Our visit was out of snow season. Many of the nearby pubs and restaurants were closed but that’s to expected. Breakfast had one of the best buffets ever! Amazing yoghurt, a chef on hand to make you omelettes how you want, and proper barista coffee makers, who don’t mind making you more than 1 coffee. Loads of helpful staff. Staying here with my family, there was a kids club, though my 8 year old was to cool for that. Several pools and some heated. Whilst next door was a massive jumping feature (much more than a castle) kids from 4-11 could have stayed on there all day. The inflatable was meant to cost 10 leva for 20mins but some days there were no one there and when my kids time was up and I tried to pay more they would not take it. Rooms are old, but clean and featured a lot of wood, loads of storage and reasonable size. Restaurants in the hotel, like the hotel itself, are rather expensive. There was a great alternative 10m up and across the road, which served a variety of food. Though I do recommend walking to main village centre and trying a tavern with local cuisine. A few times we went to reception and could not find anyone available and after waiting usually gave up. The most amazing aspect for me, was the spa relaxation zone, Which included a “Shower experience”, multiple sauna’s with differing degrees, a few hot steam boxes again with differing degrees, and an ice box which had ice/snow but wasn’t that cold. I haven’t experience all this before coming from Australia so I thought it was pretty cool to give all these a go and my skin felt wonderful afterwards. Also the toiletries are Salvatore Ferragamo were wonderful. During the warmer months there is plenty of hiking trails and that sort of thing, but next time if I ever get a chance to come back to Bansko it will be in the winter months. I would love to stay at the Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena Bansko again, but the biggest drawback was cost!
It's a very nice hotel for skiers and offers great value for money. Ski shuttle bus run every hour. Nice ski room. The room was clean, spacious and warm, with balcony offering mountain views. The hotel is conveniently close to the ski area and nearby restaurants and bars. A huge plus is the convenience store located inside the hotel. The staff is very kind and friendly. Breakfast has many options, including choices for those with dietary restrictions. Trip typeHoliday · Couple Rooms5.0Service5.0Location5.0 Hotel
The hotel is a gem. We stayed for 5 nights in Dec 2024. You can tell that the company or owner has invested lots of time and money to create this result. Excellent quality of materials the rooms are spacious and the setup was beautiful. They gave us a fantastic family room, with very comfortable beds and was very clean. Now the downsides. Except for the housekeeping department, which did a fantastic job and kept the hotel sparkling clean, all the rest of the staff need better manners and lots of training. The front desk could not help me with any questions I had. They did not even know if they knew if a bus made any roots from the hotel to the town. The next day I discovered that they have their own van which takes you downtown without any charge. Anytime I would asked they would say they would get back to me or call my room for the requested information. No one bothered. The night shift receptionist did not speak English and we could not communicate at all. Waiting staff need to be trained. A 5 * hotel is not only the facilities. You need to have the proper services to call yourself a 5* hotel. Breakfast staff and lobby bar staff were all around the place doing random things or checking their phones except of taking care of the guests. When we went at the lobby bar to have something to eat and drink the place was empty and there were two waiters on duty. We had to call to call them to come to the table and even then it took them an additional 5’ for them to come. Everything was served like if we were at a cheap tavern. All plates and drinks came by hand and never used a single tray. Prices were reasonable except for the small bottle of water which costed 10 lev =5€! Breakfast staff would gather in parties of two or three and stare at the people having breakfast and making comments to each other. Not very helpful. The only person always doing something was a new guy with long hair probably a trainee. Breakfast setup was ok. The groom at the reception would always be on his phone doing nothing. I was struggling with 3 suitcases and his only concern was to hide his phone. Never offered to help. The maintenance department was doing some work outside of our rooms. We were not bothered about it at all. After the first day they left all the rubbish and equipment there and never took them ,away. They could at least throw away the plastic wrappings, brooms, and mops and tidy up the area. We had to see this every time we would sit out at our balcony. The ladies at the spa were very friendly and polite. We booked massage treatments for all 4 of us. We were very happy. One of the jacuzzis was problematic and the water has not hot. The sauna and steam bath were good. If the waiting and front desk staff gets trained and services improve only then this hotel can really be called a 5*hotel. I really hope that something of the above will change in the near future as the hotel really deserves it. In any case I highly recommend it as it stands out from the rest in
I cannot understand why this hotel is not scoring higher, we loved it! Rooms recently renovated so lovely modern interior & very clean. Comfy beds, great pool area with steam room, a few saunas and jacuzzi. Food is amazing. We stayed 4 nights on half board and never had a bad meal! The soup every night was outstanding, especially carrot & ginger on Friday night! Great choice at breakfast and love that they leave drink machines on for both meals. Usually they're turned off at dinner. Staff very attentive and fast at clearing dishes in restaurant. Also great location with ski shuttle bus to gondola free of charge or about 10 min walk.
Excellent staff lovely reception staff everyone was world class very very happy rooms and cleaners brilliant five star all the way mare use of pool steam room sauna breakfast so many thing to choose from would highly recommend this hotel we ate out to try different restaurants so can’t say for evening meal here but exploring was best for us
To start the hotel is good for the money and located within 5 minute walk of the gondola. The main street is v close so easy access to everything and the old town isn't too far (10min walk). Bansko has loads of places to eat drink and be merry. Plus plethora of supermarkets etc. The restaurant is nice with plenty of space and everything is modern and clean. The staff are a bit hit and miss. Some are friendly and helpful some less so which does make some interactions uncomfortable. If you book direct with the hotel and/or use thier ski equipment and thier ski passes it seems you get a better service than if you go through 3rd party operators. We stayed as a family with 2 young children and our first night the room was awful. Thankfully the manager resolved our issues and moved us to another room the next morning which we couldn't fault. The hotel web site stats fully equipped kitchen but that's not our experience. There is a kettles with cups and a hob/oven depending on your room. However with no cutlery, crockery, pots pans trays or anything at all to prepare or eat food on the kitchen is a bit of an ornament! Meals are buffet style and tasty however for little kids it's a bit fussy so we did struggle with all meals and as a result ate out more than we had wanted. Although room service food (which is extra £) was great. Burgers, chips, spaghetti etc. Drinks not included and as expected is v expensive. They don't like serving tap water as it's free but you do get 2-4 small bottles of water provided daily in the room. The pool and spa could do with a clean and the pool water by the end of the week the chlorine was so high you could feel it when you walked into the pool area. This could be easily rectified by more frequent changes of the water or water chemical maintenance. It was half term so use was heavy.