The Crown Boutique Hotel & SPA

Beautiful rooms, very comfortable and the hotel is well located for the centre of Tirana.

The hotel is well situated for walking around the city, and the room was quiet. It was nice having a balcony overlooking the main street. Very friendly and helpful receptionists. All very clean. The spa looked nice, but most of us did not find the time to use it. The room was nice, and the bed comfy, but it was badly designed - more below. Breakfast was good, though a little disjointed, probably because there were 10 of us and the system is a menu sheet filling in/ticking off exercise. It seemed to work, although when you got yours was a lottery. The bread was nice but toast would have been good - we asked for toast, which was not something they seemed to know about - they sort of browned it a bit, and it was passable. Service was very good in terms of the waiters themselves: they were always friendly, eager to please and willing to help in any way they could, at breakfast and in the evenings. We had a tasting menu on our last night, with wine pairing, with a table up on the roof terrace. It was good, with some courses better than others. They were very helpful in catering for the dairy free needs of one of us. Our best dinners were at Artigiano (Besi, top waiter!), and Otium (Jonni, another good guy, as was the chef - really top notch food, and ambience!)

It was probably the worst designed room I have ever stayed in (and I have travelled extensively over the years for business and pleasure). There were no cupboards or drawers in which to put any clothes, so they had to stay in our cases, other than those that were hung up. There was just one hanging rail, which is in front of the mirror, which was then obscured. The rainfall shower is positioned in the middle of the splash area, as you face it, with a glass 'curtain' that covers just the right hand side, so a lot of water comes out when you shower. Why the shower head is not on the wall to the right, so that the curtain is effective, who knows?

Hotel was fairly new, upscale, and convenient to the city center. Room was comfortable for one night and very reasonably priced. Breakfast was delicious and made to order. The bar/dining area was nice and quiet, and we enjoyed a drink and apps there.

The king suite that we reserved did not match the photos. It was divided into two rooms and the bedroom area felt very small. Not worth the upgrade.

Location is prime.

The rooms were noisy.