Hotel Relax City Center

It's centrally located, about a 5-minute walk from most city attractions, with a mall nearby and plenty of restaurants and shops. The hotel is easy to spot thanks to the big red sign outside. Our room was new and clean, the air conditioning worked perfectly, and the front desk service was excellent. I booked through Hotels.com and paid by card on arrival. Angie and Era were great hosts, as were the other desk agents. The bathroom doesn't have a separate western shower, so you shower in the rest of the bathroom. That's just a different way of doing things in Albania, and experiencing different cultures and lifestyles is part of why we travel. The negative shower reviews are from idiots.

This was the worst hotel experience of my life. The rooms were in the basement, and there were constant shouts from the staff. There was no shower cabin, so you had to shower over the toilet. The curtains weren't tulle, the paper-thin walls let even the smallest footsteps through, and the white room lights were too dim.

The location is the only thing that earns this place any stars from me. It gets two. If a quiet night's sleep matters, I'd avoid it: you can hear people chatting loudly at reception and in the hall at all hours, and the thin walls and door do little to block the noise.

The location near downtown is about the only upside. I paid 30 euros a night, though to me it felt worth 10 to 15 at most. It's a very basic one-star place. I stayed a couple of nights, and the bathroom was tiny, there were mosquitoes in the room, and the sheets were dirty.