Brilant Antik Hotel

What a charming hotel! Really loved it. Lovely people with a nice smile, the hotel has very good price. They speak Spanish also, as a bonus! It's located in a quiet alley just in the city centre. I highly recommend it for a stop in Tirana or a few days, specially if you are in a budget.. or not. The place has everything.

We picked this hotel over and above the other four-stars on offer in Tirana because it seemed "boutique" in the sense of advertising itself as small, stylish and definitely not part of an international chain. At least that's what we saw in the brilliant (no pun intended) photos the hotel has on its site. The reviews were fantastic as well, with guests lavishing special praise on the breakfast. Dear me. I'm not saying you absolutely shouldn't stay at Brilant Antik but here's what we found to be the reality. |– The hotel is unique in that it really was a sort of private club for favoured officials in the old regime of dictator Enver Hoxha. |– The location is absolutely brilliant. You really are a short walk from Skanderbeg Square, from the old Communist Party nerve centre, from government ministries, from restaurants, cafes, a shopping mall, and if religion is your thing, Tirana's newest mosque (said to be the biggest in the Balkans). |– The hotel staff too are generally nice and they do try and help, if they can. |But the hotel has problems.|Our room (#4) was smelly, dingy and strangely appointed with a massive wooden built-in floor-to-ceiling cupboard in one corner, which took up a fair bit of space and didn't contribute to comfort, appearance or any sense of lightness of being. No one had bothered to turn the heating on in the room (it was freezing the night we got in) and we discovered that it was hard to keep it warm because the key was attached to the power card, which obviously had to be removed every time you left the room. We took permission from the staff to remove the key from the card but the cleaner continued to turn the heating off every day! Anyway, moving on, the bathroom was strangely laid out too, the basin was cracked and the shower stall leaked. The shower pressure, however, was excellent, and I can honestly say that was the best part of our stay in this hotel.|But the hotel, as a whole, was cold and dingy and oddly furnished with heavy, ugly chairs carved with what seemed like bird head(s) with two holes for eyes. |As for breakfast, it was execrable – after day 1, we only ever ate clementines and drank tonnes of tea. The bread was hard, the local (fresh) cheese old and smelly, the boiled eggs had a grey rim to the yolks, the fried eggs seemed to have been cooked in old oil, the orange "juice" could hardly have been more synthetic. Even the Byrek was hard and flavourless without much filling, despite Albania having so much of this delightful savoury phyllo pie with a variety of delectable things in it.

It is located in the center of the city and close to bus stop to the new bus terminal. The room is large with high ceiling. Somehow a housekeeper left the bathroom window open and a mosquito sneaked in to bother me all through the night. Breakfast was decent and good.

Had a fabulous time. The hotel is on a quiet side street but less than 5 minutes from the main street and city sights.|The hotel is beautifully presented in a traditional style. |Staff were warm and friendly. They even printed our boarding cards for us.|Breakfast is buffet style with cold cuts, cheese, eggs, breads and pastrys.|Would definitely stay here again.

The hotel is located only 5 minutes away from Skenderbeg Square. You'll find parking space at any time and the rooms are antique style, clean and extremely comfortable. Breakfast is included with a variety of fresh traditional foods to choose from. I was very satisfied and will definitely choose to stay here again if I return to Albania next year.

Before i start i want to say that albania is a lovely country and we really enjoyed our week in albania. We never experienced any scam except at this hotel. When we arrived we paid in cash, everyone was really friendly and we liked the hotel. The next day we set off to travel down the coast. 1 month later booking.com tell us that this hotel is claiming we never arrived and are trying to charge us again. This is a scam and i want to warn other travellers not to stay here. I attach photos of us staying in the room you claim we didn't stay in, and our car parked outside your hotel that you claim we didnt stay at.

Nice decor but needs maintenance. Curtain coming off the rails and toilet seat is heavy with no slow closing so kept banging. Head hits the shower door when sitting on the toilet and you forget the glass barrier is there. Three times got disturbed during the day by domestic who come to clean the room trying to get inside the room that's how they check if people are out or in which is really stupid. I had to open the room twice to tell them we are in the room and we don't need room cleaned which was very annoying.

Super central location, close to main attractions. Rooms are classical / antique style. Shout out to receptionist Dennis who was really friendly and helpful at all times. Breakfast included, relatively small but sufficient. Walls of the room are quite thin, so you can hear other guests. Soundproof could be improved.