I had a nice room, comfortable bed, with sofa in the room , balcony and Jacuzzi in the bathroom.
The hotel is near the Centre of Sofia, so you can visit many places by feet. They have also free wifi, but you can have access in Internet only in the the Lobby.

Chose this hotel based on other positive reviews and also cheaper price (30 euros for double room). On arrival we were greeted by very smoky lobby and reception area. Staff were polite but not very helpful. I asked them for recommendations to restaurants and tourist sights and got an "I don't know" response repeatedly.

Rooms are clean, smallish and basic. No room safe but has air con. Shower was over bath but no shower curtain (a rare commodity) in hotels in this part of the world. Purple curtains and blanket give the room a bit of a cheesy bordello look but bad decor never hurt anyone right?

Hotel is a few kilometres out from the centre but taxis are cheap (check the sticker for the meter rate before you get in). There is a large mall called the City Centre within a 15 minute walk from the hotel. It has a large cinema that plays English language movies (we were travelling for months in east Europe so this was a bit of a luxury for us).
The restaurant served very nice food at a great price.

There is nothing really wrong with this hotel. It provides good basic accommodation. But when I come back to Sofia I will be staying at the Budapest hotel near the central bus station. Rooms there were 55 euros including breakfast (the above mentioned 30 euros for the Hotel California was without breakfast). The rooms are so much better, the staff exceptional and the restaurant is simply first class.

I stayed at this hotel after reading its rave reviews from here and other sites. Its main appeal being the very appealing low room rates.

Location-wise it's not too far from the airport. From the airport costs 10 Lev and returning to the airport was less. However it's a slight walk to the town centre of Sofia...probably around 15-20 minutes depending on your pace.

The reception staff are exceptional. They are very willing to help as much as possible. We asked one receptionist to try and book a tour for us to visit the Rila Monastery from a leaflet we saw. She didn't do this, instead she called a taxi driver to drive us there for half the price of the original tour!

The rooms themselves are spacious and the beds were normal to sleep on. The red satin sheet complete with heart shaped cushion was slightly off-putting (stomach-churning) but was easily solved by stuffing them in the wardrobe. There is internet connection in each room (no wireless) and the cable can be obtained from reception. Every room (apart from ours) has a jacuzzi bath. We had one the 2nd time we stayed here, but it's nothing special. The best thing about it is the in-shower radio system. Also, with the water appearing slightly yellow in the tub, having a shower was more appealing. Every room has numerous light switches dotted about the room. It's quite a challenge working out which switch does what. If in the unfortunate event of a light bulb going out, you'll be pleased to know there are 50 other lights to counter the darkness..

Breakfast was probably the biggest disappointment at this hotel. The atmosphere of the breakfast room was rather dreary, and the food itself was poor to say the least. But for the price of the room, it's amazing that breakfast is even included.

To summarise, the California hotel isn't a perfect hotel at all, but it's got a great quirky character, which most people will love.

I stayed here for just the one night, but enjoyed it. As mentioned perviously, the rooms have got a jacuzzi bath, which is a nice and unusual touch. Staff were all very friendly and spoke great English. Was a bit outside of the centre, but the taxis are pretty cheap - get reception to order you one - I even used other hotel receptions when in the centre to make sure I got a legitimate one. One interesting part of the room was the lighting options - honestly there must have been about 20 different settings - down light, up llights, spot lights, border lights. The Starship Enterprise has an easier control panel.

There are a few down sides to the hotel. Curtains are light & don't quite cover the windows - could bother some people. Breakfasts are a bit on the weak side, a few pieces of cheese, some cold meat and that's about it. Could have been a bit more imaginative.

But overall - visit this hotel, you'll really enjoy it