| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
mancnicci from manchester travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
balkan
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2007 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff |  | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: lovely staff especially oggi , up a hill not bad for nights out but it is a trek from the beach
Click here for more information on this hotel, resort and region
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laura killip from barrow in furness travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
first choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2007 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We had stayed at the dana palace 3 times before and loved it which is why we decided to book again. We really enjoyed ourselves and made lots of friends, all the staff at the hotel are very friendly and helpful, the loation of the hotel is very good as it is away from all the hustle and bustle. It is a bit of a pain to get to the beach but if you dont mind walking it is fine and it is a lovely walk and a chance to have a look around.The hotel is very clean and you get are provided with clean towels every day, we did have a little problem where somebody had smashed one of the wall lights in the corridore, we reported this and it was dealt with straight away which we were very happy with as we felt if we had any more complaints they would be dealt with. The staff in the hotel made us feel very welcome especially Ivo, pepe and joe (vesco) We went bed and breakfast and the breakfast was very nice and a good variety, we had dinner in the hotel on a few occasions and it was very satisfactory. We are trying to book to go back again this year as "we love it"
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Chloe noble from Manchester travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Thomson
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 4 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2006 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was the best holiday I have ever had. You can't go bored, there are too many things to do. Lots of cheap shops, bars, restaurants,and clubs. In the day you can go down to the beach which only takes about 5 minutes to walk and is down a slope which some people complain about, saying there is too many steps, but there is no need to walk the steps when there is a slope.
At the bottom of the slope is two roads. If you go left this takes you to the beach and the quiet part, which is good for the daytime, but if you take a right this is called party street where there are hundreds of bars and clubs for the night time. I would recommend the Havana snack bar to have a lovely evening meal and the Lions bar for football matches, because there are big screens to watch them on and it is full of English people.
The hotel itself was great. It is very clean in all of the rooms and the pool and the pool bars were also very clean.
The rooms constantly had clean towels, moped floors, neat beds and even my clothes were folded up for me. When I first arrived I thought the maids might steal but I left some money and my mobile phone on the cabinet and when the maids were gone they were still there. After that I felt very safe.
After you have had your evening meal which you can have in the hotel of near the beach I suggest you sit in the bar at the hotel all night. It's so funny, you can meet lots of English and the beer is very cheap. The bar staff are also great at making cocktails and one cocktail I would recommend is heroin. They set it on fire, drink it and snort the rest. It was a laugh watching peoples faces.
Now to the staff. These people were the wost amazing staff I have met and they are always smiling, except for Costa the lifeguard. I am going to miss them all because I was there for two weeks and got to know them all very well. George, Joe, Pepe, Slav, Ivo, angel (ancho) were all great and always made me laugh. Angel was my favourite and I promised him I would tell people he was the best, because he was. He works from 9am to about 1am which I think is very hard. It was fathers day whilst I was there and the staff sorted out a cake and 2 bottles of champagne for my dad.
I am definitely going to visit again and can't wait to get back there.
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Victoria & Matt from County Durham travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Thompson
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2005 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff |  | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our first visit to Bulgaria, and the resort of Golden Sands was just excellent - we'd love to visit again, and would definitely recommend it. However the same cannot be said of the Dana Palace Hotel, which we wouldn't recommend to our worst enemies!
The Dana Palace Hotel was really disappointing. We were dissatisfied with the dirty unhygienic conditions, the poor state of maintenance, and the lack of Customer Service.
The Thomson brochure states the Dana Palace Hotel has been recently built. Although this may be the case, it is in a worse state of repair than much older hotels. The corridor to our room on the 4th floor was in darkness, because seven out of the 10 wall lights were not working. The corridors were constantly thick with smoke, due to hotel cleaners sitting around smoking. The lifts seldom worked correctly, and doors would open and close three or four times before eventually changing floors. On several occasions the lift was Out Of Order for days at a time.
The general condition of the bathroom was unacceptable. It was dirty, unhygienic and never thoroughly cleaned throughout our two-week stay. The WC constantly leaked all over the bathroom floor (the smell on a morning made your eyes water!). The shower curtain was black with mould, and the wall tiles around shower/bath were never cleaned throughout our two-week stay.
The bedroom was a reasonable size for 2 people, with plenty of wardrobe space to hang and store clothes. There is a mini-bar containing drinks and snacks at the supermarket prices (not the rip off prices you will find in an English hotel mini-bar), and a TV. However the surfaces of the bedroom units were constantly gritty with dirt, and there were spillage marks to the front of the cupboards from previous occupiers, which were never cleaned off throughout our two-week stay.
The bed base was broken and the ends of the wooden slats were smashed so would not stay in position. Also, the bed sheets were too small to fit the mattress, and too small to stay securely tucked in - therefore every morning you woke up on the bare mattress which wasn't pleasant!
The air-con in the room was inadequate, as room temperature remained the same even when aircon had been working for several hours. The rooms didn't include any tea making facilities either. So make sure you pack a travel kettle, cups, cutlery, etc.
The restaurant should have been better. We were B&B for a fortnight, and there was a daily shortage of cutlery & crockery - our breakfast was spoilt/cold every day due to these shortages.
The canteen only served breakfast until 10am, which for us was too early. Especially when, if food/drink ran out after 9.30am it was not replaced, and staff were very unhelpful when this was brought to their attention.
The tablecloths in the garden area were always dirty/unhygienic due to spilt food/drink, and the dried in food attracted a constant stream of wasps, flies etc.
However there was always food to our liking, and certainly enough to choose from (cereals, fruit, breads, cakes, eggs, sausages, bacon etc), so we never went hungry. We ate breakfast 12 mornings from the 14 days we were there, and never had any stomach complaints. We just wish breakfast had been served until 11am, so we could have had a lie in.
The room had an average sized balcony, but the condition was generally scruffy and dirty. On our very first evening there, we accidentally dropped a couple of peanuts whilst enjoying a nightcap - those peanuts were never cleaned up during our fortnights stay!
The balcony railings were loose, there were paint spills to the tiled floor and balcony railings, and the Patio table was black with grime and never cleaned throughout our two-week stay - I rested a book (page side down) onto the table, and the pages came back striped with black grime!
The Thomson brochure states the distance to the beach is approx 400m, but neglects to say it is down a dangerously steep and badly lit road that is in a hazardous state of repair! The hotel is set towards the back of the resort, which on the plus side means it is away from the main bustle. On the bad side, it does take a good 10 minutes to walk down the steep uneven path leading into the resort.
The Dana Palace swimming pool was dirty with unhygienic grey water and floating scum and debris. The Jacuzzi did not work for 13 days out of our 14-day stay, and some of the tiled area surrounding the children's pool had collapsed into rubble - very unsafe for children.
Reception Staff at the Dana Palace were not interested in helping resolve problems. We complained on two separate occasions expecting the staff to log our problems. However Reception told us they couldn't help, saying we would have to come back later - there was no Customer Service at all.
Many other guests had complained to the Thomson Holiday rep (us included), who acknowledged there were problems at the hotel, and that management were aware. Several of the guests we spoke to complained about bad food and upset stomachs, although we had no problems ourselves.
Another word of advice - don’t go half/full board. The hotel doesn’t offer a large choice, and the quality is rather disappointing. There are loads of great restaurants around the resort.
On the day of departure, we had to vacate our room by midday, but for an extra 30lev the hotel would let us keep our room on until our coach collected us at midnight. However, at 6pm Reception phoned our room to say the room had to be vacated NOW, and not midnight as expected. This was annoying, as the hotel charged 30lev to keep the room on for an extra 6 hours, but the hotels standard rate for a single room was only 30lev per night (as advertised in the reception). I pointed out that if we knew we had to be out by 6pm, then we would have booked a single room until the coach arrived, and not kept our room on. But again they were not interested.
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carol from telford travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Thomson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2005 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I hated the hotel. It was filthy and retched. the manage meant were rude and nasty.
So don't ever go there it's a waste of time!!!!!!!
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Lucy and Maggie from Durham travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Thompson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2005 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We absolutely loved Dana Palace. When we first arrived we were put on the ground floor, which was quite noisy, but we asked for a room change and they were really helpful. We ended up on the top floor, in a lovely room with a balcony.
We weren't too keen on the breakfast, but it wasn't bad. It was continental, so lots of bread and cakes.
The walk from the hotel to the seafront was absolutely perfect for us, as it wasn't too long and was quite pretty. There was a lot of stairs though, which I imagine could be a problem for small children. It was lovely and quiet because of the distance though, so totally worth it.
Brilliant pool, excellent poolside food and drinks, and the staff were incredible. Oggy in particular! So friendly and made it the best holiday in a long while.
We are thinking of going back this year, and staying at Dana Palace again- no complaints at all.
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Jean Gerald Rafferty from Eyemouth Berwickshire travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkans
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2005 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We stayed in this hotel last year,thats why we booked it again for this year. But standards have dropped in this hotel.
I had to fight to get clean linen. The towels did not get changed and the room was never cleaned they came in made the bed and lifted the rubbish bag.
The toilet was never cleaned either. We were told there was a lot of cut backs as the owner was in the middle of building a new hotel.
The smell in the corridor was disgusting.
Breakfast was fine the first week, but the second week there was not much of a variety to choose from.
The hotel was filled with lots of young people and they were very noisy kicking balls in the corridor at three o'clock in the morning.
We were realy disappointed with the hotel standards this year as last year it was realy clean hotel.
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Alan Jarred from Middlesbrough travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2005 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The Dana palace is really clean with rooms cleaned daily and towels changed every other day.
The breakfast was a buffet style with plenty of variety to cater for everyone, fried, cereal, cold meat and cheeses, fruit and greek yoghurt.
The location won't suit some people who have walking difficulties as it's a steepish climb from the seafront, also it might not suit people with buggies or wheelchairs. But it is in a quiet location so will suit people who want to be away from the resort centre.
The hotel staff are really nice and can't do enough to make your stay pleasant, always smiling and saying hello, definitely the friendliest staff I've had the pleasure to meet.
There was no real entertainment while I was there apart from a band on the last night.
All in all I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone going to Golden Sands, only said I wouldn't go back to this hotel as Golden Sands wasn't for me.
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laura everson from northampton travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
balkan holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The Dana Palace in Bulgaria was very clean, the breakfast was very good with a wide selection.
The hill was a bit of an obstacle but was easy enough, the staff were very friendly and our cleaner was fantastic the rooms were spotless and the hotel gleaming.
The weather was a bit bad but would go in higher season next time, no entertainment but staff were very friendly.
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Bridie from Chester travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Airtours
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We found the hotel very clean with rooms made up every day with clean towels. The food was not up to much we only had two meals in a week and didn't enjoy them. The location of the hotel was up a steep hill or a lot of steps which the kids moaned a lot about.
Can't really say much about the hotel staff only Ogie and he was fab and great with the kids and very helpful. There is no entertainment at all so the kids were really bored. We didn't find it child friendly as there was only one high chair for the baby and the pool and restaurant are downstairs with no lift.
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Coetzee from Fife travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our first time to Dana Palace and thought the hotel was very good. The staff were really friendly, rooms were cleaned every day, fresh towels laid out every day. Balconies were large, with a washing line. Breakfast was ample - cereals, bread, fresh croissants, salads, cold meat, cheese, poached/boiled/ scambled eggs, fruit - plenty to choose from. We chose B&B because eating out in the evenings was so cheap. There were quite a few steps up to the hotel, but it was no real problem (we are not the fittest of people!) We would definitely go back to this hotel and fully recommend it.
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andy rea from cumbria travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
first choice
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We stayed at the hotel Dana Palace.
The staff were fantastic and really friendly.
The food was good if a little different, but thats why we travel.
The entertainment was naff but there's plenty to do in resort.
The only fault was the steps down to the resort they would not suit the elderly, disabled or people with very young children, but the lobby bar is open 24/7 so you don't have to leave if you dont want to. Ogie will make sure your glass is never empty and you are always laughing.
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Lisa Biggs from Essex travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Airtours
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our first time to Bulgaria so staying at Dana Palace was a real bonus. The hotel was very clean, towels changed every day, bedding every other day. The hotel staff were fanatastic especially Oggi and his great family Dora, Oggi junior, and little Toni. The bar staff were brilliant, Nikki and Chris looked after us thank you to them. Dannii and Gerry were great too, always making sure we had everything we wanted. Big foot was fantastic he took us out a couple of times and we had a great time. The pool was a nice size and the baby pool was good for the kids. There was always enough sunbeds to go round too. All in all the hotel is great and we will be looking to return in future. Moncho and Pepe run a very good hotel!!
Would like to add that airtours was fantastic from start to finish. The rep Hugh was great, there everyday making sure everything was ok. We would deffinately use them again.
The breakfast had a variety of food so it was not a problem to find something to eat. They also had a range of different cakes for you to have during the day which was very nice.
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Ged Hanley from Wigan travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our second visit to Dana Palace, this year we had our ten week old daughter. We knew the standard and cleanliness of the hotel was first class, so chose to return. We based ourselves at the hotel during the day this year and found all the staff to be superb. A very big mention to Tsvetan (big foot), Yuli (lifeguard) and Nick (Barman), they could not have been friendlier. Thanks also to Big boss, Little boss(Pepe), Evo, Grass, Oggi and his family, Danni and all the staff. We will definitely return next year.
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Brian & Lorraine Dunbar from Dundee travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I can honestly not fault this Hotel. The staff are very friendly especially the girls on the cash desk who alway had a big smile even after a 12 hour nightshift. Also Ivan the porter, Oggi and the crew of the bars.
The 129 steps up to it from the beach didn't bother us but for someone with kids or trouble walking it might.
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Rafferty from Eyemouth travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was first class The room was big and not cramped like some of the hotels we have stayed in in golden sandsThe staff were excellent and the cleaners were really very nice.the room was cleaned every day and clean towels were provided daily also. At breakfast you had a good variety to choose from, from cereals to fryed food also salad food so there was always some thing diffrent to chose from,and always plenty of it.The pool was great plenty sun beds and it is a decent size pool ,you could always get a bed at it ,the staff at the pool bar were always asking if you needed anything and it had a great atmosphere,At nght you could have a nice quiet drink in the hotel bar ,if you did not want to go out .There was entertainment on every nightin the hotel also.In the ten years we have been going to golden sands this is the first time the hotel has lived up the brochures description, so we will be booking up for next year
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Earnshaw from Preston travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was in a good location. Only a short walk to the main resort and the beach but far enough away from the noise. There were a number of steps to negotiate which wouldn't be suitable for people with walking difficulties but our party did not find them a problem.
We were B&B and found the breakfast a little limited even though it was buffet style. We did have dinner in the hotel one evening but it was quite poor.
The staff were friendly and helpful and the cleanliness of the hotel was very good. Our room was cleaned daily and towels were replaced if required.
Ther wasn't a great deal of entertainment at the hotel but the pool was good with plenty of sunbeds and two nice pool bars.
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Helen Murphy from Wirral travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The Hotel was very clean. Rooms were cleaned every day, and clean towels left if required.
The Hotel staff where always very pleasant, and ready to assist.
Plenty of sunbeds around the pool area, and nice
childrens pool, with elephant fountains.
Although the Hotel may not be suitable to the less mobile wanting to go into the resort centre, as it is sent back from the beach front, and although going down is downhill, the walk back is very steep. A taxis is recommended which costs between 5-10 levs. Well worth the money.
We found the majority of the guests in the hotel whilst we was on holiday were british and belive this will make a very nice English Family Hotel. We made losts of nice friends during our stay.
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mark ashton from rotherham travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
balkan holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: the brochure does not tell you that you are 112 steep steps to the resort unless you use the busy road. though this is away from the noisy centre, it does not really cater for kids or familys.
pool did not open on time for us , so the kids were disappointed, but the hotel was very clean and the maids were brilliant.
Food is definately not up to scratch and is aimed at the Germans, along with the Finns and Danish who are the main guests. I would not recommend taken 1/2 board here.
This hotel is an ideal base for couples or younger people who do not mind a small trek to the amenities, and who also want to be away from the hustle n bustle when finished with it!
Also, no prostitutes ply there trade in this area!!
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McCulloch from Kilwinning travelled to Dana Palace Hotel with
Balkan Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2003 |
rated the Dana Palace Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Stayed in Dana Palace Aug 2003 - hotel just opened the year we went and we were really impressed as this is the first time we had been to Bulgaria. Heard lots of good and bad reports of the resort but really enjoyed our holiday. Plenty of places to eat and drink and didn't have a bad meal when we were there.
Stayed at the hotel on Bed and Breakfast but wouldn't want to stay half board in Bulgaria as you can eat out really cheaply.
Rooms were spacious and very clean,hotel and pool staff were very nice.
No entertainment at the hotel - but didn't mind as the restaurants had plenty of entertainment anyway.
We would recommend this hotel but you do have a wee walk down to the centre - going back to Bulgaria this year but trying Sunny Beach.
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