Hotel ZOO Sofia — Hotel in Sofia City

Hotel Zoo is advertised as a 4 star hotel, but unfortunately our experience here was disappointing. The hotel has been remodeled, the rooms were clean, the food was good - that was the good part and the reason this is not a one star review. The primary cause for our negative experience had to do with the basics: We checked in and the room we were first given smelled like someone had just been smoking inside. We asked for a new room. My parents were given a room that was occupied! So they too had to ask for a new room. The new room we were given was a suite, which we appreciated given the initial mess with checking in. But that too had issues - one set of towels and no soap for the entire suite! I had to ask for extra towels so my spouse could dry herself after taking a shower. In any 4 star hotel (or even a 2 star hotel for that matter), the basic expectation is for housekeeping to visit the room every day, take out the trash, see if we need new towels or soap and tidy up. We didn’t get our room cleaned for three days! I’m not talking about changing the sheets - the housekeeper didn’t visit the room at all. Empty bottles of water piled up, trash in the bathroom trash can piled up, towels in dire need of replacement piled up! Eventually I gave up and I had to ask for another set of clean towels and soap. Again. We had just returned from a trip and had dirty clothes we wanted washed. My spouse and I literally had one pair of clean underwear and t-shirts left. I was told it would take a day to have our laundry ready, then around 5pm the next day once we’d been waiting all day for the laundry, had to call and check status. I was then told the clothes would be ready the NEXT day. Only after complaining did I get them to expedite the laundry so that we could have clean clothes to wear. I expect I wasn’t even going to be notified of the delay, had I not called to ask.

The worst part is that all these problems one after another caused my mother to get embarrassed for choosing this hotel for our visit. Bulgarian hospitality dictates that the host would go above and beyond to ensure guests have a pleasant experience, and while none of the issues were my mother’s fault, she ended up embarrassed because we did not have a good time...

i travel to sofia often for work, but this was a last minute arrangement and hotel that i usually stay was fully booked, so I booked here without much thought, but now I regret my decision.

small room and different than whats shown on photos, you have a bed and space to take 2 more steps thats all no proper desk or space to work with a laptop, which is a necessity in 2025, if you need to work on laptop you have to sit on floor or on bed i think basic things like water is charged extra. Also, the hotel parking is paid extra, i first time saw that hotel is charging for their guest for parking ⁠location is outside of city, no shops around, this was not issue for me, but could be important for others ⁠no sound isolation, you hear everything from next room too much cigarette smell in the room, first night i couldn't sleep from the disgusting cigarette smell on the pillows and slept without them, which left a big question mark on the hygiene and if bed sheets/covers are changed after each stay. bed wasn't very comfortable either. ⁠breakfast very weak, only a few varieties ⁠i dont know if its same in all rooms, but in my room wifi was very weak. Didnt get signal from most part of room, only when you are nearby the window. It was even completely gone sometimes.

these are the things that you wouldn't see even in 2-3 stars hotel. I will not stay in this hotel again and doesnt recommend to anybody. You can get something much nicer for this price level (over $100 per day)

from positives, i can count that two ladies at the reception was kind, and heating worked good in the room. I cant think of...

I am sorry for this review, since the hotel looks good at a first glance and the service people all were so nice. We stayed here for a night, a family of 2 with one 1 year old baby. We booked an apartment which was decent size, plenty of room, the bedroom was quiet and had the entrance through a small hall, so that the baby slept peacefully while we showered and stayed in the livingroom. Room well equiped, nothing lacked. BUT THE CLEANING....was not so good. The floor was dirty. And I mean DIRTY! It was stained, full of dust, our baby's white socks turned grey in 10 mins 🤣 under the bed was the most dust I have ever seen 🤣 Very very dirty, only the bathroom was clean and the bed.

Also, in the apart next door, there was a huge party with A LOT of people and loud music. They kept hitting our door by mistake and the people were a little bit odd.

Downstairs, there were very dubious people in the reception area and I would NOT reccomend going downstairs alone as a woman. I went to the car and I did not feel safe and nor did another lady who used the elevator the same time as me. Breakfast was a joke 🤣 and for real.

I don't reccomend this hotel for a...