotel to the Grand at the airport.

The hotel was very central for main shopping area and beach.

Swimming pool was nice, which our daughter had use of as we felt it was a bit cold.

View from our rooms were towards Nesebar which was nice.

Stayed at Grand Hotel Sani beach for a week from 31/8/04, on a half board basis.

The hotel is in a good location, right in the centre of the resort and on the promenade front. Standard of accommodation is okay, with clean spacious bedrooms...usual facilities of balcony, tv, fridge etc.

You need to watch the lifts - we were stuck in them on 2 separate occassions, with the doors only opening up to show a brick wall. The lift doors also do not appear to be sensored and will close on you if you are in the way.

We found the staff attitudes to be fairly mixed...with some being friendly and some not even willing to smile! Their english was not fantastic and often they misunderstood what you were asking.

Food in the hotel is dire - not only is the choice of food unacceptable, but it also tends to be under cooked or not reheated throughly - and we actually lost 2 days of our holidays....in bed with food poisoning (as diagnosed by a doctor). There were a lot of other holiday makers from our hotel who were also unwell and in a similar position.

There is a good restaurant/bar attached to the back of the hotel and the food in there is much better - even the staff from this restaurant (which belongs to the hotel) say that they wouldn`t eat in the hotel...as it`s that bad!!

Arrived in Bulgaria ahead of time no problems so far.

Hotel in great location right at the beach just as brochure says still ok.

Went to freshen up before going down to dinner --- oh dear no hot water, not just cold water coming out of hot tap no water at all. We were on the tenth floor and this set the pattern for the next two weeks, both in the morning and at night. The excuse the rep gave us was that they were filling the pool. (Which was freezing).

Went down to dinner it was ok the first night maybe first 2 nights then it went downhill drastically. Food not only cold but only half cooked it seemed to be this way all over the resort. As a result of this both my husband and I spent a good chunk of the holiday not being able to go far from the toilet. Again the rep (who was useless) blamed the pool and said it was the water in the pool to blame, funny that considering I hadn

This hotel should not be advertised as a 4 star hotel.

The decoration was 'tired' and in our mini suite the walls were dirty with feet marks on the walls in some areas.

The room was quite large but I did pay extra for a 'junior' suite, in essence it was just a larger room but cost

The food was tasty, enjoyable, 2 to 3 options a little repetative but overall enjoyable. Out of our group. some 29 in all. most ate in every night and a special thanks to staff and Brian the rep for making my own birthday meal very special.

The hotel seemed to be cleaned 24-7 to a very high standard. The location was superb, centrally to the whole resort with a excellent variety of shops, street stalls, snack bars, bars & entertainment. The staff were efficient, friendly, helpful & polite.

The only entertainment was at night in the dining hall a duo singing, it was plesant entertainment as we ate. The suuny bar attached was excellent, snacks, drinks & staff were top (Maya, Jana, Luke & Peter).

I must add 2 or 3 of the group had some stomach upset but this seemed to be common throughout the resort? Holiday bug perhaps.

Right... my fingers are streched, my back in a comfy position!
This is because I am going to write a long, detailed review on The Grand Hotel Sunny Beach; and what an awful hotel it is!

We have just got back from Bulgaria, we stayed in the above hotel for 14 nights on half board status, anyway!...
THE FOOD: The restaurant food IS hot, I think the manageress has had enough complaints about the food being warm that she has actualy decided to offer hot food.
THE FOOD IS REALLY BAD! It's very bland and dull, every night is the same, one member of our group had three pieces of UNDERCOOKED chicken- it was oozing with blood and red.
Sausage, chicken, beef, pork= all red due to undercooking!
We heard a family complaining to their Rep. due to food trays having new food put ontop of the old food, so old and new food was mixed! The sides of the buffet trays were cleaned with a cloth that was used to clean the floor! and bring hot dishes out to tables.
Cutlery that fell on the floor was put back on the cutlery tray- so if you are going to the Grand Hotel Sunny Beach, and you feel hungry, GOOD LUCK!!
P.S. Bread from breakfast time was left over for dinner, then again for breakfast next morning! ( Extremely stale)

THE HOTEL ITSELF: All receptionists are very friendly, they speak very good English and German, porters are friendly, they help you with luggage and open your safe (if you have rented one) cleaners we found were very good in the first week, but slacked off by the second- my towels wern't taken away even though they were on the floor on some days.

The lobby bar is very nice, they serve all major drinks.. you know.. there are two main waitresess, one is friendly, one isn't.

THE POOL: Oh dear! I think there are roughly um,...30 swimming pools on the promanade beloning to hotels, they all looked nice and crystal clear and clean, BUT not the Grand Hotel! No- every night all the other pools were pumbed clean, but was the Grand?- NO! It's, dirty, murky and the water looks like milk!
There was broken glass botels hanging around where holiday makers sunbathed with their children, but did any member of staff clean the pool area? NO!

ROOMS: In general.. Ok, paint work was falling away, carpets were rucked, scurting boards were broken, we had two suites and both were just as bad so we could compare.
The Grand Hotel Sunny Beach is rated as 4*, but it doesn't really make that grade at all! Oh, and our other suites balcony was crumbling away.

THE LIFTS: Well, have you ever gone on a horse and cart? No, then go in one of their two lifts and you will find out what it's like to ride a horse! The first day we were there, I went from the ground floor to floor 1, the doors opend and I found myself looking at a piece of concrete... Yes, the lift had stopped in-between floors!
And refering to the horse and cart thing, the lifts are so rickety and loud, a man was called out, wait for it... 5 times in the two weeks we were there to fix the flaming things!

Okay, so now you've read that and your thinking, "that family must moan about everything and anything" we go away every year and never complain about a thing, many many other families were upset with the hotel, one women even thretend to fly home because she was hatting it so much, she has been all around the world, and The Grand Hotel Sunny Beach is the worst hotel she has ever been to!

We arrived early hours in the morning so all you want to do is go to bed. The porter took your baggage to the LIFT, well we were on the 12th floor when it gose past the 6th its like an old cart pulled by a pit donkey so we thought where have we come.
But the room was nice and clean there was a tv on the table which you had sit on your bed to watch it you could not lie down.
The food to bo honest was no upto much we went in twice for the week we were there but it was so cheap to eat out and have what you want.
If you go out of the back of the hotel there is a restaraunt you could say joined to the hotel it dose supperb food and very cheap steaks.
The entertainment NO but again 100s of bars and discos.
The location is right on the beach and centre of the resort can not get any better.
The ladies on the reception are very helpful.
Overall i would go back to this hotel to me its rated as a spanish 3star dont be put off by anybody try it yourself.

Where shall I start....? We never used the pool as contrary to the brochure photos it was tiny & everyone was crammed round on the grass.

The food was dreadful. All 5 of us were ill with food poisoning - my husband for a full week. Talking to others at the hotel, most people were ill.

We found the hotel staff for the most part rude & unhelpful. On at least 2 occasions items walked from our room, only to return when we complained (except for my daughters camera & some nappies). There was no apology.

We hired a car so we could leave the resort. Only to find that there is nowhere to park, as, if you park on the street (or where you are advised to by the staff & reps), the cars are impounded on a daily basis. It is, we found out, a common occurrence & another couple found the only way round it is to pay approx.

We travelled to Bulgaria on 23rd August 2004 with Thomas Cook and was one of the best holidays we have been on.

The airport was a disaster I think our front living room was bigger! It was even worse because we had a night flight (took off 2am) and we were delayed, but the hotel was great!

The lifts were very dodgy got stuck in them on first day! The staff were lovely and helpful.

The room was lovely we had interconnecting rooms which was great because it was just two rooms with a door in the middle, so we had 2 t.v's, 2 bathrooms and 2 balconies! The rooms were lovely and clean and the maids did a great job.

The entertainment was a complete joke! a duo who "sang" the same songs every night!

The location was brilliant just over the road from the beach which was great and two minutes walk from the centre, which was good because you were not in the centre so it wasn't noisy but close enough to walk to.

The swimming pool was nice but freezing! the sea was warmer than the swimming pool! The poolside bar was great.

The food was was brilliant, for breakfast there was fresh fruit, cereals, toast(the toaster was really slow though!) eggs and bacon. The dinner was even better with a different soup each night, lots of different meats, bread, fruit, chips and fish. the puddings were lovely with lots of different cakes!

Everything was so cheap to buy! We got 2 vodkas, 2 pints, 2 cokes and a sprite for

Firstly the good bits!
We arrived at The Grand Hotel Sunny Beach in the early hours of the morning and were pleasantly surprised by our room.It was spacious with a double bed,pull out bed,sofa,dressing table and fridge.The bathroom was clean and we had a lovely view of the beach from the balcony.It was also right on the main promenade.

All the hotel staff were helpful and friendly especially our cleaning lady who did a great job,we even found our clothes neatly folded if anything was left lying around and she would come back several times rather than disturb you.Reception/bar/dining room were also very clean.

Not for the not so good bits!

There seemed to be a sickness/tummy bug going around that i suffered from for much of my holiday here.There were lots of other people in our hotel with the same symptoms which made us think it was maybe the food or the pool!
The food was mostly luke warm and the selection was poor especially for kids.My son isn`t particularly fussy but all he would eat there was chips and a bit of chicken.There was the usual salad bar and soup which were o.k but even the deserts weren`t appealing.Breakfast was dodgy sausages/bacon/runny scrambled eggs and chips!There was no fresh juice,just cordial.You could make toast though and there was a coffee machine.

The pool was quite small and there were no really shallow areas so it wouldn`t really be suitable for children who can`t swim.A lot of the tiling was loose around the edge and i actually hurt my foot on this.It also wasn`t very clean.In the fortnight i was there i didn`t see anybody clean it (i go abroad every year and usually see the pools cleaned daily).

The lifts were also a bit of a hazard.Luckily we were only on the third floor but i heard of lots of people getting stuck in them and on a rare occasion when i used one the door closed as soon as i started to enter it,bruising my arm.

The only entertainment was a duo singing during dinner in the dining room though to be fair the brochure didn`t say there was any entertainment.

Basically,this hotel has good rooms and location if they could just sort out the food,the lifts and clean the pool!