Carpe Diem Apartments Hotel

We had a very lovely stay here! The rooms are clean, the air conditioning is great, and the wifi is also pretty good. It’s not the best; however, we didn't use it as much, so we didn't mind. The location of the hotel is absolutely phenomenal! We only had like a minute of walk from the beach. The beach is private and probably the cleanest of all. The breakfast is very tasty. You have plenty of options to choose from, and they also add some new things over a couple of days, so the menu is still not the same. We also tried their restaurant menu, and it was delicious! It was definitely the best of all we tried during our stay in Albania. I highly recommend checking out this hotel! I promise you, you won't be disappointed. 😇🏖🍉

Disappointed with the room. Despite booking a room for 5 adults, we were only provided with beds for 4. The hotel's solution was to convert part of the sofa into a bed, which was incredibly uncomfortable and unsuitable for a decent night's sleep, also there was a constant noise from pigeons at night, which made it hard to sleep. Additionally, the bathroom was small. It was difficult to even enter the shower due to the cramped space. Only breakfast was amazing, for the price we paid, we expected far better accommodations and service.

I stayed in one of the apartments for 4 nights in July 2024. I booked my stay via the website. The location of the apartments is good however this establishment has multiple issues, in particular regarding the management and the service culture. The employees are really great, however. Here is my experience: 1) They charged me extra 2% for wanting to pay with card. How is it possible that in 2024 the card payment fees get pushed to the customer. That's a shame. 2) On the first day of the stay the manager of the hotel, was shouting in the lobby. She was arguing with another customer who had mistreated one of the cleaning ladies. The manager is right to defend its employees, but there is no point in shouting in the lobby and disturbing everyone else. This is a lack of service culture. 3) The air conditioners in the rooms do not work well. They are blocked at a certain temperature, or they only start working properly after some time. I asked one the employees to take care of this. He came to the room and with his shoes stepped on the couch where I was supposed to sleep, to climb and fix the airflow of the air conditioner. How dare one step with dirty shoes on the couch where the customer is going to sleep. Crazy! 4) The same employee took the remote of one of the ACs to replace the batteries, but the remote never came back. So we had one remote for two ACs. 5) The elevator is tiny. It can barely fit 3 people. If you have luggage forget about it. 6) The toilet stinks. The bad smell from the sewage system comes back to the toilet. They can somehow solve this by putting air fresheners in the toilets. This is minimal investment and the least they can do, besides improving the ventilation, which probably costs more. 7) The food in the restaurant area for the breakfast is not labeled. So you don't know whether the meat is pork, chicken or something else. You also don't know if the food is vegan, vegetarian, etc. When I told this to the manager lady she said I could have asked the employees. Imagine every hotel guest asking the employees these questions every day. Just put some labels, it's an easy fix. 8) One of the mornings of our stay, the hotel had booked photo shooting for their social media channels. This delayed the start of the breakfast. Also, the photos were taken without any prior information or permission from the hotel guest. 9) The biggest problem of this establishment is its manager and her lack of service culture and confrontational behavior. I complained about some of the issues above to her. Instead of doing the smart thing that any person that works in the services business should do: simply say "We are sorry for the inconvenience, and we will take care of this as soon as possible" she argues back. I complained about the photos being takes without permission, and I said that I know the law very well and will sue if my photos are used, she said that she also knows the law very well and she has 4 degrees. How dumb do you have to be to try to "one up" a customer about their education. When I complained about the breakfast being late, she said "Yes, but it was late for 5 minutes". In reality it was more, and many customers were lining up, waiting for the photo-shooting to end. Before checking out of the hotel, she had deliberately asked to meet me, claiming that she doesn't want us to leave as unsatisfied customers. I met her and raised many of the points above. She was confrontational again. I did not find her effort for discussion as an honest effort. 10) Finally, the staff in the hotel is great. People at the reception, the guy at the parking, the guy at the beach. They deserve to be tipped. The cleaning ladies do their job well. The guys at the restaurant need to learn to smile more and say "Hi", "Bye", "Thank you". I love Albania and I want to see it do great. The businesses, the tourism, everything. Originally, I was planning to recommend this place for organizing events from work and bring guests there, but I am hesitant after the experience I had.