My girlfriend and I spent a week at the Smartline Meridian. We did not read the Tripadvisor reviews before we booked. However, we became a little worried after diving into some personal accounts here. That being said, we had a great time at the hotel. Food and drink The food was varied and mostly good/great quality. All-inclusive food is never going to win a Michelin star, but we found there was plenty to eat at each meal. We are vegetarian and never went hungry. However, it would have been nice to have a veggie main every day alongside all the sides and chips. We still had plenty of choice though. The views from the top floor restaurant are fantastic, stretching out over the Black Sea and Sunny Beach. The drinks were fine. Beer did the trick and the bar staff were happy to go off-piste with the cocktails if you had a special request. Plenty of soft drinks were available from 10:30 and ice cream in the downstairs restaurant, which was really nice as well. Staff Some people had commented that the staff were rude to them. However, we didn't have any issues with staff, from the reception to the bar staff, everybody was accommodating and willing to chat. Sure, they weren't over-the-top friendly, but they weren't fake either. The fella with the tattoos in the ground floor restaurants was always up for a conversation about cartoons and tats. He also makes a boss pina colada. Unfortunately, I forgot to get his name! Cleaners provided fresh towels and toilet rolls every day. We did not have our room cleaned while we were there, but we chose to keep the 'do not disturb' sign on the door for the duration of our stay. Some people complained that things went missing from their room. We did not have anything stolen but we did keep all our items locked away in our suitcase with a padlock on the zips. Everybody should be doing this anyway. You always run the risk of being robbed, either at home or abroad, especially when people you don't know come into your room. Safety deposit boxes are available for a small fee. Pool Here's a bit of friendly advice for people going to a hotel with a pool: stop leaving your stupid towels on the sunloungers overnight. It's rude and makes you look selfish. The hotel has a sign asking for people not to do this, but nobody enforces the rule. The pool area can get quite congested but the beds are nowhere near as close together as some reviewers would lead you to believe. We were never touching other people and found we had enough space to enjoy ourselves with feeling closed in. The pool bar was a great touch. And while the pool was a bit on the small side, we never felt like there were too many people in the water at any one time. Entertainment This was the only downside for me. While the lads who did the entertainment and activities seemed friendly, there was a lack of diversity among the fun and games. Darts every day got really boring. Also, the evening entertainment was almost non-existent. Karaoke most nights with zero structure or effort to get others involved. I think more people would have got involved if they'd come around with a clipboard and noted down their songs, or generally just worked the room with some MC skills. I've been to several all-inclusive hotels in Bulgaria and further afield, where the evening entertainment team put in a lot more effort and made the night feel more than just 'sitting in a room with the big light on and an empty buffet bar in the middle', which was, unfortunately, the case here. The Michael Jackson tribute was good though! Also, unless you like modern dance music, you're not going to like the blaring tunes in the ground floor restaurant during the evening. However, despite the entertainment not being the best, we definitely got our money's worth with the drinks and food. In addition, the Malibu Hotel Garden next door had some entertaining tributes every night and a good house band, we ended up there a few times and always had a laugh. The Elvis tribute was great! Final Thoughts Overall, we had a great time at the Meridian. We would have liked more to do in the local area, but we came home feeling like we got good value for money and were very well-rested. Just make sure you take precautions with your valuables and you should be fine!…