"Gloria Palace" Diplomatic Club — Hotel in Sofia City

This place is an absolute disgrace.||Almost everything it says is included is charged for.||||Situated in the middle of a run down dirty, industrial area - miles from anywhere.||||The room was filthy when we arrived - other that clean sheets I don't think they had bothered to clean it, feet were black after walking on the floor for a few minutes, and made horrendously worse by the used condom we found in the bedside draw. So much so that my 13 yr old Son refused to sleep in the room and decided instead he would be sleeping on the sofa.||||We decided to go to the pool area, and first thing we noticed were breasts everywhere. I'm no prude but my poor Son didn't known where to look. Worse cause there are kids everywhere! So anyway, after putting our bags down on a side table (as we were told all of the sunbeds were reserved) we went for a dip into the pool. Next thing is we are called over and being told by the dolly bird "life-guard/debt collector that we have to PAY to go in the pool. 10 Lev per person per day (just work that out if you've booked for 2 weeks).||||She got her manager who said that the pool and restaurant are not owned by the hotel so cost more to use. I argued about it as I had already paid for this hotel months ago and bookings.com advertised and sold it under the pretense of it having the pool and gym included. BTW- NO GYM here at all. which really annoyed my Son as that was one reason we booked here!!!! Eventually after playing hell I'm told our room cost includes the pool use, but by then everyone is staring at us and we felt VERY uncomfortable.||There is also NO free breakfast despite it stating that there was.||||We had taken a bottle of water and a carton of OJ with us down to the pool and were then told you are not allowed to have anything here you have not bought from their OVER-PRICED bar.||||The restaurant is also over priced compared to the previous hotel we stayed in last week and the choice of food is pants. They hype the prices as you have no option but to eat here, starve, or get a taxi into the City.||||The final moan is the waiting staff's implicit assumption that whenever the bill is given whatever you put in the wallet over and above the actual (over) priced bill, even if you have no change, is theirs. Be it the equivalent of a £1-00 to what equated to £9-00 one evening! Felt like I had been robbed blind!||||Gloria Palace?? I think not. More like the Gloria rip off, P taking, disgusting hell hole.||||I will NEVER go there again.||||DO NOT STAY HERE!! ||||The ONLY positives were the pretty gardens, but had we dared to walk around them I'm sure we would have been charged extra for that too!!!! Not worth the stress, the hassle...

I booked this hotel specifically because of the pool as both myself and my daughter are crazy about pools and water activity. ||It is not in the centre of town so you need to take a very efficient bus in and out which was not really an issue for us..||We were given a huge space with a living room, bedroom and huge bathroom. The sides of the bath tub were falling apart but we just chuckled as this didn't really affect us. We still got good use out of it.||Anyway, my big beef about this place is when my daughter and I went to the pool the first day to go for a dip. We were approached by this lifeguard/guardian/money-collecting lady who asked if we were hotel guests. I assumed that non guests had to pay, but then she asked for 10 leva. I argued with her saying it was included in the price and was on the website so then her manager came and told me that the hotel was managed separately and guests had to pay for the pool. I did not have enough Bulgarian money with me having spent most of it on a taxi that ripped us off, was hot and in desperate need to cool off in the pool and begged him to give us a break that the false advertising was not our fault. He would not relent, so then I got really mad and pointed out an area which had broken, sharp lose tiles on the patio. I picked up one of these tiles and dropped it, breaking it more saying, "You call this professional?!? Someone could trip on these and have a bad accident!" ||He thanked me for pointing out the work that was needed but also warned me not to break things or I would have to pay for them then told me that today we could enjoy the pool for free. ||Of course a bunch of local Bulgarian tourists were looking at me and I was a bit embarrassed for making this scene, but at least I made my point. They really need to get their act together about this misleading advertising and understand that if they keep charging hotel guests this will not improve their reputation.||I also want to mention that the fee is only 10 leva to enter the magnificent spa pools at Separeva Banya which is about an hours drive out of Sofia!!! So this price is scandalous if you compare it to the entrance price of other pools that are 20 times better than this one. There is another enormous pool complex on the outskirts of Sofia (Diana pool) where professional divers go to practice, and the entrance fee there is also 10 leva. ||So my message to Hotel Gloria Palace Diplomat is to CANCEL YOUR RIDICULOUS POOL FEE FOR HOTEL GUESTS!!!! Work it out between yourselves and at least make your...

Gloria Palace is a somewhat tired hotel in an industrial area that is rather less pleasant and rural than its pictures suggest. The staff were delightful, made us very welcome and were extremely helpful. We were given a 2 bedroom house rather than a room which was nice but had a strong smell of smoking in all areas which was horrid. The spiral staircase was broken away from the wall and was probably dangerous. Beds were twin but very comfortable. Sofia has a large number of stray dogs and these communicate loudly with each other ALL NIGHT so sleep was limited. The restaurant in the hotel was fantastic, great staff and stunning food. |The pool was not in use and was full of black water. |Overal it was slightly disappointing but I have to accept that we paid peanuts and it was great value...