I stayed at the Helios spa at the beginning of May 2008. First I stayed in a 4 star room than I upgraded to a 5 star. I don't know on what criteria they give the stars to these people. The difference was that the 4 star was dirtier, it had no shower gel, bath robe or slippers while the 5 star had a disgusting bottle of champagne + the things mentioned above. The shower was like a walk in small room with no door where you had to sit on the floor to wash yourself and then the whole bathroom got flooded. We wanted to stay at the melia but hotels.com cheated us like many others calling a few days before our departure to tell us that it wasn't available anymore. As a "bonus" our car got stolen from their parking lot, but they claimed it wasn't theirs even if their garbage bins were nearby.Golden Sands is a kitchy, expensive resort, romanian resorts are much more beautiful. Romani stati departe, va fura masinile.

as a all inclusive guest we were treated to the worst supply off local drinks, wine worth L1.5 a ltr=75 pence was served in jugs
totally undrinkable?only local lager beer no other?staff management poorly trained,local stalls all controlled by a cartel,no items differ in price

I booked to stay at Helios Spa and resort, on a 4 star All inclusive holiday with my family. Please pay attention to these reviews and do not give this hotel the benefit of the doubt like i did. First impressions are good but then we got to our room which had not been cleaned properly we reported this to reception who said they would send a maid, this maid never arrived after several visits to reception and several meetings with my holiday rep my room had still not been cleaned when we checked out after two weeks. I have photos that show the grime around the toilet and in the shower, dirty bathroom floor and a dirty balcony to name but a few. The Restaurant was more of a canteen you had to fight for a table the food was basic and repeated every other day, the meat that was put out at lunch was often then on at Dinner but drowned in a sauce to hide the fact it had been out at lunch. The staff were rude and unhelpful we were often ignored. The reception staff were not much better if they heard your English accent they walked away and served someone else and left you waiting, i know this sounds absurd but this really did happen. I was in tears most days as i could not believe how poor we were being treated. The Hotel is not family friendly large gaps on balcony poor facilties, even the kids pool was 70cm deep and it was too cold to use. The poolside was dirty not once in my two week stay did i see the pool cleaned. I could go on and on, i really hope people read this to save them the Hell we went through, i am currently fighting my travel company for compensation.

The hotel itself has great facilities. The room was spacious and clean. The first problem was with the restaurant. It is very badly managed. .When the cups are all used up at breakfast they are replaced by plastic cups. When I stay in a 4-star hotel I expect .the staff to treat me with respect. In this hotel I found the restaurant manager and his bar manager very rude and arrogant .If any complaint was made they ignored you and harrassed you for the rest of the stay. The Reception staff often would ignore you especially if you speak English. We had to constantly ring down to reception for shower gel etc. There is no courtesy room available if you have to check out early on departure day.The only positive thing was that the bar staff were friendly. I enjoyed Golden Sands and will return but not to this hotel. It has 4 star facilities but 1 star service.