Casa Karina Bansko - Wellness & Ski hotel in Bansko

I am currently at Casa Carina and will most likely be here for the last time. I have been coming here 4–5 times since 2017; back then everything was good — varied food, clean rooms, and a warm pool. Now there is no food selection, there is no warm pool, and most importantly, the rooms are not cleaned. You cannot sleep at night because there is a lot of dust in the mattresses, which makes you cough and makes it impossible to sleep properly. This is not the Casa Carina hotel it used to be; the owner has most likely changed. Do not come here — you will be disappointed. I will never come here again. A ruined hotel.

1. Time of stay – Outside the active winter season, in autumn. We stayed for 7 days.
2. Reason for choosing the hotel – We had to stay there because the medical treatments are conducted on-site.
3. Parking – We were directed to park in a nearby field, which was not even mowed. It rained heavily, so it turned muddy. Later, we found out there was an underground parking area, but it’s currently not in use and guests are not allowed to access it.
4. General initial impression – The hotel seems to have been quite luxurious when it was built, with significant investment at that time. Now, however, it clearly shows signs of neglect and lack of maintenance throughout.
5. Windows and frames – About 90% of the window frames we saw were deformed, including those in the rooms and in the common areas.
6. Common areas – All carpets were worn out and in some places smelled musty. Most of the parquet floors and wood panels (where present) were old and warped.
7. Children’s playroom – Just one room with no new toys; everything inside was old, worn, or broken.
8. Reception staff – Everyone except one woman (who seemed only interested in her phone) was polite, helpful, and professional.
9. Bathroom – Broken shower holders.
10. Kitchen area – The sink faucet was loose and about to fall off; it was hard to turn the water on and off.
11. Heating – Electric convectors only. Unfortunately, there was a 3-hour power outage during our stay, and the hotel had no backup generator.
12. Baby cots – Charged additionally!
13. Restaurant – The food was well prepared and available in good quantities, either à la carte or buffet-style. However, when there are few guests, they serve from a short fixed menu of 5 items, and even if you pre-order, it takes a long time to prepare. When the restaurant is full, the organization is chaotic – I would describe it as “communist-era style service.”
14. Noise – On Saturday night, there was a private party in the restaurant with loud live music until midnight; the entire hotel was shaking.
15. Construction nearby – During our entire stay, a large hotel was being built next door. Trucks were passing every 5 minutes, from 7:00 AM to midnight.
16. Infrastructure issues – The construction and power outage might be the municipality’s or the electricity company’s fault, but guests still have to endure it – and it’s worth mentioning.
17. Overall assessment – A hotel that was probably very good at the beginning, but now suffers from poor maintenance and certain staff members who hinder normal operations (especially at reception and in the restaurant). Despite that, most of the staff were competent and polite, which is rare these days. In general, I would not return to this hotel unless absolutely necessary.
18. Prices – Like everywhere else in this resort, they seem aimed only at making quick profit, without offering any real value or enjoyment for the customer.

I rarely write reviews but am compelled to as the low quality of this hotel really impacted our holiday. We booked half board, a double with a camp bed. I was expecting four star, and I have an understanding of what this might look like. The room was horrible - like a hostel. Two low single beds pushed together - nothing to join them and no bed frame as such. And then a similar one in the corner. And worse - nothing between the thin sheet and the bare (thin) mattress that thousands of people had laid on. The mattress was so bobbly I could feel it through that sheet. Ditto pillow. Just felt really unhygenic. At least half the lights didn't work, the curtains didn't pull properly, electrical sockets loose, and shower curtain that was indescribable. Not a smile was cracked by reception staff - ever. My son threw up one night and when I went downstairs (about 11.30pm) to ask for a bottle of water and fresh sheets, honestly they couldn't have given less of a hoot about it. But did make sure they charged the room for the bottle of water. As there were less than 20 guests in the hotel they didn't do a buffet (lesson learned for me there to read the small print!) so you were presented with a random choice of meals with zero accompanying information - "sliced chicken", "pork", sometimes it was very unclear what the items were; "grandma's breakfast" was a memorable one. The food itself was nice (and the restaurant staff nice) but when you are travelling with younger children its nice to know if something is coming swimming in a mushroom sauce, for example. Zero green vegetables the whole time. And not a clue about nut allergies. Every time I mentioned it we got a blank look. I appreciate I don't speak Bulgarian but it was hard to ask questions about the food as their English was limited. Very disappointing and well below even a 3 star standard.