Unfortunately I made the mistake of coming on this site after I had booked to go to Sunny Beach with my Fiance, staying in Hotel Karlovo. I have used the site previously, finding it very useful and reviews generally accurate. After reading the reviews about Hotel Karlovo I immediately called Balkan Holidays to be moved but they wouldn't let me due to it being less than 15 days until my travel date. So I accepted this and went with the view "surely it can't be that bad". How wrong was I..

We arrived in the early hours of the morning to the 'hotel' and were immediately greeted by a cloud of smoke and a really strong cigarette stench in the reception area and a feeling that we had gone through a time machine back to the 1940's. The receptionist was also extremely miserable. We carried our own bags up 4 flights of stairs which isn't so much of an issue; except trying to avoid breaking our necks on patched and loose carpet on the stairs definitely was.

Upon entering our room we were actually shocked at how tiny it was - I have a box room in my house which is bigger! Again, we were greeted by the same delightful and evidentally circa 1940's carpet which is long overdue replacement, I hate to imagine what was festering within the non-existant pile of it. The foot-to-foot single beds were poorly made and also had old fashioned quilts on which had also seen better days. The room was dark, dismal and smelt; 10 days there and I would have been seeing my GP when I got home for anti-depressants.

When we started exploring the room we discovered that when we pulled back one of the revolting bed quilts, the undersheet was covered in disgusting stains (I would rather not know what the stains were!), the only plug socket in the room was actually hanging off the wall, along the tiled area of the room there was a large piece of tile missing exposing a sharp edge (accident waiting to happen!) and the whole room was just filthy, no filthy is too generous, it was absolutely despicable. I wouldn't even let my dog spend time in it.

Unfortunately due to the hour of the morning it now was, we both spent the remainder of the night there squashed together in the cleaner of the 2 single beds. The next day I saw our rep and demanded to be moved to be met with the response "what do you expect for a two star?". Naturally I saw red. Our holiday was not cheap and I cannot believe that Balkan Holidays are knowingly taken peoples hard earned money off them and sending them there!

I have previously stayed in 2 star hotels that were more like 5 star compared with that hell hole. We met a party of 9 the next morning who were also demanding to be moved. We upgraded to Regina Hotel which we cannot fault. When we arrived there, we met more people who had experienced Karlovo Hotel and had done the same as us! The Regina Hotel manager later told me that this is common practice. Had we not been able to move, we would have got the next flight home rather than stay in the Karlovo.

Please please do not book this 'hotel' unless you want the holiday from hell. It is revolting and an absolute nightmare; it is actually a health and safety issue also. I have taken many photographs and am going to take this to a very high level with the travel company now because they simply should not send people to that place, it needs to be demolished and fast!

I was on holiday with my niece but i stayed in a different hotel when my niece turned up in the morning she arrived in tears and said to me about the hotel Karlovo being bad. I went to the hotel with her and good was it bad the room was riddled with damp it looked if it had not been cleaned for months it smelled of dampness and stail could not swing a cat in the room it was so tiny you had to sleep toe to toe. we then went down to the pool area the pool was filthy you could not see the bottom of the pool although it was only 1.5meteres deep. The staff over heard us discussing the disgusting state of the pool the next thing we knew a member of staff wearing trunks climbed into the pool and started removing the grim from around the pool with a scouring pad this muck and grim was being washed directly in to the pool.
In my opinion this hotel is unfit for human habitation we went directly to bulkan head office and payed for my niece to be moved to another hotel

we stayed at hotel karvolo and was tottally discusted what we found there,the hotel was dirty,old,and poorly maintained to say the least.the pool was a total swamp and shoulnt be used if you value your health.the cocktail bar what was advertized in the brochure was never open.we never ate one single thing from the hotel as if they had no standards in the hotel rooms or the pool we wernt taking any chances esspecialy when i saw flies all over the food(flies in masses breading from the filth riden pool).how balkan holidays can still send people there is outragus this place should be shut down now before other people have to suffer.if you have booked for this hotel i can only strongly advise you change it quickly before you spoil your experience of bugaria which is a lovely place and the people are nice and friendly.this is in no way a 2 star hotel and should be downgraded to a -5 star.balkan holidays are knowingly still sending people to this hell hole advertized as a 2 star hotel.this is false advertizing.

We have just returned from our holiday if you can call it that, we arrived on the 18th August, we were B&B but on seeing the room i phoned the office and said i would not stay there for 2wks, we were told we would see the manageress and 6.30pm then it was changed to 10am the next day, the next day my husband and i went down to wait to see the manageress by 10.30 she still had not showed up, the rep arrived to take us to the welcome meeting, and i said i was going now where till i got either a change off room or hotel, i told him that it was not fit for pigs, the receptionist then said that we could be moved to the apartments, which we were after i said i wanted to see them first.

They were much better, mind you the shower leaked and we are still waiting on plates to eat our cornflakes out off we tried asking and were given a fruit bowl. The best part for me apart from coming home was the hospital treatment i got ive have been waiting since June to find out if i have a kidney stone or not, the doctor arrive with ambulance in less than ten minutes took me to the medical center were i got a scan, something that seems to be to much for the medics in this country, after i was put on a drip then when things settled down was driven back to our apartments, so for that i can not praise them enough, and no it was not expencive

We've visited Bulgaria several times before and always stopped in basic accomodation. We could not fault this hotel, it does have fairly small rooms but was very clean, the cleaning staff were cheerful and helpful, rooms were cleaned everyday, towels changed every few days and the pool area was mopped daily, pool nice and clean. The hotel staff were friendly very welcoming, the lounge was comfortable, outside seating area was a great place to chill and relax. Breakfast was enjoyable and always cooked fresh. The bar below the apartments was a little loud, although music stopped at 10.30pm so that wasn't too bad. We would recommend this hotel, it is central for buses, banks and only a few minutes from the beach, and for those wanting basic accomodation, you can't go wrong.

If balkan Holidays think they have a good reputation then sending people to this hotel is a disgrace. Food was rubbish, hotel is needing demolished (if you can call it a hotel). Even the locals laughed and called it Faulty Towers when we told them where we stayed.

Rooms cleaned daily. Food OK and available all hours. Room basic, but noisy due to traffic being let in via barrier front of hotel.

I found staff very helpful. The hotel is in need of refurb but the apartments look new, nice pool and bar. Hotel is about 5 /10 Min's walk to beach and close to bars and restaurants which is good as no entertainment at hotel.

4 of us went all blokes and I would stay again .

The hotel needs to be refurbished big style, or the best plan would be to demolish it. We were lucky to be in the new part of the hotel which were apartments, everything was new so it was clean.

The staff with the exception of the manager were rude very unhelpful and everything was a bother to them.

The food was terrible it was the same for the whole fortnight we were there.

The location of the hotel was good the only thing that was in its favour!

There was no entertainment at all you had to go elsewhere for that.

If we had to stay in the hotel we certainly would not go back but the apartments were ideal.

Came here on Balkan AOA, hotel very basic and should be demolished!

Cleaniness is awful, staff rude.