Crystal Palace Boutique Hotel

A pleasant hotel in the city centre. At first sight, the reception does not give the impression of the rooms or even the bar, because they are very well kept. The restaurant perhaps leaves something to be desired.

It is in the amazing location, in front of a park. In several minutes, you can walk to the cathedral, parliament, the University of Sofia (one block) and many cafes and restaurants. The hotel has the traditional value of a great hotel. Staff are properly attired. Furniture is solid wood. Brass handles in the washroom are all well polished shiny.

Everything was OK except the breakfast. Arrived around 8.40 to the breakfast room and everything was gone, they did not fill upp.

Helpful receptions and very central to all places of interests. It’s only 5 minutes walk to Alexander cathedral and 10 minutes away from the buzzing Alexander Boulevard. The hotel is a bit dated and they charged for everything including water bottles. The bar could not offer all the alcoholic drinks offered on their drink menu. However, there are other bars very close by.

Having spent the last week up in the Rhodopi Mountains in a small hotel that couldn't do enough for us; it was a bit of a shock arriving at the Crystal Palace Hotel! The lobby looked lovely with it's spiral staircase & marble floors but as our group checked in, there was a distinct lack of friendliness from the receptionist & the rest of the staff! As we entered our spacious room, we were greeted by a smell of stale cigarette smoke so had to throw the windows open to disperse it! We saw that we were at the back of the hotel & were overlooking a bar area where people were sitting drinking-this became a problem when we went to bed as the party carried on until 1am 7 could be heard even through closed windows! The room had brown, old fashioned furniture which made it dark & the bathroom had wallpaper peeling off & several hairs in the bath! There was no milk for drinks & no answer when we rang down to reception! The hotel is very much 'style over substance' for us-we would prefer good, friendly customer service rather than sullen, non interacting staff! The only saving grace was the food which was lovely, especially the buffet breakfast which had a lot of choice although we would have preferred some traditional Bulgarian food being as we were in the capital! When we checked out, we tried to pay by cash for our bar bill only to be told that they had no change! The receptionist tried to make us pay by credit card but we did not want to do this so managed to get smaller notes to only give a small tip-we would have preferred not to! Asked how our room was, we explained about the noise outside only to be told, "We don't think it's a problem".......why ask then? The hotel is 20 minutes away from the airport & is centrally positioned in Sofia but the lack of customer service means that we will not return!

The AC was working perfectly. It’s not easy to find in Bulgaria

People on the desk and the concierge was very friendly and helpful. Smiley and welcoming.

Con: No basic amenities such as iron are available in the hotel, yet their pressing service has very limited operating hours. No water bottle in the room. The walls are paper-thin. Pro: Nice and quiet location.