Hotel berhampiran Stone beach, Daerah Durrës

A small hotel with a hamam, clean, cosy rooms, a very good restaurant and very friendly staff who all speak some English. The vibe outside in the evening is very relaxed and we had a great time eating and sitting near the open doors, listening to live music on the hotel pavement whilst having our dinner and drinks. The food is of good value and quality.

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.