We got to Melnik without having booked a place to stay. We travelled around Bulgaria outside of main tourist season, in early June, so we were pretty sure to be able to get a free room.
Of course we have been immediately noticed by the locals, two foreigners with backpacks loitering around their village, and it didn't take long until we were approached with accommodation offers. We politely declined as we wanted to explore Melnik's accommodation scene in slightly greater detail.
Travellers can choose among private rooms that are offered in every other house. When we visited there was only one place that could be called a hotel, that is Hotel Tavern Bolyarka. We checked one of the rooms. It was very well kept and clean. On top of that Hotel Tavern Bolyarka boasts a Finnish sauna. We almost decided to stay there, but were annoyed by bad attitude of the staff. Hotel Tavern Bolyarka was the first place in Bulgaria where we received unfriendly treatment. And soon we also discovered the reason for it. The owner (or maybe the manager) of the hotel seems to be extremely bad mannered, we noticed several times how he's been scolding his employees for no reason. We can understand that they can't be particularly cheery.
After thorough exploration we decided to stay at Sveti Nikola hotel. Despite being named a hotel, it is more like a private house with a few guestrooms at the far end of the village. The owners are extremely friendly, our room was clean and big, only the breakfast could have been a little bit more generous. We only got two pieces of deep-fried bread coated with eggs, good home made jam and coffee or tea. But for 50 leva per night we were more than satisfied.
Currently it is difficult (if not impossible) to book a room in Melnik online, so try your luck with simply turning up in the village or try to book a room through the hotel you are staying in at the place you are visiting before Melnik.