Monarc Hotel

I stayed at the MonarC Hotel in Tirana the nights of April 3 and 4 and it was a great experience. The location could not be better since the hotel is within easy walking distance of Skanderbeg Square, the New Bazaar, the major museums, restaurants and bars. It is a small, boutique-type hotel, which enhances its service quality, which is excellent. The staff are kind and helpful, especially the two women who provide breakfast in the morning. The rooms are modern and extremely comfortable. Although the breakfast offerings are not as varied as found at larger hotels, the quality was superb and the staff will cook you eggs any way you want them and provide any type of coffee you want. The roof-top bar is a great place to relax after a day of sightseeing and it provides incredible views over the city, including the new mosque across the street. The only downside to this hotel is that it's located at a very busy intersection with no parking available, so this would be a problem if you're arriving by car (not an issue for us). Also, because it's in the middle of Tirana, street noise can be a problem, although the hotel's windows minimize the noise (I always sleep with ear plugs so it was not a problem). I would highly recommend this hotel. The price was great for the level of service and comfort they provide.

A belated review from a week-long stay at MonarC Hotel in Tirana, because it was a lovely, lovely hotel and I want to recommend it to others. I was sick for part of my stay and so had to stay in my room a bit more than average, so I really got to know it! My room was large and immaculate. Very clean. Wonderfully comfortable bed and great bathroom. Beautifully appointed room with a desk, dark, dramatic colors that were pretty, a winding staircase up (or if you prefer to take the elevator of course there is one too), and a breakfast area that is beautiful. Every day the breakfast came by way of room service and was wonderful. The front desk staff were young and eager to assist. And it's probably the best location in Tirana, although it's a little loud at this particular intersection (lots of honking) and next time I would ask for a room further away from the front windows. But the location made Tirana even better as you can just walk literally everywhere, even if feeling a bit under the weather like I was -- I saw all of the main attractions and then some. It's also pretty close to the bus stop if you are going further, as I was hoping (but my illness sent me home early). I also appreciated that it was across from a park to sit and a mall with a great supermarket in the basement, plus an air conditioned cut-through that was appreciated in the heat of summer. Definitely a wonderful hotel that was most unexpected.

I booked two nights at the MonarC through TripAdvisor/Booking.com solely because it was centrally located and has parking. After driving around for over 30 minutes circling the hotel, it became apparent that they don’t have parking. I ended up parking around 700m away, which is charging me approximately $20US a day for parking. I showed the advert to the young man at the front desk and asked if they would be willing to pay for my parking? I also inquired if I canceled for tomorrow night (it’s late in the day and not sure I want to uproot to a different hotel at almost 5p). He called the manager, and to both questions, it was a resounding NO. I was told that they would charge me for both nights no matter what, and they would not pay or discount my stay to compensate for the out of packet parking. I nicely explained to the young man (he’s not at fault and I didn’t want him to feel bad) that I was going to book a different hotel for tomorrow night and would not be paying for the second night, I would be seeking reimbursement chargeback through my credit card, reporting this to TripAdvisor and ***********. It’s sad that the management is so short-sighted and unprofessional. If you’re not providing services/amenities listed, you need to either compensate or change your listing! As a side note— my room is FREEZING! I have had the heater in for hours and it’s still crazy cold in here!

Great experience, lovely room, absolutely fantastic staff..from reception to cook, to cleaner to breakfast host..all brilliant. The breakfast staff were so helpful and caring, we actually became very fond of all concerned. As we did with our two lovely receptionist. Thank you so much.