Hotel Mura — Hotel in Balchik

We had a very different experience in this hotel from the first 4 days to the last 3 and that was all down to the clientele... But let's start with the resort itself.||||Albena Resort||Albena itself is a specifically built, family-friendly resort with probably 50+ different hotels and linked facilities such as bars/restaurants/shops/amusements/water park etc.. There was children's entertainment, bumper cars, hair braiding, henna tattoos, and even tennis courts and horse riding. We had a dinosaur park during our time there so there are themes that run through the year. Be aware, everything is "tourist price" though so a lot of things are very expensive. ||It is a very clever set up so although you "book" a hotel, what you are actually booking is an entire resort. We were told the area used to be a wine region and a lot of the area is protected in the Baltata nature reserve, so the tagline of "beautiful by nature" is true. A few investors created several resorts along the coast, Albena being one of them. || ||Beaches||The beaches (advertised as 6km long split into 21 separate beaches with 'free zones' in between - but all just one long beach AND approx 2.5km long usable for tourism) are advertised as the best in Bulgaria and won the holder of the "Blue Flag" eco-award for the cleanliness of the sea, the beach and the entire territory. To be fair, the beaches are immaculate BUT this is down to the amazing team of staff that maintain them and NOT the clientele that abuse them: littering and unable to simply walk to a designated bin on their all inclusive resort... This was extremely disappointing and just shows the disrespect people have for the environment and mother nature. ||The beaches are manned by lifeguards during certain hours (till 1800) and the hotels provide sunbeds and parasols: note the first two rows from the ocean are chargeable though and not included in any package holidays. There are no beach towels supplied either, so make sure you bring your own, or there are some great options available at the 24/7 shop for 10lv (less that £5).||||The Ocean was nice, clear water and warm, a top tip from us is if you don’t mind the walk (2+km from the hotel along the coast road) you will come to the end of the ‘tourist’ beaches – there is a barrier that says no entry but this is the start of the local beaches, which in our opinion had calmer water and was a nicer environment away from the hustle and bustle of people. Please respect the locals though – this is their space away from tourists to enjoy family time. We used to run early morning along the coast road every other day, so the beaches were pretty empty. The coast road also breaks up around the 3.5km mark on/off for the next 1km but after that, it’s a great road – all the way too Balchik. ||It is also noteworthy: I was absolutely annihilated by tiny black biting flies, I have over 200 bites from a 1-week holiday, the kids and husband were slightly better but looking around at other people and doing a bit of research, they are obviously a problem. They are day biters and more prolific when there was no wind and considering how tiny they are, they have huge teeth! I tried all sorts of magical anti bug sprays/cream/air vaporiser/candles etc.. But nothing worked. This was across Albena and from the research we did, prevalent in Varna and beyond also – if you have small kids, this might be an issue as the itching is pretty sinister. On a positive – there were limited mosquitos. ||||Staff||The staff are absolutely lovely, polite, friendly and bloody hard working. They are international, so we met people from Bali, Romania and even France as well as Bulgarian. They rotate through the various hotels though, so it is difficult to build up a relationship with personnel. We felt really sorry for our staff as the Clientele at the beginning of our week were really rude: we think they must have left their manners at home when booking an all-inclusive as we very rarely heard a please or thank you, let alone walking the few steps to the nearest "service station" to place empty plates/glasses... The behaviour was absolutely shocking and mentality of "someone else will clean up my mess" is just downright disrespectful. There is no excuse for poor manners or bad behaviour, especially to other lovely human beings, surely you wouldn't behave like that in your own home, so why do it at a hotel? Especially when that type of behaviour is witnessed by children. ||||Every single member of staff was lovely, but we want to give a special mention too: ||-Tzvetelina (Molly) bartender; who is absolutely lovely, such a kind heart. Even after we witnessed some people being extremely rude and harsh towards her, she remained professional and polite at all times. ||-Andrey, Housekeeper; cleaning every day to an extremely high standard – considerate, helpful and cheery.||-Edi Picolo and the entire Indonesian staff (Bali), waiter/waitress; what wonderful people who worked so hard. Always happy and couldn’t do enough to help. ||-Svetoslav (Svetko), Customer Relations, Reception, who welcomed us back from our runs with a smiling face. ||-Kliment, Hotel Manager; a lovely gentleman who showed grand hospitality towards us, it is obvious why he represents the Mura hotel; tremendous customer service skills and abilities with an obvious passion for his staff and strive for his clients. ||[The staff made our holiday perfect, their hospitality went a long way, thank you. ||||----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------||Mura Hotel Specifically||||Rooms: are light, modern, airy, and we believe all have a balcony. You either have a front view (beach view) or a back view (street) but the hotel is very cleverly positioned for 360-degree activity. ||Pools: There were two small outdoor pools and 1 indoor pool with a jacuzzi - great for kids. Plenty of sunbeds around the pool, as well as 2 climbing areas. ||||Food and Drink: brilliant, considering we are the most complicated family (two vegetarians and a gluten intolerance) we always found something amazing to eat. The salad bar was fantastic, fresh,h tasty food, plenty of variety. There was usually pasta and rice for lunch and dinner, along with various meat and fish dishes. There was also a BBQ of some kid outside on a big cooking plate, which served plain meat/fish, a nice addition for the meat eaters. There was a fruit counter, desert counter, a bread counter, and much more – well done to Johan and his team for the wonderful, tasty food that was served daily. In between lunch and dinner was also the snack bar, which had pizza, waffles etc. We never used this facility as we were always so full of lunch, but the food looked nice. One thing we have to say on this matter; just because you’re at an all-inclusive, doesn’t mean you have to pile plate after plate excessively, just to waste the food. This was one of the reasons our first few days was not a pleasant experience.. we would say 85% of the clientele were morbidly obese; the pushing and rudeness to access the food was something I have never experienced before. There is a queue system for a reason, and the hotel never ran out of any selection of food, so why the excessive need to push in front in order to take the last piece of food from that tray, only to waste it, was absolutely astonishing. I have never seen my husband get angry, but this behaviour certainly tested us. We are well-travelled, and I work as a medic. Having experienced children starving when completing humanitarian missions across the globe, as well as natural disasters, I am well aware of how lucky we are for the food and fresh water we receive and therefore do not waste it. We were absolutely disgusted at the quantity of food people discarded. You wouldn’t do this in your own home, so why do it at the hotel? Eat what you can manage, and if you want more, get more. Luckily the later part of the week, the clientele changed, and the restaurant became calmer and quieter, but the excessive waste of food and drink still remained. ||You also have the option to eat A-la-carte (Flamingo Bistro) if you are on an all-inclusive package (2 lunches and 2 dinners each), we only discovered this at the latter part of the week, so they only had availability for one lunch sadly. (Drinks are not included).||||Smoking: It is noteworthy that we are in Bulgaria, where smoking in public places is still very much accepted. We were not able to have a single meal outside without people surrounding us smoking. For us, this is totally unacceptable and disrespectful, especially when the people smoking have tiny kids next to them, clearly inhaling the passive smoke…. BUT we appreciate that we are not in our home country, so we have to respect the local rules and laws. Inside was always difficult to get a table; it was warm and extremely noisy, so we managed to find a pool table outside, far from anyone, where we were able to have lunch and dinner daily in peace. ||||Cleanliness: Excellent and high standard everywhere. There were cleaning staff constantly cleaning and tidying up after people. We really felt sorry for the staff – people would just get up and leave their plates/food/drinks on the table without a care in the world. After every meal, we stacked our plates/cups and took them to a cleaning station. We made sure our table was clean and tidy because that is the respectful thing to do. It also teaches our children a lesson, keeping the environment and other people free from harm. The staff work hard enough, they do not need to be chasing after people when they should have the decency to tidy up after themselves. The care staff also, constantly sweeping and mopping nonstop – yet people walk straight over their freshly cleaned floor with sandy/dirty footprints – think how demoralising that is for the cleaner, when they could have taken a different route. The staff kept the entire place clean and fresh; our hearts go out to each and every one of them for keeping moral high and continuing the high standards across the resort.||||Communal Areas: There was a nice seating area in reception with a bar, upstairs was a pool table, and underneath a shop. Outdoor seating on either side of the hotel was available. ||||Location: Mura is located in a pedestrian area, although taxis and buses can of course drive down. Mura is is 3rd hotel from the end of the 6km beach line. We believe it is part of 3 sister hotels next to each other: Gergana (1st one on the beach) and Slavuna (2nd one on the beach) then Mura, all beach fronts. Directly opposite is the Baltata nature reserve which we ran through most days, then onto the coast road up to Balchik. There is the Batova River at the bottom of the reserve and a road which you can cycle (although we never did cycle), we did run back along the cycle route once to avoid the sunshine as it was extremely hot that day (it runs parallel with the road and a designated cycle path), and it was a nice road. ||||Directly outside is also the Albena 'train' which regularly runs into town (approx 1km away). This is where you will find shops/restaurants etc.. But you can also walk/cycle along the coast road (runs parallel) which offers a different experience, various shops along the way including a 24/7 shop, massage place, small medical facility, restaurants, foot fish bar (where the dinky fish eat your dead skin on your feet) and various outdoor fitness areas. There is also the stage, opposite the Maritim hotel, which had events on, we saw a local Bulgarian band one evening which was a really nice vibe. ||||The evening entertainment is at Gergana (2 hotels down), which we saw one evening but preferred walking into town. There was not a strict entertainment schedule in town, so we were unsure which bars were playing when.. we did find a nice piano bar (next to Flamingo), which had live music two nights, and Cafe Natasha, which had a guitarist. It is noteworthy that nothing is open past midnight in Albena. Still, you do have an option to go to Golden Sands (15 mins away), which provides more “adult” entertainment – the boys (15&16) frequented here as there were nightclubs, late-night opening bars/restaurants / shops and erotic dancing! ||||The Gergana has a larger pool and the "gym" although we were very disappointed in the gym: 1 treadmill, a couple of spin bikes, and some very random free weights was available. For a couple that are fitness freaks: we were expecting a lot more, and if there was anything negative to say, this would be the only thing. ||||We believe the Albena resort is good for families with up to teenagers. We are a family with 15- and 16-year-old boys, so we would have been better suited at Golden Sands. Nonetheless, we had a lovely week’s holiday and would recommend this...

Cleanliness: Excellent and high standard everywhere. There were cleaning staff constantly cleaning and tidying up after people. We really felt sorry for the staff – people would just get up and leave their plates/food/drinks on the table without a care in the world. After every meal, we stacked our plates/cups and took them to a cleaning station. We made sure our table was clean and tidy because that is the respectful thing to do. It also teaches our children a lesson, keeping the environment and other people free from harm. Communal Areas: There was a nice seating area in reception with a bar, upstairs was a pool table and underneath a shop. Outdoor seating on either side of the hotel was available. Location: Mura is located in a pedestrian area, although taxis and buses can of course drive down. Mura is is 3rd hotel from the end of the 6km beach line. We believe it is part of 3 sister hotels next to each other: Gergana (1st one on the beach) and Slavuna (2nd one on the beach) then Mura, all beach fronts. Directly opposite is the Baltata nature reserve which we ran through most days, then onto the coast road up to Balchik. Directly outside is also the Albena 'train' which regularly runs into town (approx 1km away). This is where you will find shops/restaurants etc.. But you can also walk/cycle along the coast road (runs parallel) which offers a different experience, various shops along the way including a 24/7 shop, massage place, small medical facility, restaurants, foot fish bar (where the dinky fish eat your dead skin on your feet) and various outdoor fitness areas. There is also the stage, opposite the Maritim hotel which had events on, we saw a local Bulgarian band one evening which was a really nice vibe. Staff The staff are absolutely lovely, polite, friendly and bloody hard working. They are international, so we met people from Bali, Romania and even France as well as Bulgarian. They rotate through the various hotels though, so it is difficult to build up a relationship with personnel. We felt really sorry for our staff as the Clientele at the beginning of our week were really rude: we think they must have left their manners at home when booking an all-inclusive as we very rarely heard a please or thank you, let alone walking the few steps to the nearest "service station" to place empty plates/glasses... The behaviour was absolutely shocking and mentality of "someone else will clean up my mess" is just downright disrespectful. There is no excuse for poor manners or bad behaviour, especially to other lovely human beings, surely you wouldn't behave like that in your own home, so why do it at a hotel? Especially when that type of behaviour is witnessed by children. Every single member of staff was lovely, but we want to give a special mention too: Tzvetelina (Molly) bartender; who is absolutely lovely, such a kind heart. Even after we witnessed some people being extremely rude and harsh towards her, she remained professional and polite at all times. Andrey, Housekeeper; cleaning every day to an extremely high standard – considerate, helpful and cheery. Edi Picolo and the entire Indonesian staff (Bali), waiter/waitress; what wonderful people who worked so hard. Always happy and couldn’t do enough to help. Svetoslav (Svetko), Customer Relations, Reception, who welcomed us back from our runs with a smiling face. Kliment, Hotel Manager; a lovely gentleman who showed grand hospitality towards us, it is obvious why is represents the Mura hotel; tremendous customer service skills and abilities with an obvious passion for his staff and strive for his clients. The staff made our holiday perfect, their hospitality went a long...

Предыстория||“Отдыхали” в отеле с 10 по 24 августа 2018 года. Ездили от туроператора “TUI”. Были здесь третий раз. Первый раз – в 2013 году. Второй – в 2015 году. Во время второго пребывания заметили значительные улучшения. В первую очередь это касалось Wi-Fi, который стал бесплатным и появился в номерах. На фоне остальных отелей “Мура” отличалась хорошим персоналом, наличием обменного пункта (с актуальным курсом), бесплатным Wi-Fi в номерах, качественной пищей, достаточно комфортабельными комнатами без насекомых и близким к морю расположением. Из всего вышеперечисленного осталось только последнее.||Плюсы||1. Удачное расположение отеля (близко к морю).||2. Бесплатные лежаки и зонтики (при условии, что вы успеете в 7 утра их занять).|| Минусы||1. Продавец, у которого, ни в коем случае нельзя менять деньги||Сразу по приезду мы хотели поменять деньги и спросили на рецепции где это можно сделать. Нам ответили, что только в магазине на 1 этаже, хотя раньше это можно было сделать на рецепции. На вопрос, где еще это можно сделать, нам ничего не ответили (и про обменный пункт в Добрудже даже не вспомнили, хотя об этом там знают, наверное, все). Продавец в магазине меняет деньги по крайне невыгодному курсу и отказывается это делать по нормальному. В тот момент, когда официальный курс доллара был 1,69 лева, он менял по 1,56! Поэтому меняйте деньги в Добрудже или у своего гида (мы так делали).||2. Ресторан – тошниловка||Качество пищи резко ухудшилось по сравнению с прошлыми годами. Посуда моется крайне плохо ( приходится долго выбирать чистую вилку или тарелку, а стаканы вообще лучше брать одноразовые). Кроме этого ресторан обслуживает 2 отеля – “Мура” и “Славуна”, как следствие, персонал не справляется с таким количеством туристов и постоянно возникают огромные очереди, поэтому приходить поесть нужно либо совсем рано, либо совсем поздно. Сильно уменьшилось количество мясных блюд. Пища в основном невкусная, мясо недожаренное, а первые блюда, похоже, разбавляют водой, когда они заканчиваются.||3. Отравления||Из-за низкого качества пищи и полной антисанитарии в ресторане среди туристов часто случаются отравления. В ходе разговоров с официантами и горничными (оказалось, это практиканты из Украины) выяснилось, что отравления здесь случаются постоянно. Нас это также не обошло. Моя бабушка отравилась уже на 8 день пребывания после употребления рыбы в отельном ресторане. Пришлось вызывать скорую, которая отвезла нас в медицинский центр в Добрудже, где бабушке поставили капельницу. Похоже, врачи этого центра далеко не в первый раз сталкивались с подобной проблемой - они прекрасно знали что надо делать. Кстати, в одной палате с бабушкой лежал француз с такими же симптомами. ||При разговоре с менеджером отеля (complex manager Georgi Atanasov), касательно этой ситуации, мы не получили извинений, а увидели лишь ухмылку на его лице.||4. Комнаты||Так уж получилось, что за время нашего пребывания в “Муре” мы сменили 3 комнаты: 220, 140 и 222.||Сначала нас поселили в комнату 220. В этой комнате было плохо все, кроме вида из окна. Здесь не было Wi-Fi, почти не включалась лампочка в туалете, было много домашних муравьев, плохо работал кондиционер, был старый раздолбанный замок, а над кроватью висела накренившаяся поломанная картина(фото). Уже примерно через 9 дней кондиционер сломался полностью, и мы пошли менять номер. В ходе этого произошел очередной конфликт с персоналом о котором я напишу в пункте 6. ||Сначала нас переселили в комнату 140 с “типа видом на море” (фото), также отсутствующим Wi-Fi, и поломанным замком. ||После вмешательства нашего гида нас, таки переселили в комнату 222. Вид из окна здесь был хуже, чем в комнате 220(мешали деревья), Wi-Fi также не было, противомоскитная сетка была дырявая, муравьев было больше (здесь были даже муравьи с крыльями)(фото), сломанный кран в ванной, кровать была сломана (фото), дырки над кроватью, из которых выползают (а иногда и вылетают) муравьи. Но здесь работал свет в ванной, кондиционер, и попытки с 50 можно было подключиться к Wi-Fi, стоя рядом с дверью.||5. Wi-Fi||Wi-Fi в отеле отсутствует почти полностью. Он есть только в коридоре и в некоторых комнатах, которые расположены рядом с роутерами (на этаж примерно 2 роутера). В ресторане, на пляже и очень часто в холле, вопреки заявлениям руководства отеля, Wi-Fi нет. За 3 дня перед отьездом в холле сломался роутер. В день нашего отьезда он так и не был починен. Сигнал крайне нестабилен и даже непосредственно рядом с роутером часто пропадает.||6. Грубый персонал на рецепции||Мы бывали в отелях разных стран, но такого хамства и пренебрежительного отношения к гостям еще не встречали. ||6.1. Инцидент с Wi-Fi||Все началось на второй день, когда мы подошли на рецепцию чтобы попросить поменять номер ввиду отсутствия Wi-Fi. На рецепции сидела блондинка FOM Iva Zhelyazkova, которая отказала нам, обьяснив это тем, что это недостаточная причина, чтобы менять номер, и, вообще, свободных номеров нет. Позже, в тот же день, поговорив с горничной, мы узнали, что свободные номера есть, и даже зашли в один из них и проверили наличие Wi-Fi. После этого, мы снова подошли на рецепцию, но у Iva Zhelyazkova нашлось намного больше причин почему нам нельзя поменять номер:||1) Это все еще недостаточная причина для замены номера||2) Вы уже вселились и загрязнили комнату, после вас ее второй раз никто убирать не будет (в нашем предложении убрать комнату самостоятельно, также, было отказано)||3) Мы не можем вас переселить, так как этот номер предназначен для других людей||4) Wi-Fi не везде хорошо ловит и никто переселять из-за этого не будет|| После этого, мы обратились к нашему гиду по поводу этой проблемы. Он приехал и поговорил c Iva Zhelyazkova и подошедшим на тот момент главным менеджером Георгием Атанасовым (Complex manager Georgi Atanasov), которые в свою очередь придумали историю про несуществующего мастера, который до пяти часов этого дня приедет и починит Wi-Fi. Чинить там было, понятное дело, нечего, так как до нашего номера роутер просто не доставал. После того, как мы отвернулись и пошли, эти двое (Georgi Atanasov and Iva Zhelyazkova) ехидно посмеивались нам в спину. Мастер, естественно, не пришел, но мы и так поняли, что нас просто обманули. ||6.2. Инцидент с кондиционером||Примерно на 9 день нашего пребывания в отеле кондиционер сломался полностью. Вечером я подошел на рецепцию и сообщил о проблеме. Мою комнату записали и сказали, что завтра с 9 до 10 утра прибудет мастер и починит кондиционер. Iva Zhelyazkova на рецепции не было.||Следующим утром к нам опять никто не пришел. Придя на рецепцию, мы увидели там Iva Zhelyazkova и повторно сообщили о проблеме, уточнив, что наш номер комнаты уже записан. Когда она открыла блокнот, оказалось, что наш номер вычеркнут, как будто проблема уже решена. ||На тот момент мы не знали с кем мы общаемся, так как на Iva Zhelyazkova не было бейджа. На нашу просьбу сообщить нам свое имя, фамилию и должность, нам было в грубой манере отказано без объяснения причины.||Тем не менее, Iva Zhelyazkova удосужилась вызвать мастера, который, посмотрев кондиционер, сказал, что он не подлежит ремонту.||После этого нам предоставили номер на первом этаже (140), который на “sea view”, мягко говоря, не тянул (фото). Менять номер Iva Zhelyazkova наотрез отказалась, объясняя это тем, что свободных комнат нет. ||После того, как мы сообщили нашему гиду об этой проблеме, он приехал и комната на втором этаже нашлась моментально! Кстати, она была по соседству с нашей бывшей комнатой.||6.3. Инцидент с продлением номера||Понятно, что предыдущие события отбили у нас охоту обращаться на рецепцию по поводу продления номера, но, так как, наш самолет был в 22:10, нам пришлось это сделать. Примерно в 8.00 бабушка подошла на рецепцию и уточнила по поводу продления номера (на рецепции не было Iva Zhelyazkova). Администратор сказала, что это возможно, и вы можете это сделать хоть сейчас. На тот момент у нас не было с собой необходимой суммы для оплаты. ||Когда мы разменяли деньги и подошли на рецепцию заплатить, там уже сидела Iva Zhelyazkova, которая, естественно, отказалась продлевать номер. Лишь повторное вмешательство нашего гида помогло нам это сделать.||Вывод ||Когда-то этот отель был одним из лучших на побережье. Сейчас он деградировал настолько, что ниже падать уже некуда. ||Я присоединяюсь к отзывам “LatvianRiga” под названием “Mixed Feelings” и “goldenfishy” под названием “Terrible!”, которые наиболее точно отражают происходящее в этом отеле на данный момент. Что характерно – почти все негативные отзывы, как и эти относятся к периоду лета 2018 года. Большинство же позитивных отзывов относятся к 2007-2015 годам, что неудивительно.||Кстати, “LatvianRiga” в своем отзыве упомянул проблему с Iva Zhelyazkova и ее высокомерным поведением по отношению к туристам. Его отзыв был написан 27 июня 2018 года и никаких, обещанных Георгием Атанасовым, улучшений не произошло. Между прочим, “LatvianRiga”, как и мы, тоже не получил никаких извинений за подобное поведение Iva Zhelyazkova.||Обращение к Георгию Атанасову||Попрошу Георгия Атанасова, который любит на этом сайте отвечать стандартными фразами типа:||“We were sorry to learn that some aspects of your stay fell below your expectations.||We have shared your comments with our Managers and Staff on-site in order to continue to improve the quality of our facilities and services,” ||не делать этого, а лучше попытаться вернуть отелю тот вид, каким он был в 2015 году. И решить, в конце концов, проблему с хамством на рецепции в исполнении Iva Zhelyazkova.||P.S. Большое спасибо нашему гиду Аркадию (компания TUI) за помощь в решении постоянно...