Helios Spa in Golden Sands

I went to Helios with my three children. It’s advertised as a 4-star resort, but in our experience, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We have stayed in 2 stars and gotten MUCH better service! We were given what the receptionist proudly called a "luxury apartment." One power socket fell out of the wall when trying to unplug a charger. There was a large brown stain right in the middle of the carpet. A handle above the bathtub was loose, the toilet wouldn’t always flush, and the shower flooded the entire bathroom. Water drained so slowly that we were standing ankle-deep while showering – and the same happened when brushing our teeth, as the sink barely drained at all. For four days I asked for an extra pillow. Every day the reception staff said "no problem" – but the pillow never came. We eventually gave up. Housekeeping visited our room only twice in eight days. The first time, they only emptied the trash. The second time, they made the bed, emptied the trash again, and gave us two large towels and one small one – for four people. It took 48 hours to get new towels. The same amount of time it took to get someone to fix the broken shower head – which the maintenance guy replaced in under a minute when he finally arrived. There were constant queues at the reception, but getting actual help was close to impossible. We waited an entire day to get an extra bed. Our room was supposed to have one double bed and two sofa beds, but only one sofa was there when we arrived. Many of the hotel’s facilities were closed: shops, the playground, one of the bars, one of the receptions, and the tennis court – which had been turned into a parking lot. I asked the reception for tips on what to do in the area, but all I got was a blank stare and a “I don’t know.” The level of service was shockingly poor. I’ve stayed at 2-star hotels with far better service than this. We expected much more. And the food… That’s a whole story on its own. There was almost nothing kid-friendly, except for fries and pancakes. No jam or spreads available, and butter didn’t appear until day six. On day three I asked the chef if they had Nutella or something similar for the kids. He sent someone to get it from the other restaurant – which we weren’t even allowed to use. The chef was nice and tried to make people happy. To bad that that was an impossible job.... Food labeling was inconsistent or missing altogether – good luck to anyone with allergies. This is actually a complex of three hotels. Helios is by far the worst. And no, you’re not allowed to switch to the other hotels or even pay extra to eat at their restaurants. The pools are okay, bur many tiles arounde are loose. Be carefull! I heard a lot of other people complain in the reception as well... I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, especially not travelers from Scandinavia.