Review of Arena Di Serdica Hotel 5*

A long review, but TL;DR: Great hotel, but make sure your stay is in a good time! We were on a long trip that ended up in Sofia, and we were looking forward for a relaxing stay for 2 days! Unfortunately, it was not what we hoped for. The Hotel: The hotel location is great! Close to many museums and attractions, as well as many nice bars and restaurants. You are a walking distance away from all your needs. The rooms are clean, comfortable, and spacious. The staff (besides the reception) was all friendly and helpful. The Restaurants: The restaurant on the ground floor is lovely, the staff is super friendly and the food is awesome. Definitely worth a visit if you are there! The breakfast which also takes place there, was also great and has many local options which we found nice. The terrace restaurant was closed and only opens for occasions. The SPA: The SPA was also excellent, not many facilities though (A sauna, a steam bath, and change rooms). No couple massage room which we also found on the down sides, just two separate massage rooms. We had two separate SPA treatments and we were satisfied with both. What could be better: Mainly the reception. We had mixed feelings and it depended on the person working there, some where friendly and helpful, and some, not much. The first issue was with the transfer to the airport. Our reservation included a transfer to the airport, and I asked about it at the check in, the reception informed me that we will deal with it later. The second day at night, I ask again. The reception tells me that I have none. However, they informed me that they will make sure anyway and let me know later. That got me worried. I asked again the third day, the reception informed right away that yea, we do have a transfer. The second issue is in the details below. What was bad: As I mentioned, our stay was about relaxing for 2 days before we head back home. Unfortunately, that was not the case the first day. We arrived early April and the temperature was higher than usual (~22 degrees IIRC). Our room was on the second floor, it was a suite of two rooms and both had a long window spanning the wall facing the street where the sun is most of the afternoon. We go into our room around 13:30, we shower and decide to take a nap. The windows and the AC were off. 1 hour later we wake up full of sweat in a really warm room. The curtains were closed and no sun was in (except for a small part on the edges which you can't cover with the curtains, which was the case in both rooms). That caused the room to heat well! I tried to turn on the AC but that was not working in one room, and in the other, was working in fan only mode. It helped a bit but not enough. I looked at the thermometer and it was 31 degrees inside the room. I tried to open the windows (you can only open one third of the windows and partially anyway) and turn on the fan only in one room, that got it down to almost 28 but no further. Plus, it was a bit noisy to keep the window open on the street side. I call the reception, they inform me that the AC season did not start yet, and advised me to turn on the fan only mode in the AC. I told them that I did and it did not help, but I felt they had the attitude of "live with it". It went back and forth, saying that one room the fan does not work at all, … etc. I was so frustrated and about to snap, I had the though of just sleeping in the hall way since it was much cooler. Eventually, the receptionist tells me "I could upgrade you to another room", frankly I didn't care about an upgrade or a downgrade, as long as it was a room with smaller windows (less sun) and away from the street. Fortunately that was the case. At night the temperature dropped and we managed to cool the room down with the windows open. However, we had an issue with mosquitoes! Wasn't a good night at all. The second night was much better. I feel it is not fair to give the hotel a very bad review based on that experience. But it sure definitely was not a good experience for me. Still I really enjoyed the restaurant and the SPA.