Hotel Alexander the Great

I went into the trip feeling nervous after reading all the negative reviews, but my experience turned out quite differently. The staff were friendly and helpful, especially the Albanian team, and the food was delicious with plenty of variety for me. There’s a beach near the hotel, and we felt safe throughout our stay. Quiet hours were observed, and the guard did a good job calming things down when someone drunk was being disruptive. For the all-inclusive price, I thought it was pretty good, and I came away having enjoyed the stay and made great memories. My two suggestions are to renovate the rooms and improve the cleaning. The cleaner came each day but only changed the towels, so we had to ask reception when we wanted fresh sheets.

Sleep was the main problem here. Noisy groups of teenagers drank, shouted in the corridors, and ran around until 5 AM every night. We complained, but reception did nothing, and the constant racket made the stay exhausting. The rooms are poorly furnished, and I can't see how this place got 4 stars. The food choices were limited and barely changed from day to day, though those issues mattered less than the noise. If getting proper rest and comfort on holiday matters to you, I'd pick another hotel.

1. Check-in took about 35-45 minutes because they couldn't find our names, even though we'd booked online. We were also charged £65 in room tax without warning, listed as €10 per room per night. 2. The room was filthy and in terrible shape: flies on the bathroom wall, ants, mosquitoes, grime, cobwebs, stained sheets, and a rancid smell. The corridor sometimes smelled strongly of sewage too. The shower wasn't secure, and our neighbour was electrocuted while using a faulty iron supplied by the hotel. 3. Stray cats and dogs wandered in and out of the hotel and kitchen. 4. Cleaners don't change towels or sheets unless you ask at reception, and they don't wipe surfaces. Twice they took the rubbish without replacing the bin bag. The last straw was 29/09/25: while we were out, the cleaner left our ground-floor balcony door wide open. Anyone could have come in, or something could have got in. 5. We saw a huge rat in the bushes by the pool and I managed to take a photo. 6. The water gets very salty at certain times, though that may not be the hotel's fault. The hot water keeps cutting in and out, which is infuriating. 7. The food isn't great, and the cups and glasses often look dirty or have lipstick marks. There were never enough cups, so people were always waiting. 8. All-inclusive isn't worth it. I couldn't taste alcohol in the cocktails, the flat “coke” was a cheap supermarket brand, and the juice was basically squash mixed with sparkling water. 9. There are major leaks that leave puddles, and they put out buckets to catch the water. Realistically, the whole hotel needs to be demolished and rebuilt.

The room smelled so strongly of faeces that my friend and I gagged and felt ill as soon as we walked in. It looked like a hostel from a 1960s horror film, with peeling, dated wallpaper, a broken air conditioner that looked prehistoric, ants covering the floor, and a badly stained bathtub with its enamel missing. The canteen was like a dystopian horror film too. The pork was unrecognizable and tasted as if it had been boiling since 1942; the item called “fish” was round, processed, boiled nonsense, and the chicken looked like a loaf of bread leaking clear liquid. When we complained, reception replied complacently, “what do you expect in an all-inclusive package.” The night security guard frightened us. He stalked the halls with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, told my friend and me to shut up while we were laughing, then followed us to our room and banged on the door for 10 minutes while we were quiet and just talking. It felt bullying and intrusive, and disrespectful for a male staff member to speak that way to two women. I tried calling reception from the room, but the phone was just an ornament with no wire or dial tone. We felt violated and that our holiday time wasn't respected. We may book again next year. NOT! Avoid this place if you want to laugh, feel safe, or eat anything fit for people.