Hotel Zoo Sofia

Old school typical Bulgarian management. Offers and promises are not kept, trying to squeeze more pennies at the last second. It’s truly disappointing this type of management still exists in Bulgaria. Do not recommend this place for corporate use. Total waste of time.

I had a great experience with Hotel Zoo Sofia, I stayed for 3 nights with friends, we visited the zoo which is behind the hotel 5 minutes by foot from the entrance, the breakfast was varied and delicious, the staff at the reception were very kind and explained to us what we can visit and see in area, they have a parking lot which is paid with a symbolic amount of 10 BGN, but we were calm because there was always a place to park and our car was in a protected place. something that first impressed us were the maids of the hotel who were very funny and kind, they always asked us if we needed anything, they cleaned the rooms very carefully! thank you for your attention and care.

A complete disappointment with its unprofessional team and disgusting service. Don't try it. If you are not going to stay on the streets, it is not an alternative. The receptionist named Atinas is incredibly arrogant and can't do anything.

Our room was bright, airy with a good sized bathroom equipped with a shower and hairdryer. The room was considerably spacious and did not feel cramped although the desk was a bit too narrow on which to use a laptop comfortably. The breakfast has plenty of choice.

The room was filthy & they tried to say it was bleach. There was no kettle no fridge the air con didn’t work. No balcony just small window & very dark. When I asked to move rooms they said they were full..well the rooms with balcony’s that I could see from my window Looked empty! Very poorly run the staff seem to sit around doing nothing… there is nothing nearby so I had dinner & breakfast @ hotel which was disgusting

We stayed here with a tour group for two nights and whilst the disappointing aspect was the location (4 kms further from the city than our original hotel and in a semi industrial area), the good points made up for it. The room was a good size and comfortable and had all the amenities - excellent bathroom/shower, hairdryer, fridge, safe and free wi-fi. And the hotel had two lifts compared to many with one small one. The dining area was large and both dinner - lamb shoulder - and breakfast - wide array of hot and cold dishes - were excellent. The hotel also had conference facilities, which were useful for our orientation meeting. As a stand alone hotel, would recommend staying there - just a pity about the location. We could only find one local restaurant nearby.

We visited for 4 nights whilst my husband had some dental treatments. We booked a business apartment as we knew we would be spending a lot of time in the room . The room was great , large bedroom/ living room / dining room And kitchen . We had 2 televisions with Netflix. Towels and the bathroom were cleaned everyday . We ate in the restaurant every evening and there was a good choice . Breakfast is also included, this is more limited, but we still found something good to eat everyday . There are a few supermarkets close by where you can stock up on drinks and snacks . We didn’t find much to do around the hotel , we went to the zoo. This is very old and some of the animals could be cared for a little better . Good value for money and we would stay here again if we traveled to Sofia .

The hotel and the room was clean. The staff, especially the reseption and the bellboy were super helpfull and friendly. They helped with taxis, restaurant reservations etc. The breakfast was very good and the service there was fast and polite. One of the best hotel experiences EVER.

Hotel is ok but room furniture outdated, definitely need to refresh rooms. Breakfast basic, staff not really friendly

Staying at the Hotel Zoo was a surprisingly pleasant experience. From the moment I walked through the door I was made to feel welcome. As a second time visitor to Sofia, my grasp of Bulgarian is very limited but the majority of the staff speak English. I was dealt with politely, respectfully and with good humour. My room, the basic, Classic, on the 4th floor, was light, airy with a good sized bathroom equipped with a shower and hairdryer. The room was spacious and did not feel cramped although the desk/shelf was a bit too narrow on which to use a laptop comfortably My balcony was wide and benefitted from a mountain view. Plenty of storage and a useful lobby in which to store empty suitcases and coats were useful. There was a small refrigerator/minibar but it's worth noting that the Classic does not include tea and coffee making facilities. The thin double duvet was a little small for the king size bed and, initially, I thought it would not be adequate. However, there were two provided and I needn't have had any concern as the heating/AC was fantastic. Rarely have I experienced temperature control as efficient as this, which heated the room quickly and quietly whenever required. I was particularly impressed with the modern tech for such an inexpensive hotel with 4 x mains sockets, shaver socket and USB point. The LG television was large (48") and benefitted from Netflix, Amazon Prime and was capable of showing Disney+ for members. It was also able to accept a signal to echo the screen from a smartphone or laptop meaning BBC iplayer, ITVX etc were accessible, so long as a VPN was utilised. There were one or two minor issues with the room. The shower head was faulty, spraying water everywhere and the safe was locked shut. This is where the Hotel Zoo showed their credentials and excelled. Within minutes of reporting the faults there was a knock at the door and two members of staff in attendance to replace the shower head and open the safe. I chanced my luck and asked if I could have a kettle for my room. "No problem sir" and a kettle was delivered. As it was exceedingly warm for January I asked for a chair in order to sit out on the balcony and again they obliged. In addition to business, I was in Sofia for dental treatment and they were quite happy for me to take their crockery and cutlery and keep it in my room and store food in the minibar. They even supplied me with washing up liquid. I asked reception for some tape to repair some torn paperwork and they photocopied the whole document for me. The helpful "can do" attitude of the staff made all the difference and the recruitment policy is clearly working. Breakfast was excellent with a wide variety of options. A good selection of cold meats and cheeses was available along with salad and a broad range of pastries (both hot and cold) cakes and biscuits, as well as yogurts and cereals. The hot options were more varied than is usual for mainland Europe with additions such as potato and french toast. Good bread and croissants are complemented by high quality preserves, honey and fresh fruit as are the pancakes. There were also a few unusual options, presumably from the previous evening and aubergine, broccoli, sweetcorn etc can be used to keep the variety on an extended stay. The bar was well equipped with a particularly impressive and extensive collection of whiskies. Other spirits well catered too and several beers are sold although the local, Bulgarian beer knocks spots off the brands. It wasn't as inexpensive as the local bars and cafes but hotels never are. There was very little to find fault with but, if I'm being picky, I did find the Wi-Fi a bit slow and temperamental. Low bandwidth and inconsistent signal were experienced during the evening especially, presumably during peak use, although I did find parts of the room with better reception. The hotel's own website is also slow, presumably for the same reason, so it was doubly so when trying to access it from the room. All in all the hotel stay was very pleasant and made more so by the helpfulness of the people that work there.