Meliá Grand Hermitage — Hotel in Varna

This review is written on the day of departure and reflects our experience, shaped by previous stays at other hotels.

Unfortunately, Meliã Grand Hermitage did not leave us with a good impression — it's a place we wouldn't return to.

Staff The bartenders and waiters are friendly, hardworking, well-dressed, and always greet you with a smile. Their attitude was a highlight of our stay.

Housekeeping was decent compared to other places I’ve visited. However, there were a few issues. Some shelves were noticeably dusty, and during check-in, a cleaning lady unexpectedly asked us to move so she could clean the floor under our table — and only ours — out of about 15 tables. It felt unnecessary and oddly selective.

Food and Bar From the perspective of a "The Level" guest (a kind of improvised VIP experience), the bar offerings were disappointing. The main bar served low-quality, bootleg alcohol. As a "Level" guest, you had access to two extra bars — one offering international alcohol, and another regular bar. However, the international bar was located in the most inconvenient spot in the entire hotel — on the top floor — while the cheap alcohol was conveniently placed right next to the pool.

Regarding food, "The Level" guests have access to a separate restaurant which features slightly better furniture, but the food itself is essentially the same as the main buffet. You're basically paying for a nicer chair.

Entertainment The entertainment program is heavily focused on children. For adults, the options are limited — volleyball, archery or air gun shooting, and water gym. Unfortunately, these all take place at roughly the same time, and the daily schedule is poorly spaced: two hours of activities in the morning and afternoon, followed by long, uneventful breaks of about three hours. Personally, I didn’t enjoy that.

The evening shows were average. The best was the MTV Nostalgia night. The magic and acrobatics shows were enjoyable, though a bit cliché. Sadly, the Disney Funtasia and live music nights were underwhelming.

Amenities

-Spa The sauna and steam bath are advertised as being free for "The Level" guests, which suggests that regular guests would have to pay. In reality, these amenities are free for all guests — meaning you paid extra for absolutely nothing. -Game Room The game room is in terrible condition. The pool table is falling apart, balls are missing, and the chess table has mismatched pieces from different sets. I’ve seen far better in a 4-star hotel that costs 70% of this one. -Waterpark The waterpark is okay. -Gym Absolutely terrible. Half the machines are broken, the weights and bars are rusted, and the space is small and overcrowded. Honestly, a school gym in rural Romania is better equipped than this. -Room Access You can’t store the room keycard in your phone case — it will stop working. My public transport card has been in my phone case since 2018 and still works fine, but somehow the Meliã keycard can’t survive 10 hours next to a phone. -Elevators The elevators sometimes malfunction and make suspicious, unsettling noises. -Early Check-In & Late Check-Out This is the biggest scam Meliã sells. "Early Check-In" is at 15:00 and "Late Check-Out" is at 12:00 — which is standard check-in and check-out timing in most hotels across Romania, Bulgaria, and even Turkey. For Meliã, these standard hours are rebranded as premium services. It honestly feels like they accidentally swapped the definitions when writing their policy. -Parking Somehow, "The Level" guests have to pay for parking, while standard guests don’t. Bizarre, isn’t it? -Management We raised some of these inconsistencies with members of the management team, but they seemed more offended by the criticism than willing to address the issues.

Overview Meliã Grand Hermitage exemplifies the worst aspects of the hospitality industry: underwhelming, improvised experience in poorly maintained facilities, paired with misleading or outright false marketing.

Please, read a book on...

This hotel is not 5*, it does have some really good points and some not so good points. Let’s start with the good - The reception team were amazing, always helpful and smiling, on arrival they noticed it was my birthday, they discussed with my husband that something special would be done to celebrate. That day a cake was delivered to my room with a decorated plate, this was really appreciated, we booked into the Italian, several staff came in singing happy birthday. The Italian Restaurant isn’t anything special and you still need to serve yourself. It was also our wedding anniversary while we were there and we opened our room door to find fruits, cake and wine which was nice to see they had made an effort. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, staff tending to the grass/flowers all day long. The pool area is kept clean all day and the pool monitored by friendly staff, although many people thought it was okay to sit smoking at the sunbeds. The indoor pool to me isn’t really heated. On days chlorine was very overpowering, and I mentioned this to staff but was shrugged off, I did end up with a sore throat. Stelli and his animation team were superb at their job, they were friendly and when you didn’t want they did not hassle you, the dancing at the end of the shows were fun to watch, they really did make an effort. We were there for 2 weeks and saw the same show twice, so it was repetitive. The Stage Bar is located at the bottom of a steep hill and many a time we seen children running down this hill, this is an accident waiting to happen, also in this area is a pool, this could also prove to be a hazard for both adults and children while taking part in dancing etc. The Stage Bar was closed on a couple of occasions when the shows were on and no one seemed to know the reason why, this was a bit of a pain as if you wanted a drink you had to walk up the hill to the pool bar. The toilets at the Stage aren’t the best, there are 2 toilets, not separate for men and woman. We saw a magician, traditional Bulgarian show, juggling, I did enjoy the shows and really enjoyed the dance party that Stelli and the team set up at the pool bar, this was a great night, good lighting and music. The Rooms –We asked for a high floor with quiet location and thats what we got, the balconies were private and no noise heard from other rooms. Clean and comfortable although due to having Ukrainian cleaning staff who didn’t speak English or Bulgarian there was a constant mix up trying to get refills on shampoos/conditioners etc. The screen door was a bonus meaning you could leave the balcony doors open without worrying about insects coming in. The bathroom had a double sink, a walk-in shower, a bath which was great, safe was included in the price and we had goonies and slippers. The snack pizza, ice cream, toasties were great. The beach was a nice break from the pool and served beer, toasties, ice cream and soft drinks Restaurants – a hand sanitizer is placed at the door but many did not use, gloves were provided ,it was requested to wear gloves when cutting bread but many did not, some people did and discarded the gloves at the side of the breads! There was always something that took your fancy ,it was a little repetitive in the evenings. Only ONE toaster, always a wait to get tea or coffee from the machines as there aren’t enough, coffee was not five star. THERE IS NO DRESS CODE HERE which really annoyed me. Bars –The DRINKS, these were certainly not 5 stars, the cocktails made with diluted juice were disgusting, the alcohol was the cheapest brands and when mixed with juices and soft drinks were too sweet, the wine was like vinegar. To sum up, the hotel could do with a few tweeks regarding staff, drinks, coffee, dress code and having to serve yourself in the bookable restaurants, also, I was amazed to see so many tip jars, they were everywhere, at the bars, in the restaurant, beside the chefs, I don’t really think there is any...

We’ve traveled to a lot of hotels, in many countries and lately especially to resorts due to having two children. That being said, this hotel is only classified as 5* to I don’t know what standards.

First, the parking. Nowhere, and I repeat, nowhere have I ever seen that paying almost €2000 for a week of stay is not enough to cover for the parking. It’s just another way of ripping customers off. But let’s say this is just bad hotel policy.

Then the restaurants and the food. My God it’s bad. Not only are the dishes served poorly cooked, the produce is of bad quality. Dry, greasy chicken breast, rock solid “tuna” that could break someone’s teeth, you get the point. It’s just bad. And I’m only saying this because they think of themselves as being 5. Well, ladies and gentlemen, checking the necessary requirements and amenities for 5 doesn’t justify having not up to par food. We even spent one dinner at their “famous” Al Dente Italian restaurant. Which was just as bad, if not worse, than the regular self service restaurant. Mornings are also bad enough. Omelette is just scrambled eggs, tasteless, soggy and downright poor. 5* service!

Which reminds me that even the drinks are self service and not all drinks are served at the restaurant. Only soft drinks, coffee, wine and beer. Fancy a whiskey at dinner? Tough luck buddy, only after dinner. 5* service!

Down by the rather poorly sized and ice cold water pool there’s only one bar, which is usually very crowded, and only two other options in which one can grab a snack. Pork shoulder, potatoes and cabbage - because that’s what people eat at 40 degrees outside, pizza and paella. Not a single option for salads, fruits or other healthy options. Nothing of that sorts. Why? Because it’s cheaper. 5* service!

Did I mention that the “European drinks” bar is only available between 2 and 5 pm? That’s also because they want to minimize consumption of “expensive” Red Label. Because who in their right mind drinks whiskey at 40 degrees outside? You want it for dinner? Pay up, or drink their Bulgarian whiskey. 5* service right there.

Then there’s the overall quality of the dishes themselves. My wife and 3 other members in our group got food poisoning. I’m not saying that they got it necessarily from eating at this hotel but we haven’t really had anything else to eat anywhere else. Sooo…

Some had it worse than others - we even had to call the doctor for my wife. Which obviously was a paid service: €110 to be more precise. Most, if not all, 5* family resorts I’ve seen have a doctor present at all times at the location. Not here, nope. 5* service! What’s even worse is that yesterday morning I left our towels down by the pool. Remember when I said it’s rather small for the number of guests? If you wake up one hour too late there is zero chance of catching any available sun beds. After the whole food poisoning incident, we couldn’t get to the pool, so at 8 pm I went downstairs to recover the towels - which weren’t there anymore, but we were left with a sign that said “it’s not nice to reserve sunbeds” - which I totally understand. This, however, implies that our personal towels were taken by the hotel staff. Needless to say the towels are nowhere to be found. “We are still searching for them” is the official answer.

The only really positive aspect about this hotel is the housekeeping. They really do an amazing job, so kudos to them.

Oh, by the way. The minibar is also not free. 5* service!

Overall, I have to say, for most of the clientele here, these services are probably magnificent. If, however, you happen to read this review, be warned. This may be a 5* hotel by amenities standards but they are mostly 3* quality - with a...