Telling - My holiday in Bulgaria

This is a review about a holiday in Bulgaria
My partner and I stayed in hotel Pomorie the last fortnight of August 2005. Having originally booked for a lower standard hotel, we found it a pleasant surprise to be upgraded to this large three star hotel with 310 rooms.
First impressions were good; the hotel reception is clean and big with a couple of nice bars. We had a wait in a queue to check in, which isn't ideal for 4am but this could happen anywhere and there were plenty of staff on the desk to deal with us.
Part of the hotel was completely refurbished in 2004 and we were lucky enough to be placed in this new section - Pomorie 2. We spoke to other guests who were in Pomorie 1 and they found the rooms rather cramped. Our room was far bigger than we would have ever needed with plenty of storage for our clothes and toiletries the room had a sea facing balcony, extremely clean bathroom and television and fridge which area generally payable at reception although I believe family rooms come with these as standard.
The newly refurbished part of the hotel faces onto a main road which passes by the hotel. On this road area bars and the local night club, there is extremely loud music all day and night from these bars, although it is turned down in stages, very low by midnight and coming to a close around three or four, this isn't everyone's cup of tea. The balcony doors and windows are of good quality and manage to keep most of the noise out; if you have a fan in the room (also payable at reception) you can sleep with the doors shut. We were able to deal with the noise, most of the time as we are a young couple - I'm not sure that the more mature holiday maker would be able to cope with this level of noise. To combat this, if ever booking this hotel, ensure to request a room at the back of the hotel as these rooms are much quieter.
Breakfast is served between 7-10. It is best to go as early as possible as it turns into survival of the fittest and you are likely to be elbowed out of the way by desperate mothers trying to feed their young, Due to this we only ate breakfast in the hotel twice and found It better to eat in the adjoining restaurant - Ocean. Ocean has some of the friendliest staff in Sunny Beach and we found ourselves having many meals in here. All this isn't to say that the Pomorie breakfast isn't worth it - there's hot food, cereals, fruit, bread, juices and plenty of it. Just be prepared to fight for it if you are eating late on.
The pool at the hotel is fantastic. It's large enough not to be annoyed too much by the seemingly enormous amount of kids who stay at the hotel. Its not to deep for the (then) unconfident swimmers like myself but still deep enough for diving and it has a great swim up bar. Loungers have to be paid for but they are only 5 lev a day for two (about £2). If like ourselves you like to go out and about during the day and sunbath later- hire your lounger in the morning and leave your towel on it, this is something I would never normally do, but appeared to be the norm at the Pomorie. There is a kids pool but due to the depth of the larger pool older children tend to play in both. A large selection of food is available from the pool bar all day - making is feasible to spend the entire day baking in the sun if you so wish. Soft drinks and snacks are also available from the bar.
The hotel is in an ideal location, away from the main beachfront drag but the road in front of the hotel is still busy. The beach is directly across from the hotel and this part of the beach is quieter than the beaches further along the resort - making it easier to get a lounger. The beaches in sunny beach become extremely crowded throughout the day with rows and rows of loungers and hundred of people in the water. There are plenty of restaurants bars and shops around, there are also activities such as bungee rocket, quad biking on the same road as the hotel. There is a general shop attached to the hotel for all your needs. A beauty salon is also attached to the hotel - I had a manicure and my other half had a massage, both of which were great and cheap, although there isn't much conversation to be had while you are getting them. I believe that since I visited there are now extensive beauty and leisure facilities . There is now also hair dressing facilities in the hotel.
The hotel staff are friendly but I found there was a language barrier whenever I tried to speak to someone on reception. The Balkan holidays rep office is located in the hotel and the rep can be found there between 5-7 every evening if you need help with anything, we found her extremely pleasant and she knew her stuff.
Facilities available from front desk include ironing, iron hire, dry cleaning & safety deposit boxes. I requried to have a skirt cleaned while I was there (probably spilled a V & C on it!) I got the skirt back in pristine condition and for a very reasonable price.
Facilities and entertainment in the hotel includes a kiddie club, amusement arcade, three bars, and two adjoining restaurants. Apparently there is a poolside quiz and water volleyball but we never attended either.
The maids are friendly and come into the rooms every day to clean and tidy, there are no do not disturb signs but as soon as they see that someone is in the room they close the door. They didn't clean the balcony in the time we were there and the towel change wasn't as often as id like - I simply left them folded on the floor in the bathroom and they changed them then.
I really enjoyed my stay in the hotel, it's by no means a palace or modern but has everything you need.
I would definitely check which part of the hotel you are going to be placed in and, where possible, request a room at the back to avoid the noisy club at the front.
The hotel, as is the resort, is ideal for families, there is plenty of the little ones to do.
As we were upgraded and paid for a much lesser quality hotel I cant comment on how much it was at the time. However - having checked Balkan Holidays website, in high season you can expect to pay approximately £500 for a fortnight, this is on a bed and breakfast basis.
Take a look, have a holiday in Bulgaria!