I booked the cheapest club room. A week before my stay, I received an email from the lounge staff asking for my arrival time, and they sent a confirmation after my reply. However, this didn't seem to make any difference when I actually arrived. I still checked in standing at the front desk and it took a bit of time for my paperwork to be located/printed.
As Spire I was given 600 welcome points and as Amb I was upgraded to an "apartment". I was then shown to the lounge, which is on the ground floor to the left and back behind reception. There was a "secret" lift by the lounge entrance which brought me closer to my room than the regular lifts. At this time, the lounge was empty with one staff member at the computer. For some reason both her and the person who checked me in seemed a bit confused when I wanted to go the room (with my luggage) straight away rather than sitting in the lounge.
The room was bright and modern as expected for a new property. Photos at the end. The air con / heating worked perfectly (was a bit chilly that night and I can't sleep when it's cold). There were ample plug sockets everywhere. There was a lovely panorama of Vitosha mountain from the window.
There were some sweet items in addition to the Ambassador fruits. One of the apricots was about to rot on one side.
Sadly, the wifi quality was horrible from this room and would barely even connect. However, I discovered an open network in a nearby building (which I used with a VPN so it should have been safe). This suddenly cut off shortly before my departure - perhaps I exceeded their data limit! I could not be bothered to move room so did not complain (though mentioned it in the email survey so hopefully if they read it they will investigate and install some boosters). Surprisingly, my 3G mobile signal was excellent throughout Sofia, and costs the same across most of Europe so I also used that. The wifi worked properly in the lounge.
I stayed in the lounge from 5-8pm. It was completely deserted until about 7pm when a couple came in, then another pair entered as I left. However when I got back to the hotel at 10.30pm it was quite crowded.
The "afternoon tea" was practically untouched, which might explain why there wasn't much of it. It was the same sweet items found in my room. The evening items were mostly small savoury tarts and small bits of toast with toppings; there were also cut vegetables with dips and a cheese board. There were crisps and nuts arranged in an "IHG" pattern because the lounge host felt that the regular layout was boring. Drinks included wines, spirits and some local beers, bottled iced teas and juices. The hosts were friendly and chatty.
The breakfast buffet in the lounge was extensive, and would have been an acceptable offering even in the restaurant. Additionally I was given a menu which had some items that could be a full breakfast in themselves. I ordered two poached eggs that came on the biggest plate I have ever eaten from, had to move all my other plates and cups to the opposite side, even though the eggs only occupied a tiny space in the middle!
Again I was the only person in the lounge (7.30am-8am, weekday) and the food had been untouched until I arrived.
The metro stop Sofia University is less than 5 minutes from the hotel but I was disappointed that the metro, despite being overground, runs in opaque tunnels. Using the excellent
https://www.sofiatraffic.bg/en/transport/schedules (provided you read Cyrillic, it is far better than e.g. the TfL website which tries too hard to be fancy but barely gets the basics right), I discovered that bus 84 to the airport runs from the bus stop Orlov Most (Eagle Bridge) just a little bit further than the metro station. During my journey ticket inspectors boarded the bus, ejecting and fining about 10 passengers, all locals, although for some reason they barely looked at my ticket.
The first time exiting from the metro station is a bit disorienting as there are several exits. The main thing I remember is that I had to go past the Billa supermarket (good for cheap snacks) towards the hotel.
A club room was about €30 more than a regular room. I guess this is a good price, lower than in many other ICs, and I was happy to pay it to try it out, but probably wasn't really worth it for me. I did get a personal service and a "private" breakfast but wouldn't normally spend anywhere near that much on food and drinks (bearing in mind cheap Bulgaria prices).
Finally, despite advertising prices in euros only, the hotel does not take payments in euros. Fortunately as the lev is pegged to the euro, they convert the bill to BGN at the exact rate rather than making one up.
However, if you wish to pay in euro cash, they want a 5% commission to exchange the cash. This is unlike the Hilton Sofia where I stayed the night before, which accepts euro banknotes at the exact pegged exchange rate. (This only came up because I bought 500 leva from a friend at a favourable rate intending to use it to settle the bill, but ended up spending all of it before checking out!)
