Best Western Premier Sofia Airport Hotel — Hotel in Sofia City

NOT SAFE FOR WOMEN - AVOID THESE CROOKS!! I booked a room for my wife and her female colleague as it had the best reviews for hotels closest to the airport, and because they offered a free shuttle bus to/from the airport. They even had a handy feature in the chat to book the time of shuttle collection and enter the flight number. At arrival at the airport.... no shuttle. Wait and wait, nothing. So I called the hotel for them, and the receptionist said there is no shuttle booked and they would send it now. So I advised my wife to ensure she books the Shuttle upon arrival at the hotel, which she did. The next morning, they went to reception early to take the shuttle, and the receptionist said that they had missed it... "but we're here early" rude receptionist: "well it's gone, but I ordered you a taxi". Wife: "how did you know we needed a taxi?" "well I ordered it and it's here now.". The taxi driver took them through some dusty fields and starts shouting and demanding cash in LEV... when my wife said we didn't have LEV he said he was going to leave them there in the middle of nowhere. So he forced them to go to an ATM and one drew money for them, while one had to stay in the taxi. Thank god the taxi driver was just extorting the women, and nothing more sinister! Then he deliberately took them to T2 when they were flying from T1, and started shouting at them to get out. Immediately another dodgy-looking taxi driver walked up and said "I will take to terminal 1".... again the same thing happened and he started shouting for them to give him money. Eventually they arrived LATE at T1 after being extorted twice, and of course Wizz Air bumped them off their flight and they had to go back to Best Western Premier Sofia Airport Hotel for another night. Upon arriving, they asked to speak to the manager to let him know that the receptionist was involved in this taxi scam, and he just smiled and said "she did nothing wrong". In fact ALL the staff from reception to the dining hall were condescending and rude. I would fully expect this from an ex-Soviet state, but you would think that a US-owned hotel chain would have higher standards for its employees. All in all, a...

Does every hotel in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe send their female staff to the same school to learn how to have an attitude and terrible customer service, or does it come naturally to the female staff members here? I really don't get the snarky remarks, the mocking and huffing at customers, and the eye rolling. You aren't hot. Get over yourself. Treat guests with some respect. They aren't trying to get your number. They just want some halfway decent customer service. This is exactly why I rent apartments when I travel here instead of dealing with hotel staff. If customers are that much of an inconvenience, we will go elsewhere. Get your staff some proper training from someone at Best Western headquarters in the States. This is not a Bulgaria issue. This is a hospitality training issue because restaurants and Bulgarians at large don't act like this.

I reserved shuttle drop-off for my family using the link on their website and went down to confirm that they had me on the schedule. They didn't. And yes, I had to add flight info when I scheduled it several days ago. The two women working the desk did not apologize for their mistake but blamed me for not confirming when I checked in. Seriously. They no longer have room on the shuttle at that time, so now they are going to call a taxi. We'll see if they call one large enough for 5 people and luggage. I'm glad I read the other terrible reviews about the shuttle. You literally have one job here. Get guests to and from the airport on time, and you act like that's a hassle and beneath you. No one is staying all the way out here for any other reason. It's the only reason this hotel and your jobs exist.

This is the most disorganized shuttle service I've ever seen at an airport hotel and definitely the worst customer service, and I worked for a hotel headquarters for years. Every person I've talked to at this hotel has acted like I was bothering them. Not one person has said thank you or even you're welcome when I said thank you. And smiling? You'll only see that when it's in a...

I am currently staying in this hotel and have generally enjoyed most aspects of it. The rooms are nice and clean, and the air conditioning is amazing. The amenities are sufficient and for the most part, the staff has been helpful and polite. The location of the hotel is moderately close to the city center and super close to the airport.||However, there has been one big blemish for such a good hotel, labeled as 4-star hotel. The man facilitating the airport shuttle in the evenings has been an absolute blemish on our trip! Part of our luggage was lost by Lufthansa, which already caused chaos for us, but we had to take multiple trips to the airport to meet with the luggage staff. Each time we asked for the shuttle to take us, the man complained about it directly in front of us, was extremely rude, even refusing to drop us off at the arrivals area, and crazily refused to come back and pick us up again afterwards, claiming he had scheduled to pick up other passengers during that time. This happened twice with the exact same results. And both times, when we paid for a taxi to bring us back to the hotel, the same man was sitting in the lobby playing videos and/or games on his phone - NOT picking up other customers as he claimed.||This entire sequence was not only rude and unprofessional for any business, but it was extremely awkward for my team and your own staff, as they tried to navigate around his demeanor. You would receive 5 stars if it wasn't for this single person, but instead it made our entire stay uncomfortable, so much that I dread asking for another shuttle for our return tomorrow. ||Unfortunately the manager was not on site to discuss in person, so please take this review to heart and consider changes. It is hurting...