Just completed a rather disappointing stay at the Sheraton in Sofia. I think the large part of my disappointment stems from the fact that Sheraton labels this with their "Luxury Collection" brand, but there is no way that this is a luxury hotel.
My first disappointment was the lack of air conditioning in the room. This is one of those hotels that switches between air conditioning and heat. Despite temperatures that reached 70 degrees outside (and about 80 degrees inside my room), there was no air conditioning, and the front desk's only solution was to open the window and let fresh air (and bugs) in. To the credit of the maintenance staff that attended to my complaint, they did bring me a fan to blow the hot air around. So here I am in this 80-degree "luxury" hotel room, and the only way to keep cool is a oscillating fan?
I am frequently hot, so this really put a damper on my stay.
The room itself was otherwise fine. No upgrade (I am only SPG Preferred Guest), but I did receive a nice room with balcony on the fourth floor. I didn't find the room especially spacious (perhaps due to the balcony), and I had to maneuver around the floor fan that maintenance provided me due to the lack of a/c.
The bathroom has one of those half-shower doors (not uncommon in Europe) that virtually guarantee that water will leak on the floor (and it did). There was no bar soap for the bathtub, and when I asked for one, I received one of those tiny bars of soap that were common in roadside Holiday Inns back in the '70s.
The rain shower in the bathtub was mounted too low, and I'm only 5'9. I don't know how anyone over 6 feet could use it without contorting himself underneath the flow of water. The room had a bath robe but no face cloths (also not uncommon in Europe).
The room was in okay shape, but there was poor fit and finish all over the place. Housekeeping was poor, leaving toiletries uncapped and/or empty and barely running a vacuum across the room. This is one of those hotels which requires you to place the little card on your bed to get new sheets, so if you forget, no clean sheets for you.
On the plus side, there were power ports on each side of the bed, something even more-modern hotels lack. And the Executive Lounge had food for breakfast, appetisers for dinner, and self-serve beverages (including beer!) anytime. I had selected an Executive room for not much more than a regular room. Given the hotel wanted EUR25 for breakfast, this was a bargain.
When I had booked the room, it was advertised as having free WiFi. I was concerned the hotel would try not to deliver on this promise, but they provided me with a card for free WiFi. The card cautioned that use of the in-room wired internet (or any other WiFi access point) would be chargeable.
I consider a nice hotel to be an oasis in unfamiliar surroundings, so that's why I find it worthwhile to spend a little more for a luxury hotel experience. The Sheraton Sofia didn't deliver on that in any way. It probably isn't a bad choice if you set your expectations accordingly.