just come back from panorama hotel i was not looking forward to it after reading the reviews but i needn't have worried the hotel was clean the staff very friendly rooms were cleaned everyday and towels changed everyday my only concern was the tiles around the pool area when wet were very slippy our rep was not very informative if you are going here don.t forget to book the free a la cart the food was lovely kids entertainment was great the raj resturant was great value for money about £24.00 for 4 meals+ drinks

We went to bulgaria after being advised that Albena was perfect for famiies. We went with my in laws and 2 of their grandchildren aged 9 and 7, me and my husband and our 3 children aged, 4 , 2 and 4 months. The one thing we had been dreading due to the security restrictions was the flight and keeping the children happy! The flight was fine and the transfer was on time and well organised.

I knew that we had to be open minded about Bulgaria as it is very dated and to be fair the foyer area and general feel of the place seemed o.k. We had a small problem with incorrect room bookings and we were down as half board instead of fully inclusive, we had also asked for a ground floor room as we had a pushchair but we were on the third floor. We were just glad to have a bed to be honest , so we did'nt put up a fight.

The rooms are dated, but seemed clean, there was a t.v which we could watch News 24, this was handy for us as we had to have some early nights with young children. The showers were very dated, but we had hot water, the rooms were large and we hired a fan to keep air circulating. The food in the restaurant was quite nice, entertainment in the evening is watching the kids entertainment , not brilliant, but the staff were enthusiastic and the kids loved it!!

We found that the cleaning staff were lovely at that was it, we found that a lot of the bar staff ( except a young lad in the resturant area) and the pool staff treated us and other english people as 2nd rate citizens. The germans, russians etc, were looked after very well, even down to wiping sun bed down after the rain, a service that we didnt get!.

Outside the resort - The restaurant Rai and the Garden restaurant DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY, generally rude and obnoxious. BEWARE!! In the market ( LH side opp the Garden restuarant) there is a place called Photo RETRO who take pictures of you dressed up - they will CON you out of money, we bought 5 photos , went back to pick them up with a hand written recipt and they said that we hadnt paid and refused to give us the photos unless we paid them again!

On the plus side - beach is beautiful and lots to do for older children in Albena. our hotel was a 3 star - more like a 1 or 2 star, if i went to bulgaria again, it would have to be in a 4 or 5 star in about 10 years time, when those who want to be in the tourist trade in Bulgaria, realise that you have to make people feel like they are wanted in their country to have a good time. At the end of the 2 weeks the last 3 days were cold, raining and with torrential storms, after making our way through the stroppy staff at the Bulgarian airport, i have never been so happy to crawl into my own bed!

Arrived very early in the morning due to flight delay. Not immediately convinced the agents had got the 3* rating correct but decided to keep an open mind. Found hotel had 1 room booked for us instead of 2 and so we had nowhere we could even rest . Room totally unsatisfactory as very small, bathroom extremely primitive and broken (taped together)window on landing to balcony. Very sweet young receptionist tried her best to help us. Had to get her to call Medhotels rep about 2 hours later. After a very strongly worded conversation with him, he spoke to the receptionist and she showed us 2 interconnecxted rooms on 2 levels. Siad we would take these as we dodn't seem to have any option. The upstairs room had at least a clean looking tiled bathroom and shower tray. Our room downsstairs smelled of damp but looked clean until I opened the bathroom door. The shower tray was concrete, no tiles, and there was a plain glass window from the actual shower into the basement area of the hotel. so I was very wary of having a shower since it wsa so open. This glass window would not shut at all. This actually looked right into our shower area. We found 1 beetle crawling up through the bathroom central floor drain, and 2 IN the bed of my daughter's friend. Not to be daunted we made the best of the holiday. The rooms and public areas had absolutely no air conditioning and with temps of 36 in the day and 20 at night it quickly became unbearable. I have to say the young receptionists were very apologetic and tried their best to be helpful towards us. The food I found unusual at first but hey, it's not England, so I accepted it and found it not bad at all, plenty of salads and fruit, lovely soups and delicious fresh bread rolls every meal. Swimming pool was ok, but surrounds very slippery. I would not go back there as I think they really need to bring those rooms up to date (and it won't come cheap) and concentrate on their bug problem. I intend to complain to the travel company about their description of the hotels they sell rooms in and their star rating

Arrived home from Albena today and think it is my duty to warn everybody to stay away from The Panorama.

Booked with Balkan holidays as a 3* allocation on arrival, how this hotel has this rating is beyond me.

We arrived in our room at approx 4am, tired from a long day we walked in the room and thought it very tired and dated, also a strange odour hung around the place. As we stepped on 1 beetle when we walked in the room, being new to Bulgaria we thought the odd insect we would have to put up with. We went to bed rather dubious but with an open mind.

The next morning we went for breakfast, the food was awful and the place matched.

The level of the swimming pool is about a foot below the side of the pool, with a scum all around it.

That evening still tired I went to bed early only to be woke up at about midnight with beetles on and in the bed, all over the floor and balcony, the place was disgusting!!!

Our only option was to leave the hotel that day as we were told all the rooms were the same, it cost us £250 to move.

This place should not be sold to anybody.