Hotels near Smartsell Artan Priftuli, Tirana

I needed to get a hotel in Tirana at very short notice due to unforeseen circumstances. I walked into the Plaza without a prior reservation. The front desk person, Sara, was extremely helpful. When she heard of the reason for our stay, she went above and beyond to make our stay as pleasant as possible. The hotel itself is quite great, the best in Albania by far. Large rooms, stylish architecture and design, with all the amenities you need. Very helpful staff. The location is also great, right next to the main city square, and next door to a shopping center and a pedestrian area full of restaurants and cafes. The hotel has also free parking in the basement so you can reach your car without stepping outside if you don't want to use the valet service. A week later, I returned to Tirana for a second stay and I didn't even bother to consider other hotels, went straight to the Plaza. Sara happened to be working again at the front desk and yet again she made sure to welcome us and make our stay enjoyable. The Plaza is not the cheapest hotel and could be seen as pricy by Albanian standards. But in terms of value, it's an extremely good deal. And you get the level of service you would expect from a 5* hotel. A lot of hotels in Albania have the right amenities but not the polished service or the seamless experience that you find at the Plaza.

A disappointment!!! We booked and payed for one night in AS Tirana, in advance. Once we got there, at the check in, the reception staff told us we had to pay an extra fee which was composed by the city fee and mandatory fee: 20€/person/night. Honestly, this price does not make any sense. This is almost the price for one night! No receipt with the described fees were provided to us! In any moment this was informed in the reservation and this never happened before in any hotel in Albania. After some research on this, we noticed this already happened to other people and the values vary a lot. Watch out for this! Regarding the room, the hotel apparently have 4 starts, but the floor was lifted up due to water and there was only one blanket. The breakfast was super poor, with very few options. The existing options runned out very fast and we had to wait a lot of time for the food to be replaced. In terms of location, its a 25min walk from the city center and its not easy to find the hotel. The internet was good. Overall, not pleased with this choice, and due to the extra fees we are relieved that we only stayed one night! Suggestion for the hotel: include this on the price!

I have visited many countries, and in hotels of all kinds, and at some point I have had to ask for ”late checkout” or what is the same ”late checkout” because my flight back home leaves very late that day. In this case I paid almost €600 for practically 2 nights, it was 3 nights, but the first night I arrived at the airport at 2 in the morning, that is, practically 2 nights, when in Albania hotels are very cheap, but I preferred to grab a Known chain just in case, AND WHEN I ASKED FOR A LATE CHECKOUT OF 2h because my flight left at 18:50 in the afternoon, THEY TOLD ME NOOOO, when the hotel was newly opened and was practically empty!!!!!!!! I THINK IT WAS VERY VERY BAD, I HAD TO BE WALKING AROUND TIRANA AND EAT SUPER LATE, TO BE ABLE TO MAKE TIME UNTIL 4:00 PM when I went to the airport. I THINK I RECOMMEND THE HOTEL? NO!!!!, I THINK OF GOING BACK??? NO!!!!, not only because of this, but because it is far from the center, the hotel's Terra restaurant is very expensive, and look, almost nothing surprises me, but the difference in prices compared to the rest of the city surprised me very much. We ordered some mini Iberian pork chops and an Angus rib and 2 waters to eat, and they charged us €135, when in the ERA restaurant, which is 50 meters from the hotel, TripAdvisor recommends it, and it cost us an exquisite risotto, and 2 Angus T-bone steaks of 1,200 grams with a garnish of mushrooms and vegetables, plus bread, plus 2 waters, plus a Pepsi max, EYE €53, crazy!!!! And everything was very good, so the prices of the hotel are not justified. Is the hotel nice? Yes!!!, is it comfortable??? Yes!!!, it is practically new, it was opened recently, but that does not give the right to be charged 5 times more for eating in its facilities, it is 1 and a half km or more from Skanderbeg square and everything there is What to visit in the capital of Albania. Thank you.

This has once been a beautiful hostel, but it seems like time has left it behind. It barely looked anything like the pictures on booking platforms. Overall cleanliness was okay, but behind lockers for example it hadn't been swept. Sockets that were attached to the lockers by tape were hanging since the tape had lost its glue. Light switches were missing. Bathroom lock didn't work properly (possible to open even when locked). The locker only fits a very thin lock (this would be a simple fix) so mine was useless. No bins in the room(s), only small ones in the toilets, that we're full. Every time someone opens the outer door and doesn't make sure to close it nicely behind them, it slams shut loudly, literally shaking the house - not appreciated at night. The 3 bed dorm is separated from a much bigger dorm (maybe 12 beds) by only shutters, so basically it was like a 15-bed dorm. This 3 bed dorm was also quite hot despite AC. But the bed with its pillow and sheets was hotel quality! Breakfast was quite poor, even if its free. Just white toast, spreads (jam, butter), fruits (apple and melon slices) and last but least some french toast (which wasn't much at a time, so either you make others wait for theirs or wait to get a second (small) slice)). The best thing of the breakfast was the smile and energy of the lady cooking the french toast and doing the dishes 😊 Remote check-in was a very useful service and worked well, as my bus was 5h late and I arrived at 5am

Great hotel. Highly recommended in every respect. Not directly in the center, but conveniently located near the bus station. Completely new building with top-notch furnishings. Comfortable standard room. Optimal sleeping comfort in the wide double bed. High-quality bedding. Rooftop pool on the 8th floor. Gym. No spa center, though. Great breakfast. There were freshly prepared extra meals for our toddler. The staff were extremely accommodating. It couldn't be better...!!!

The hotel was great. Close to the aiport, superb pool and restaurant. Amazing room, the staff were very helpful and even transferred me for my early flight. Having worked in the hospitality industry for 6 years I was immensely impressed by the professionalism and upgrade they offered me. I wish I had a chance to stay with them longer. 10/10 would recommend, well worth it!

As requested by receptionists I post the review- unfortunately it cannot be positive. We arrived on Thursday afternoon (SEP 8 2022). First of all we were disappointed by impolite service in the restaurant that we used twice- for the lunch and for the dinner. During the lunch we were served by the waitress (black pony-tailed hair) who was impolite, impatient and angry. She was confusing the price of house wine several times- once she was saying the price of 800 LEK, shortly after the price increased to 8000 LEK, then 800 LEK again and suddenly she showed her disapproval that we dare to ask of the price of house wine as ”it is so cheap as 80 EUR”. Maybe 80 EUR for the house wine is cheap for the well-paid waitress but we do not consider it to be adequate price. During the evening we were lucky not to be served by Her. Restaurant manager came, took the order and professionally delivered pastas and drinks we ordered. Then nightmare started again as angry, stressed and tired (the same) waitress came and stated that ”she does not know if / and what kind of/dessert is left and we can go to the other bar and ask them”. Seriously? You have desserts in the menu and when I ordered panna cotta and tiramisu I must go to different place to ask it it is still available? This is not a treatment I would expect in a cheap meat shop, not in an aspiring 4 star hotel. This situation forced me to write the review. Hotel itself is pathetic with urgent need of maintanence- in our room nr 101 shower hand holder was falling apart whenever I was trying to move it, fridge did not produce any cold, water did not drain from the bidet and shower gel was so small that was not enogh to take even one shower, for one person. Plenty of insects in the outside pool, water needs impovement too. There is plenty cheaper hotels literally a few steps away where price- quality ratio will be much more honest. And perhaps their staff will not treat the guests as intruders who dare to ask for the price of ”house wine that is that cheap as 80 EUR”. Atmosphere in Best Western Ark at Rinas Airport is dense and the staff treats the guests condescendingly. There are jumping around the people who come for a dinner well-dressed (pretending to be much posh than they really are) serving them free shots whereas ignoring the people who come in casual clothes and telling to go for the desserts elsewhere. It is really strange that from all the guests ordering from the same menu only some get special treatment, even free shots and the others are not even served properly. The staff should definitely improve English. For us Best Western proved again that they are below standards or their much better competitors.