Spa Hotel "Villa Aspa" — Hotel in Razlog

We spent two weeks here during an organised walking holiday with our local Rambler group. On the plus side the thermal pool was a huge asset for the hotel and a wonderful way to relax after a hard days walking. ||||The hotel itself is good, it is kept perfectly clean, the rooms were spacious and linen and towels changed every three days. Our shower leaked under the shower cubicle causing a large amount of water needing to be cleaned up each time the shower was used. No bath mat available so we had to use the second hand towel to mop up each day. Whilst this was a bit irritating, the staff changed the wet towel for a fresh one each day. ||The food was on the whole freshly prepared and tasty. But, it seems Bulgarians tend to eat their meals luke warm or cold and this custom was adopted in the restaurant. Clearly this spoilt the enjoyment, and despite requests for hot, wasn’t changed. ||The first encounter with a member of staff was a young girl at the pool bar who was quite off hand to the point of rudeness. She seemed to resent our group being at the hotel. Other waiting staff were similarly outwardly miserable. Customer service and caring for guests didn’t seem to feature in their training. The Reception and Cleaning staff were very pleasant. ||The location of the hotel in the quiet rural village of Banya was okay, unfortunately an unfinished shell of a hotel is directly opposite and no sign of being finished any time soon. I can’t say this spoilt our experience, as we were out all day and whilst enjoying the pool area not affected by it. ( we had a room at the rear of the hotel which was quiet and looked out on the forest)||Despite the issues I would stay here again for a walking...

We spent two weeks here during an organised walking holiday with our local Rambler group. On the plus side the thermal pool was a huge asset for the hotel and a wonderful way to relax after a hard days walking. ||||The hotel itself is good, it is kept perfectly clean, the rooms were spacious and linen and towels changed every three days. Our shower leaked under the shower cubicle causing a large amount of water needing to be cleaned up each time the shower was used. No bath mat available so we had to use the second hand towel to mop up each day. Whilst this was a bit irritating, the staff changed the wet towel for a fresh one each day. ||The food was on the whole freshly prepared and tasty. But, it seems Bulgarians tend to eat their meals luke warm or cold and this custom was adopted in the restaurant. Clearly this spoilt the enjoyment, and despite requests for hot, wasn’t changed. ||The first encounter with a member of staff was a young girl at the pool bar who was quite off hand to the point of rudeness. She seemed to resent our group being at the hotel. Other waiting staff were similarly outwardly miserable. Customer service and caring for guests didn’t seem to feature in their training. The Reception and Cleaning staff were very pleasant. ||The location of the hotel in the quiet rural village of Banya was okay, unfortunately an unfinished shell of a hotel is directly opposite and no sign of being finished any time soon. I can’t say this spoilt our experience, as we were out all day and whilst enjoying the pool area not affected by it. ( we had a room at the rear of the hotel which was quiet and looked out on the forest)||Despite the issues I would stay here again for a walking...

Some things I really loved and some things I really hated about this place. Good things first. We got a "Deluxe" room and it was super cozy, big bathroom with a tub and two showers, nice secluded view into the forest, clean, all around great room to stay in. The outdoor pool is also nice and clean and warm even in very cold weather and it works until 22:00 which ia convenient. The staff is polite and the parking is right at the hotel, also very good.

Now onto the things that really disappointed. If you read anywhere that there is a gym in this place, there is not, it is a 2x2 room with a broken elliptical, one barely functioning cardio machine bike and 2x 1kg dumbbells, it's a total disaster.

If you have dinners and breakfast included you will also be disappointed. There are only 3 food options and literally no healthy or even a normal food option, only deep fried stuff or stuff with cream and such, breakfast is the same. If you want fruit they will give you some but it might have gone bad. There is honey also but it's glucose syrup 95%, the absolute cheapest kind. They have only dry milk as well. If you go there my advice is to not book meals but go to the local tavern "Uncles" where you will have amazing meals for super cheap prices.

The last thing that was very bad was the shower water. You can't have normal temperature, it is either super cold or super hot and it changes regardless of what you do. Keep that in mind if you have any health issues that might be triggered by sudden temperature changes.

Overall a decent experience if you plan to use only the room and the pool and outsource all your activities otherwise. If you are looking for an all-round spa hotel,...