ART Hotel Tirana

We spent four days at the hotel. Overall, I would rate our stay positively, but a fair and honest review should take into account both the strong and the weaker aspects. I will start with the strengths. The reception staff were a major strength of the hotel. All the gentlemen were very kind and helpful. We arrived in Tirana early and were already at the hotel at 9:00 a.m. There was no problem leaving our luggage, and we were able to enter our room shortly after 12:00 noon. Many thanks and great appreciation for this! There was also a particularly nice gesture. While I was taking a photo of the rest of my family in front of the hotel, one of the receptionists came over and offered to take a photo of all of us together. That was very thoughtful and much appreciated. The hotel itself was very beautiful, with lots of paintings. We felt almost as if we were staying in an art gallery. The breakfasts were very good. I had read some earlier reviews complaining that the selection was poor and that food was not replenished. This was simply not true in our experience. There was a very good and varied selection of food. The gentleman working in the breakfast room kept an eye on everything and regularly replenished what was needed. We just don't know why he looked so terribly sad all the time. The air conditioning worked well, as did the refrigerator. The beds were very large and comfortable.

Unfortunately, there were also quite a few shortcomings, which I feel I must mention. In a four-star hotel, some of these things are simply unacceptable. First of all, our room was not exactly as described in our booking. There was no second toilet and no dining area. There was also no bidet, although this was not really an issue for us. In terms of toiletries, there was only soap by the sink and shampoo in the shower. As a result, we had to use shampoo as shower gel. We were staying in the apartment as three people, but there were only two sets of cups. There was not even a single tea bag or sachet of coffee available to prepare a drink in the room. The TV did not seem to have any cable channels — or perhaps it did, but we were unable to find them. There were no instructions for operating the TV or other equipment. We were given only one key card for the room. This meant that whenever we went out, the refrigerator stopped cooling because the electricity was apparently switched off when the card was removed. Another issue was the location of the housekeeping staff's utility rooms directly next to our apartment. The cleaning ladies woke us up early in the morning. Do hotel staff really need to shout to one another at the top of their voices while guests are still sleeping? A little consideration and imagination would be appreciated. Especially since breakfast was served only from 8:00 a.m. — so surely guests could have been allowed to sleep until at least 7:30. This was particularly unfortunate because we were also woken up during the night by traffic noise, especially from very loud motorcycles. I have already mentioned the positive aspects of breakfast, but I also have to mention the negative ones. The biggest disappointment was the coffee. What was served from the thermos was difficult to call coffee at all — it was basically water barely tinted brown. Better coffee was available, but only for an additional charge.

Great location 15 minute walk to city centre

The car park was very tight lucky I didn’t have a big car

The hotel has a lot of character, especially with the artwork displayed throughout, which gives it a really unique and interesting feel. The staff were genuinely friendly and welcoming, the room was very comfortable and had everything I needed, including excellent air conditioning. It’s also very well located for exploring Tirana, and the breakfast was generous with a great variety each morning.

Nothing really stood out as a negative. I had a very enjoyable stay.

We loved the hotel. The location was great and the rooms were very nice - although it seemed slightly odd that the single was so much bigger than the double we had on our first night (however, when we returned four nights later we had a bigger one). We loved the art all over the walls and breakfast was very good. Also, the beds were extremely comfortable and the showers were good. And the staff were lovely, super helpful and friendly.

Just one thing - the flush on our toilet the second time we stayed was so powerful that the water came out even with the lid closed, which wasn't very hygienic.