IC Sofia

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

We booked the cheapest club room and were upgraded to a high floor one bedroom suite. This was a three or four level upgrade. I received an email from the hotel a few days before our visit.

How are the rooms?

This was the best upgrade we have scored out of the last three visits. Previous upgrades have been to a junior suite. Our suite had a large sitting room with an L shaped sofa, two cream arm chairs and another arm chair with footstool, just perfect for lounging. It had a large TV on one wall, a desk and the mini bar and coffee station were on the opposite wall. There was a Nespresso machine with assorted capsules, tea bags and hot choc. The separate bedroom was smaller with a second TV. The wardrobes were in a dressing area next to the door. These contained the safe, bathrobes and slippers. There was a guest cloakroom with a WC. The main bathroom was split into three. There was a WC behind a frosted glass door and the bath and rainfall shower were in a separate wet room, again behind glass door and screen. There were his’n’hers basins and plenty of towels. Amenities were L’Occitane though I spotted these were small 30ml bottles rather than the 50ml bottles we had last time. Sign of the times…..

How is the exec. lounge?

This was really quiet during our visit. The uplift to the room rate was around £40 and I guess eating out in Sofia is so cheap that most folk didn’t bother. We had afternoon tea and evening nibbles there. We ate our breakfast in the Studio restaurant. Staff were friendly, proactively offering last orders both at breakfast and happy hour before they cleared away.

What was good and what was bad?

We received a lovely hand written card from the GM, welcoming us back. This was accompanied by a large fruit plate and litre bottles of still and sparkling water. There were also small bottles of still water on the coffee table. We chose a cocktail in the Floret bar for our welcome amenity. We used some of the mini bar contents and our $20 Ambassador allowance covered this. We were proactively offered a 4pm checkout as we checked in. My son used the gym a few times and it was largely empty.

There was nothing bad.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

This hotel is cheap as chips. We have already booked again for spring 2023. It’s an excellent destination for English folk as the flight earns 160 tier points, which is great for maintaining Gold status.