Saint George Palace Aparthotel Bansko — Hotel in Bansko

On arrival at the hotel you might think you have indeed walked into a 4 star hotel but the beautiful reception is just a front. The apartments are barely 2 star, and I'm being generous, and the spa leaves a lot to be desired.||The apartments themselves are furnished with cheap furniture, MFI would have been embarrassed to stock it. One of the sliding wardrobe doors fell off the first time I touched it, dangerous if that had been a small child. One dressing table, if you can call it that, had a stool, the other one in the other room didn't, there was virtually nowhere to put anything down. There were 2 bedside lamps between 4 bedside tables, nowhere to plug them in anyway and the standard lamp in the living area had a broken plug, my wife didn't realise and could have got a nasty shock. The carpet was cheap and worn, the showers leaked and the plug holes in the bathroom floors didn't drain. The tiles were dirty and missing in places. There was a missing curtain in the living area. The dishwasher didn't work, there was barely enough equipment to cater for yourself and there was only one sofa so only 3 spaces to relax in, the fourth person had to sit on a kitchen chair. And we'd paid a supplement because there was a sofa bed so apparently it was a 6 person apartment. There was a small area which we assumed was for luggage and ski gear but there were no hooks and no heating so we had ski gear draped everywhere at all times.||The pool was nice but around it was a slippery deathtrap which was never squeegeed, except for the small area in front of the reception desk which was rarely manned anyway. You were lucky to get a towel. The hot tub was green and cloudy most days, the steam room barely steamed and the floor outside the sauna and steam room was literally slimy under foot. Who knows when it had been properly cleaned last.||So just to put all this in context my wife doesn't ski, she tried it once but didn't get on with it. She agreed to come with us and our friends if we went to a spa hotel, how she regretted that decision. She endured an endless succession of maintenance and housekeeping calls, many of those entered the apartment without knocking. Beyond the broken dishwasher there was a leak in the ceiling of the apartment below, no doubt because of the drainage issue so we had a full re-grout one morning. The dishwasher got sorted, eventually, but we had to ask them to come and put the kitchen back together and clean up after themselves. And she didn't dare book a treatment at the 'spa', god knows what she would have got! She was literally in tears of frustration with the rep.||So of course we'd complained to the rep who said he would arrange for the management to see us but they didn't show, my wife just got a receptionist with a bad attitude. She was offered another apartment which was on the other side of the hotel from our friends, also pretty tatty, also with only one sofa but with a washing machine and no dishwasher at all! We also witnessed another hotel guest complaining that some of her clothes had gone missing. She got nowhere either and left the reception in total frustration.||The management did apologise, by leaving us a bowl of fruit, a bottle of wine and a voucher for some what are effectively cheap cocktails. Too little too late on the last day. The Manager didn't bother to respond to my email of complaint afterwards. And Balkan holidays barely acknowledged let alone upheld any of our complaints. Apparently they had 'fulfilled their contract with us!!' The holiday cost us over £4K. Now I've been on a lot of ski holidays, stayed in hotels, apartments, chalets, Air BnBs but I have never experienced anything so bad. It was like Fawlty Towers but with a nicer reception. ||And the icing on the cake, we found drugs and paraphernalia in the apartment which we reported after we left. Can you believe they had magically disappeared when the staff went to look for them? Of course the hotel denied all knowledge.||One small positive, Bobby the Barman, a very nice fella with excellent customer service skills. He could have taught most of the rest of the staff a thing or two! A shame he was powerless to stop the rabble of kids running around the sports bar whilst we were eating. Apparently their parents were having a nice quiet drink upstairs in the (too hot to stay for more than one drink) cocktail bar.||All I can say is just don't, spend the extra money on a real 4 star hotel with a decent holiday company. Stay well away from this hotel and well away from...

On arrival at the hotel you might think you have indeed walked into a 4 star hotel but the beautiful reception is just a front. The apartments are barely 2 star, and I'm being generous, and the spa leaves a lot to be desired.||The apartments themselves are furnished with cheap furniture, MFI would have been embarrassed to stock it. One of the sliding wardrobe doors fell off the first time I touched it, dangerous if that had been a small child. One dressing table, if you can call it that, had a stool, the other one in the other room didn't, there was virtually nowhere to put anything down. There were 2 bedside lamps between 4 bedside tables, nowhere to plug them in anyway and the standard lamp in the living area had a broken plug, my wife didn't realise and could have got a nasty shock. The carpet was cheap and worn, the showers leaked and the plug holes in the bathroom floors didn't drain. The tiles were dirty and missing in places. There was a missing curtain in the living area. The dishwasher didn't work, there was barely enough equipment to cater for yourself and there was only one sofa so only 3 spaces to relax in, the fourth person had to sit on a kitchen chair. And we'd paid a supplement because there was a sofa bed so apparently it was a 6 person apartment. There was a small area which we assumed was for luggage and ski gear but there were no hooks and no heating so we had ski gear draped everywhere at all times.||The pool was nice but around it was a slippery deathtrap which was never squeegeed, except for the small area in front of the reception desk which was rarely manned anyway. You were lucky to get a towel. The hot tub was green and cloudy most days, the steam room barely steamed and the floor outside the sauna and steam room was literally slimy under foot. Who knows when it had been properly cleaned last.||So just to put all this in context my wife doesn't ski, she tried it once but didn't get on with it. She agreed to come with us and our friends if we went to a spa hotel, how she regretted that decision. She endured an endless succession of maintenance and housekeeping calls, many of those entered the apartment without knocking. Beyond the broken dishwasher there was a leak in the ceiling of the apartment below, no doubt because of the drainage issue so we had a full re-grout one morning. The dishwasher got sorted, eventually, but we had to ask them to come and put the kitchen back together and clean up after themselves. And she didn't dare book a treatment at the 'spa', god knows what she would have got! She was literally in tears of frustration with the rep.||So of course we'd complained to the rep who said he would arrange for the management to see us but they didn't show, my wife just got a receptionist with a bad attitude. She was offered another apartment which was on the other side of the hotel from our friends, also pretty tatty, also with only one sofa but with a washing machine and no dishwasher at all! We also witnessed another hotel guest complaining that some of her clothes had gone missing. She got nowhere either and left the reception in total frustration.||The management did apologise, by leaving us a bowl of fruit, a bottle of wine and a voucher for some what are effectively cheap cocktails. Too little too late on the last day. The Manager didn't bother to respond to my email of complaint afterwards. And Balkan holidays barely acknowledged let alone upheld any of our complaints. Apparently they had 'fulfilled their contract with us!!' The holiday cost us over £4K. Now I've been on a lot of ski holidays, stayed in hotels, apartments, chalets, Air BnBs but I have never experienced anything so bad. It was like Fawlty Towers but with a nicer reception. ||And the icing on the cake, we found drugs and paraphernalia in the apartment which we reported after we left. Can you believe they had magically disappeared when the staff went to look for them? Of course the hotel denied all knowledge.||One small positive, Bobby the Barman, a very nice fella with excellent customer service skills. He could have taught most of the rest of the staff a thing or two! A shame he was powerless to stop the rabble of kids running around the sports bar whilst we were eating. Apparently their parents were having a nice quiet drink upstairs in the (too hot to stay for more than one drink) cocktail bar.||All I can say is just don't, spend the extra money on a real 4 star hotel with a decent holiday company. Stay well away from this hotel and well away from...

On arrival the foyer is cosy and inviting with a large and very impressive fire. Reception staff very helpful. Rooms are not so fancy but met our needs. We actually had to move rooms following a plumbing emergency (freak occurrence, not a reflection on the hotel). We had booked a 2 bedroom apartment for myself, husband and 2 children 12 & 14 as we didn’t feel it was fair for them to share a sofa bed if we got a 1 bedroom apt. In the first apt both bedrooms had twin beds. Bathroom was equipped with bath and separate shower. Shower wasn’t the best, if you turned it up too high it would flip up like a crazy hose, spraying over the top of the screen and soak the whole bathroom. Kitchen had dishwasher, 2 ring hob and electric oven and a very tiny fridge. There were 4 cups, glasses, plates, bowls, etc, a frying pan and saucepan. Living area had a sofa that fitted the 4 of us (we’re all quite slim) and a Tv. The room we were moved to was a bit bigger, still 2 bedrooms but one had bunk beds with a small double on the bottom, the other had twin beds. Kitchen this time had a 4 ring hob, electric oven, large fridge and bigger dishwasher. No pans this time but I brought a couple of my own saucepans, a frying pan, wooden spoon and disposable tin foil trays for the oven. Both rooms also had dish soap, a tea towel and dish cloth provided although I had brought my own along with dishwasher tabs. Plenty of cupboard space for food. Again just basic necessities provided for cutlery/plates, etc. Shower was better although it leaked. Curtains weren’t quite wide enough for all the windows. So all in all, rooms weren’t luxurious but were comfy and fit for purpose. Plenty of towels provided.|We went to the pool/hot tub a couple of times, robes and slippers provided in room and towels in spa. No issues with the facilities, not too busy but we were there outside of school holiday times.|We didn’t eat in the restaurant but had pizza delivered to our room a couple of nights when I was too tired to cook and it was delicious. Room service prices are the same as the hotel restaurant prices with 10% added for room service fee. We thought price was very reasonable. |There was a shuttle to take everyone down to the gondola in the mornings and back to the hotel in the afternoon, last one at 5pm. Distance into town is walkable but not in ski boots. We found grocery shopping limited in the town, ‘supermarkets’ were small and overpriced. Always check your change if you pay cash!! Due to this and also limited time to shop if you are out skiing all day, I wouldn’t do self catering again. |We booked with Balkan and were very happy with the service we received from them. We got fast passes for the gondola as standard with Balkan which is invaluable. We also left our ski gear in the hire shop at the gondola station so didn’t need to carry anything apart from our boots.|We had a great week in Bansko and would recommend it for beginner skiers. We would also go back to St...