Hotel Diamanti — Hotel in Sozopol

My partner and I booked a sea view room at this hotel because of its fantastic location which I am sure appeals to many prospective guests. We are not ones to write complaints and always make do rather than cause a fuss. However on this occasion the problem was fundamental: a broken toilet which would not flush. We approached the manager in a laidback and friendly manner three times about this- she assured us it would be dealt with. It quickly became clear that poor quality bathrooms are a recurring problem at the hotel as the manager would come up, fiddle around behind the cistern, and pronounce that it was working. Shortly afterwards, it would stop working again. The hotel staff had placed a bucket below the cistern into which the toilet would drip and the manager seemed well-versed and unsurprised with the problem. It does seem odd that the manager of the hotel would be able to go about ‘fixing’ the toilet without extensive examination of the problem (as would be required if this was a new issue) but we could not do so, nor could the colleague she sent up to help us in lieu of herself. In such an unfortunate situation, one would expect the hotel manager to be understanding and helpful. Instead she made us feel like we were inconveniencing her and that we were the problem. On our second trip to ask her to sort out the problem, she laughed in our faces. She became increasingly uncooperative despite our polite insistence that we needed a functioning toilet. I happened to be feeling very unwell one evening and the toilet was broken- we went down to the front desk which was manned by a young boy who did not speak English. He put us on the phone to the manager and she told us that we could not use the toilet at all that night until the morning. This was a highly unpleasant situation. She offered no apology or mitigation. She assured us someone would come to fix it and we happily accepted. The next morning, she did her same short-term fix to refill the cistern where it will only flush once or twice before breaking again without warning. We were told that if it breaks, we should pour bottles of water down the toilet. This is a highly undignified solution for paying guests. After these incidents we had asked the manager to register that we were unhappy with this state of affairs and she again laughed at us. At check out, she was incredibly rude and aggressive and told us that we had a contract to pay fully. We pointed out that a broken toilet for the duration of the stay is not a fulfilment of her part of the contract. We had to settle up in unhappy circumstances because our options for recourse at the time were limited. We suggested that the problem should be fixed for future guests but she was terribly patronising in response. However, we wish to inform future guests that we do not make complaints lightly. Broken toilets are clearly a fixture of the hotel, and the response is to browbeat you into feeling bad that you are complaining and then to keep coming into the room to fiddle with the cistern until you check out and new guests arrive. That way the manager can pretend it is a new and temporary problem and they do not have to replace the ageing bathroom. This is not fair and we do not wish future guests to have to deal with a malfunctioning toilet when that is one of the key features of an ensuite hotel room. We would not have minded that things break if the manager had been honest and friendly, but instead she was hostile and combative. Irrespective of what the hotel manager replies, we are polite and low maintenance guests and this is a true and faithful account of our experience. We recommend that future guests take this into account when...

We stayed here for 3 nights. Our room was on the 2nd floor (there is no lift) and had a balcony facing the courtyard. The room was clean and tidy with a comfortable bed. It had air conditioning which is a bonus in the summer. The downsides are that the shower tray fills quickly (slow drainage or blocked) and there is an unpleasant smell from the drain in the bathroom.||Staff are helpful - quite factual - and speak English.||Breakfast is buffet style. There is a mixture of sweet and savory options and hot and cold drinks. Breakfast can be taken on the terrace with a beautiful sea view. One minus is that breakfast is stated to be served between 8-10am. We wanted to leave sharply but breakfast was not set up until 8.15.||We had dinner here one night. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing. There were no vegetables / potatoes offered to accompany the meal despite asking. The food was nice, although small portions. However, the view is what makes the experience here. There is a man playing guitar (every night I think) which creates a nice atmosphere.||The location is lovely. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the beach (you can hire sun-loungers for 7lev each and a parasol = 7lev. Lifeguard on duty and very clean). It’s really close to the shops and other restaurants as well as the little marina. You can watch a beautiful sunset the marina side. The hotel is right opposite some ruins and a beautiful view.||Parking is limited and driving through the old town is a bit tricky. If you want to park in the old town it’s 24lev per 24 hours. The hotel reserved us a spot. There is parking outside the old town too - it’s cheaper and you don’t have to negotiate the narrow, cobbled streets.||All in all, a pleasant place to stay and we would...

My partner and I booked our summer holiday at this hotel. The sea view was lovely, but our experience was marred by the treatment we received as a result of us reporting the broken toilet in our room. The hotel manager would come to fix it herself, clearly familiar with the problem, but it would break again within two or three flushes. On each occasion she made us feel that we were the issue, and became increasingly hostile over the course of our stay. On checkout we asked if we could seek any sort of compensation as, despite paying a substantial amount of money, we had not had a functioning toilet for the duration of our trip. She was outrageously rude in response and we were browbeaten into paying up and leaving. We were spoken to in a patronising manner and felt strongly that we were being taken advantage of as a young couple. We are always polite and would have been more than happy with some acknowledgement of the inconvenience or attempt to find a solution. We had looked forward to this holiday immensely and it was very disappointing to have our experience at the hotel dominated by such a...