Palace Hotel & Spa

We didn’t stay here but we did stop for lunch by the pool earlier today (16-Jan-24). Beautiful location, sat in the sun, with first class international cuisine being served. Staff spoke good English, hotel facilities we used were top notch and they accept credit/debit card for payment unlike a lot of establishments. All in all highly recommended.

This is not a five star hotel. At all. It might look nice at first glance, but if you look closer, absolutely not. We spent a week in this hotel a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of things were good, but a lot was also not. The good first: Breakfast was very nice, but you’d think they would have some sort of switch up throughout the week. Every day, it was the exact same things. Location was good, close to bus, restaurants and shops. But then the bad: First of all, the beach is absolutely useless. There is a stone wall at the end of it, with steps into the water. Also very dirty. We didn’t go swimming once. And we didn’t see anyone else swimming here either. Then, we booked a room with a balcony, of course assuming this was private. It was not. It was a shared balcony in the view of everyone, which was very uncomfortable. (Room 211) In this room, the WiFi was bad, and didn’t work on our balcony. Also, the door to the bathroom was hard to close, and maintenance didn’t seem to clean my toilet the first six days. There was what looked left over from poop marks on our toilet paper holder the whole time. That’s disgusting. There were cracks in the shower walls, and the shower head was rusty. Maintenance didn’t understand English, so very hard to communicate with. Nice, but impossible to ask for stuff almost. It also said the room had noise cancelling, which it really could not have. I heard everything going on in the hallway and the balcony at all times. Impossible to sleep after 8am. Day six I decided I had had enough, and decided to ask to change rooms to be comfortable the last night and morning with my husband. After all, we paid for a five star hotel. The guys in the reception were very nice about it, but I had to wait til the next day. That’s fine, as they said the hotel was full. The next day we got the new room (904 I think), and we were excited to enjoy our last day and night here. But the room still had so many things wrong with it. Balcony was fine, but WiFi was absolutely useless, didn’t work on the balcony at ALL, and kept disconnecting all the time inside the room. The door to the bathroom could not be closed, and all though we are married, I expect at least the privacy of closing a door behind me in the bathroom. The flusher on the toilet had not been cleaned, so we cleaned it ourselves. Still worn down shower, with the hand shower button not able to push in and use. At this time I didn’t have it in me to complain again, because I had already complained, the hotel was full, and I probably wouldn’t get a new room anyways, and we were leaving the next morning. So we left it, paid, and went to the airport. Not happy, but not feeling up for facing another issue right then and there. So all in all, we did not have the five star experience that we paid for and therefore expected. We left disappointed and annoyed, the absolute opposite of what we should have felt.

Good quality hotel right on the beach with a great pool and bar area. The views from the breakfast room and balcony are wonderful. The food in the evening restaurant was extremely good. There are some potentially nice bars and cafes nearby but the service in these places was awful. You pay quite a bit more in the hotel but it is worth it not to have to wait 45 minutes for a waiter to get you a drink.

The palace hotel is a stunning hotel, very clean and comfortable. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. My room was very large and well equipped. I had the deluxe room with a very comfortable king-size bed, a Juliet balcony facing directly over the pool and beach, with a very usable side balcony which still had a Seaview. There was ample seating and loungers around the pool and on the beach, with lots of comfortable chairs and sofas, cabanas and shade. Breakfast on the fifth floor sitting outside overlooking the beach was an amazingly enjoyable experience, with a fabulous buffet style breakfast, with plenty of choices. Though I would say that the cooked offering wasn’t perhaps the best (for someone from the UK or States). Special mention has to go to the wonderful housekeeping staff. The absolute highlight for me was Uni, the masseuse in the Spa; I booked a massage with her on the first day and explained how I had had back surgery about six weeks ago and she suggested a 45 minute therapeutic massage which was the best massage I had ever had; so much so that I booked another one for the day before I left as well! Thank you too all the staff for making my first and I’m sure not my last, visit to Albania so enjoyable.

A lovely hotel in a great location. Nice big rooms and a great breakfast. Lovely pool and it’s own section of private beach. Right on the beachfront but still not too noisy at night. Parking is available but can be very tight, a bit of a challenge if you have a large car!

Consistent great service in the whole hotel, from reception, room maids, restaurants and poolside. This hotel is beautiful, clean, hygienic, with a very nice, not too crowded pool. The pool has two ends where small kids were playing, while the rest is 1.5 m deep for swimming/adults/teens. I warmly recommend the rooms with a sea view and a small balcony. Slept 2 + 1 on a sofa bed. The room was spaceous. The bed was super comfy. Poolside drinks and snacks available. Pool closes at 6pm, and the area is turned into a poolside bar. Great, varying music by the pool in the daytime - hits that you recognize but not too loud. Wifi in the rooms was great, I did some work zoom meetings and kids watched YouTube and Netflix. The water by the beach by this hotel is dirty and not very nice to swim in. The beach side sunchairs and bar are nice. The area is like any touristic hotel *****. The hotel restaurant was decent. Service is fast and reliable. In the evenings they have either a DJ or someone singing, quite loud, but ends at 11pm so hotel guests can sleep. I also recommend the restaurant Teuta about 500 m from hotel, on a pier over the sea. Overall - a very nice experience, thank you.

The room were very nice and clean so was the hotel the spa sauna and pool were very nice met the manager he was very friendly one of the best hotels i stayed at the restaurant was top of the line to it was in the perfect location in durres in the center of everything