Hotel Blue Sky

Very disappointing experience. Doesn't look like photos at all. Upon arrival, the bathroom floor was covered with hairs, seemed not to had been cleaned at all. Shower full of limescale. Matress worn out and torn. Blanket full of stains. I could go on and on about dirty tiles on the bathroom walls etc, but it's already been a long review to read. I enclosed photos so you can see it yourself. From photos posted on *********** you get the impression the hotel is by the beach with a sea view, but it's right on a narrow, busy street. We were on the 3rd floor, west side, could see only the neighbouring building which is not more then 2 or 3 m away, another huge hotel was blocking the view from the south side too. View from our balcony can also be seen in the photos. Staff can barely speak English, not trained to work with people at all, let alone with some qualifications in tourism. Breakfast basic and badly prepared. And it's allegedly a 4star hotel!!! My goodness, Albanians still have to learn a lot about tourism,at least these ones in Sarande since the shops, restaurants and beaches were the same - noisy, dirty, shabby...especially sunbeds and sunumbrellas we were entitled to for free...it was on another hotel's beach - they were literally falling apart, sunbeds so dirty. They couldn't bother to get rid of it all, so they generously gave it to guests from other hotels...it was disgusting. Albanian disco music so loud from the neighbouring bar we could hardly talk to each other. The only good thing I can think of is a large free parking lot. Thank goodness we stayed only for 2 nights. But 90 euros per night for a double bedroom which wasn't even cleaned properly is litarally a rip off.

The building is new, but the finishing of the construction was not quite well. Two things made us unpleasant while we were there. First was the bed, material of the bed was kind of latex, so the person like me more than 80kg had a back problem. Second thing was the smoking problem. It could be their cultural thing, but some boys constantly smoke in front of the reception, and all the smokes came into the hotel, even in the hallway of the 1st floor, where we were staying.

We didn’t have hot water during our stay, they said they’d have to call a plumber and didn’t offer us any alternative to shower. Also pretty far from the city center, restaurants, nightlife. There’s a pretty decent beach that’s walkable distance but not included as an amenity (personally have preferred places where it’s included). The staff also charged us at check-in for the room after we were already charged via ******* and took 2days to get our money back. Was cheaper in person though…

Nice hotel, clean and comfortable. The area was pretty quiet, no bars/pubs or night clubs around, other than some restaurants. About 2-3 km to the promenade in the centre, which was quit more noisy and busy. Loved the Mango Beach, clean beach. Not sand, but fine, round gravel that was totally fine to step on. Took 7 min walk from the hotel. The staff were polite and helpful, but not very smiling or sincerely friendly, did sadly not ecxactly feel very welcome. At the time we were there, there were few guests. The first morning, we asked the waiter to sit outside on one of the many available tables to eat breakfast (bf was good, btw), to which he said no. Then we pointed to the other side of the entrance and asked if we could sit there with even more tables, but still no, because "that was the bar area". We had to eat inside in the big dining room alone, which felt quite silly, considering us being almost alone at the moment. A few days later, 3 policemen came by the hotel. They were escorted right into the bar area and served breakfast right away. I guess their paying guests weren't as cool as 3 policemen, since they would let them and not us sit in the bar area...;) It would be very helpful for the hotel if the staff improved their English skills, especially considering that Albania is an up- and-coming vacation destination for the future, with more English speaking guests arriving. All in all, liked the room and liked Saranda.

Staff are great, extremely helpful and super friendly. They really went above and beyond at all time!!! Beautiful hotel.... Loved it!!!