Забытый советский сервис. Forgotten Soviet service.

First of all, it must be said that there are 2 Laguna hotels in Sozopol, both in the new part of the city.
One - a large hotel complex of 3 buildings, stands directly on the shore, facing the sea. The second hotel is closely attached to a private house, in the form of a 5-story tower and is located 50 meters from the first Lagoon and is NOT on the shore, but on a parallel street. A special sign of the small hotel Laguna, so as not to be confused with another - in front of the hotel there is a square with a playground. By the way, all the hotels in the city are close to the beach, as the city is small and with very dense buildings.
These two hotels differ from each other like Italian boots from the boots of the Paris Commune factory. I was “lucky” to live in the second option, and I remembered what a non-obtrusive Soviet service is. Sitting on the balcony, in the small Lagoon, I examined the large Lagoon in detail, it, being large, actually closed the view of the sea. These two hotels have a difference of one star, but in terms of service and appearance, the difference is greater.


I will describe the little Laguna where I lived for 11 days in July 2007, I will call it a hotel, it will be more truthful.
So, there is no reception in the hotel, that is, there is no administrator and no safe. Documents could be stored in the safe of the host, at the Starfish Hotel, it is 1 minute away. You already take care of the safety of the room key yourself, carry it everywhere with you, to the beach, for example. But this is a trifle compared to the fact that if you need something from the hotel workers, there is no one to ask and no one to ask. In addition to the cleaning maid, up to a certain point, not a single official has ever appeared in the hotel, and the maid does not understand either Russian or English and cleans from 10 to 12 in the afternoon.
On the first day, I discovered that the sink in the shower-toilet was clogged and emitted a slight smell of rotten water. In general, this is nothing compared to the sea, the sand on the beach and the air, the wonderful sea air, besides, you can close the toilet door and brush your teeth under the shower tap. There are no hooks for towels in the shower-toilet, but some kind soul, apparently the previous tenant, attached wire to the remaining screws and made an impromptu hook. There are no shelves either, so you already put shampoo, etc. on the floor, but soap and a toothbrush were placed on the edge of a small sink (which is clogged). However, there is a big problem with shelves and shelves in the room - there are none at all. In the wardrobe there is only a crossbar with hangers and that's it. T-shirts, a beach towel, a hat, and other little things had to be kept in an open suitcase and on the bed.

I moved in on Friday. Everything is clean in the room, half a roll of toilet paper in the toilet-shower room, two clean towels, no soap, a small TV under the ceiling, air conditioning (although my neighbors on the balcony did not have a remote control from it and we all used one, my remote control), furniture: coffee table, two stools, two bedside tables, wardrobe, bed. There are tiny nightlights on the nightstands. Fans of reading at night will have to do this only on one side, tightly pressed against the lampshade.
On Saturday evening, I ran out of toilet paper, the same half-roll. And on Sunday, it turns out that the maid had a day off and she did not leave a spare roll. I went to look for where toilet paper was sold, went around the whole city, finally bought it - then it turned out that the paper was sold in the next block, who knew, because there was no one to ask. On Monday, the maid, apparently, was terribly glad that they had already bought the paper themselves and did not put their roll out. She did not put it out even when the roll I bought was over.
On Tuesday (the fourth day of my stay) I managed to persuade the maid to invite a locksmith. A man came, did some magic on the sink, cleaned it a little, dried his hands with a towel hanging in the toilet and threw it in a corner. Finding a dirty towel, I went to my guide, to the host's guide. She told the whole, already long, story, both about the towel and about the paper, and that there was no one to turn to. The receiving party, the Starfish firm, was indignant. My guide said that there was no norm for toilet paper, that the towel, of course, would be changed, after all, I didn’t get it dirty. We went to my hotel. The same man, a locksmith, was sitting in the courtyard of the hotel. The guide came with me and told him everything in front of me. The locksmith turned out to be some kind of relative of the hostess, who unexpectedly showed herself on the same day, but in the evening. You thought you came with an apology? Wrong!

In the afternoon, after the sea, I returned to my room and found both a full roll of toilet paper and a new clean towel. That's it - the story is over! It wasn't here.

On the same day, already in the evening, I walk along the small narrow courtyard of the hotel - a certain lady with black hair, whom I saw for the first time, blocks my way and asks menacingly: "Are you complaining ?! " I answer: "There were. Now there are no complaints, everything is in order. " I'm going to move on, and she's like, "No, wait. " Here, from the private half, the house, which is adjacent to the hotel, poured out numerous relatives, rubbing their hands. I understand: this is probably the owner of the hotel, as if the hostess, she did not introduce herself. She begins very quickly in pure Bulgarian to pronounce something indignantly at me, like a teacher to a negligent poor student. By the end of her impassioned speech, when she let off steam and began to speak more slowly, I understood the main point. And the thought is this, please pay attention! : If I want to change my towel more often than 1 time in 5 days, as they usually do, I can go to another, more expensive hotel, and by the way, I pointed to the second one, big lagoon. I calculated, it turns out that tomorrow, according to the idea, they will change me, the second towel, and, surprised by everything, left.
In fact, if it were a day, I would immediately go to the Starfish, I'm sure they would sort everything out, very kind women work there, you feel calm and safe in their company. But in the morning I decided not to wag my nerves and them, to tell the continuation only at the end of my stay - all the same, I came to rest: well, rudeness, yes, but tomorrow they will give out a towel and there will be no more interruptions with paper and I can finally forget about everyday life. I was wrong again! The second towel was never changed for me, and the roll of paper issued on Tuesday was the last one until Monday, inclusive, until the day of my departure. Do not laugh - on the 9th day of my stay in the sink, the water again began to not pass, the smell of rottenness reappeared, and on Wednesday the maid stopped responding to my hello. I was punished, and even a boycott was announced. There was no boycott of attention from the first day, not only to me, but to all the guests, we talked, in the hotel there were all Russians and Ukrainians. We were abandoned there and served ourselves, for our own money.
Now the story of the "hospitality" of the Laguna Hotel is really over!
For those who are going to travel to Bulgaria for the first time, I assure you that the delights of life I have described are, of course, not typical of all hotels in Bulgaria. Last year I had a rest for the same money in another city in Bulgaria, there were no such problems, although a roll of toilet paper and soap then cost a little cheaper, and the ticket cost me almost the same amount.

In the same Sozopol at the Starfish Hotel, there is a different picture, they receive, apparently, in a completely different way, there is warmth and attention to guests. I came there every other day to take money, had dinner at the restaurant of this hotel, talked with the staff, asked them everything that interested me, and I wanted to visit there next time, if I could, of course, stay there, because you come for such a short time from -breathe, and not flounder in the problems and negativity of the employees of the Laguna Hotel.
Elena, Moscow, 2007.