Lindsay Z
Google
Capital Tirana Hotel (or Capital Hotel) is a good hotel, but there are several things that prevent this hotel from being superb. For easy reading, I will organize my review into pro and cons.||Pros:||The location of the hotel is excellent! A 10 minute (maximum) walk from the main square and all major sightseeing attractions. Tirana is quite small, and the sightseeing attractions seems to be all located very centrally, so I walked everywhere. I recommend also walking to the Grand Park of Tirana (where there is a lake, and a large park scattered with Holocaust, war memorials, cemeteries etc. Sadly, the church in the park was under renovation at the time I was there and the structure was non existent). There are very beautiful views of the lake and the locals go there to read their books or sit at a one of the lakeside restaurants/cafes. It was a nice break from the city! The park was over a 2 km walk from the hotel, but it was a pleasant walk down the main boulevard. Location of the hotel can't be beat for value!||Also on location, there are more restaurants, fast food joints, cafes, shops, souvenir shops, convenience stores, small supermarkets and exchange bureaus than you can shake a fist at. Walk about a block from the hotel and you're overwhelmed with options! The Euro is widely accepted in Albania, so there is no real need to change money. They also give change in Euro. I heard that in Albania, they will accept anything so long as it's money! Hah! Probably true.||The bed was extremely comfortable, the bedding felt clean and crisp, the mattress was the perfect firmness, and the pillows were wonderful!||The bathroom was smartly designed. Large modern toilet, large walk in shower, completely enclosed with glass doors, with your choice of adjustable shower head or overhead rain shower. Water temperature and pressure were both excellent! The glass door didn't completely close in my shower, but this was a minor issue and I had no problems with water going everywhere. ||Air conditioning worked very well in the room! Very strong, and it kept the room nice and cool.||Wifi was password protected, secured, and wifi signal was very strong in my room and also throughout the entire hotel!||There was a little mini fridge in the room which was appreciated for keeping my drinks cool during the day.||Lighting was good in the room. There was a little bedside lamp on the bedside table as well as lighting above the bed.||Ample power sockets throughout the room, including 2 beside the bed to charge your phone.||Cons:||Toiletries were sparse - only a single bar of soap and a very small bottle of shampoo were provided. Likewise, towels were in short supply. Only one hand towel, one medium sized bath towel and a floor mat were provided. Two of each would have been appreciated!||The room was very very small. For me, traveling only with a little backpack, this posed no problem, but if you're traveling with large luggage, be warned. The space in the room is extremely limited, with no real space to place your luggage. The only furniture in the room was a large desk, a small ground bench with a enough room for a backpack, and wall shelving which would be much too high to store any luggage. There were hangers in the room. Luggage storage will be a problem if you're traveling with anything larger than a backpack.||There was a flatscreen tv in the room, but there were absolutely no international channels available. Believe me, I scrolled through them all. I quickly turned it off and left it off for the duration of my stay. A couple of channels available in English would have been reasonable (news channels for instance).||The breakfast was poor. Selection was poor, as was quality. The breakfast "buffet" (I hesitate to call it that) runs from 7:00am to 10:00am. The brewed coffee was the worst coffee I've ever had. It was essentially hot water with coffee colouring or "essence of coffee." Someone they even managed to give hot black water a burnt taste. LOL. Just terrible! The breakfast offerings were rather slim on healthy options. The following were available: cookies, croissants, bread, pastries, watermelon slice, whole fruits for takeaway (bananas, apples, nectarines, oranges), sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, olives, pickled mixed vegetables (cabbage, carrots, peppers), a pathetic attempt at "bruschetta" which resembled chopped vegetables on soggy bread, hot sausages, scrambled eggs in about 2 cups of oil (the eggs were literally sitting in a pool of oil which made my stomach churn. On a high protein diet, I had to eat the eggs, but I did my best to use napkins to absorb the excess oil which was disgusting), a selection of cold cut meats and cheeses, cold cereals, juices, a hot and cold water dispenser, cold milk, and maybe a few garnishes that I didn't recognize. The breakfast left much to be desired, and the kitchen was constantly short on eggs. The eggs would be emptied as soon as they were replenished. Might I recommend boiled eggs - this would be a smart addition or alternative to the greasy eggs prepared for hotel guests. Also, the hotel staff did a very poor job in anticipating how many eggs were needed to feed hungry hotel guests numbering about 30. ||Other guests complained about mosquitos in the room, luckily this wasn't my experience. Cleaning staff leave the windows open in your room but also in the hotel common areas throughout during the day, so I certainly see how this would be the experience of many guests. Anticipating this (having read the reviews beforehand), I closed the windows in my room and in all of the common areas on check-in and I thankfully avoided any encounters with mosquitos. There were many little black fruit flies in the room, but they didn't bite so it was a minor annoyance only. I think this could be prevented by keeping the windows closed in the rooms and common areas.||There were many black hairs all over the bathroom floor, sink and shower. I have blonde hair, so I'm confident they weren't mine. This was a bit of an "ick" factor for me. I felt the bathroom and even the room flooring needed to be better cleaned.||Neutral:||The hotel is separated into two buildings. The main building where the reception area is and the breakfast is offered, and one building just behind it. I rate this as a neutral point because it wasn't an inconvenience, it's just nice that guests are aware of this. There are lifts/elevators in each building for guests with large, heavy luggage.||Overall impression:||Overall, the hotel was good, but I hesitate to rate it very good or exceptional for the reasons above. Taking into consideration all of the above, I'd say this hotel is great value for location but there are several issues that prevent this hotel from being one I'd return to for future stays, namely cleanliness, lack of amenities and the poor breakfast. Excuse me while I go in search of real coffee, or at least Nescafé instant coffee (which is still superior to the black water on offer this morning)!
