We just came back from 4 days long stay in Shengjin, hotel President. It was our first trip to Albania but as we have been living in the region alredy more than a year we thought we knew what to expect. What we have brought back home are very mixed feelings about the place and a serious food poisoning.

However, I am quite sure that the restaurant in Hotel President is not guilty for the food poisoning. Chef of the hotel restaurant prepars rather nice Italian food but it takes ages to be served. There is planty of waiters hanging around, laughing, talking on mobiles and ignoring you. Once you place an order it takes again a really long time to get some meals but.... do not expect to get the main dishes at the same time even if you are just a couple. Breakfast is not really inventive but ok.

Having experience of living in a communist country I must say that Albanian waiters and cleaners probably that we met got stucked in that time. They are bossy, arogant, do not speak foreign languages (sorry, some of they do - Italian), they do not know how to behave ...

We did not mind that the rooms were not equiped as average European hotels - no curtain in the shower, no reading-lamps, no chairs, no siting at balcony ... But we did mind level of services - rooms were not really clean, cleaners were not able to clean the room until late afternoon, behaviour of the staff I already mentioned (do not expect somebody would greet you - usually they did not even to reply).

Surrounding of the hotel is a samle of very poor and really wealthy Albania. You see cows behind the hotel in a puddle and just next to them the most expensive BMWs, Mercedes etc parking. You see begging people, people selling old shoes, pots and pans on the ground on the street, and you see fancy restaurants...

Concerning the hotel President - 4 stars? Come on, don´t be ridiculous! Under some circumstances I could think about aprox. three.

Beach in front of the hotel is ok, you do not have to worry about the deck-chairs and parasol - each rooms has one parasol and two deck-chairs guaranteed. The sea is nice but rather dirty. During high tide you can see really heaps of rubbish (papers, plastic bags, fag-ends and a lot more).

Honestly, we are not going there anymore. It was an experience but we do not have to come through of such a vacation again.

We, a family of 5, stayed here for 2 nights in 2 rooms after coming from Tirana. We came here because we wanted to have a couple of days at the beach. Shengjin seemed to be a good choice, until we arrived here. This place has a 2 km long beach and it is packed with people. The beach has the black volcanic sand, which gets quite hot.
We probably would have been better of by choosing a pebbles beach in the south at the Ionian see?
Anyway, coming from Tirana we were guided by the signs of Hotel Rafaelo indicating the direction to Shengjin. That was also the first hotel we stopped to see if there was vacancy. The answer was no, and we got the same answers with some other hotels on the beach until we ended up at Hotel President.
This is the newest build and claims to have 4 stars. It probably attracts the more wealthy Albanians as this hotel was not full. Also a Ferrari in front of the door, literary, gave that impression. We could see on the pc that at least half of the rooms were still available. We got 2 rooms for 50 Euros per room per night including breakfast but no internet.

The receptionist was an old Albanian that didn't speak English and he had to get one of the waiters to translate. I even had to operate the credit-card machine for him....
The rooms were indeed brand new, although some of the finishing was not done quite well. It has a good functioning air-conditioning and the beds are of good quality. The bathroom becomes wet all over when you take a shower. There is simply no shower curtain. So, the first person taking a shower needs to use a towel, after drying yourself, as a dam to stop the water coming into the room.

As far as I can see all rooms have sea-view. Don't be surprised though to see cows on the beach...

Breakfast is not a buffet but you get some slices of bread, toasted or not, with a plate on which there are 2 slices of pale looking ham, feta, butter, an egg and a sweet jam. Tea or coffee is included, but that's it.
The first day we had lunch, but we were not impressed and didn't use the hotel for diner.

All in all the dining facilities are not great in Shengjin. As a Western-European you are, more or less, forced to eat at one of the hotels, unless you want to eat in the streets were hygiene is not a first priority....The restaurants only consist of pizzerias and all the menus of them are alike. Although I must say that restaurant Mari makes quite a good pizza. I don't know at which hotel it is though, it is opposite the carousel.
Forget credit-cards in these restaurants, only cash or Euros.

The hotel has its own part of the beach with sun-beds and a parasol. You won't have any Germans reserving the best spots by putting their towels early in the morning on the sun-beds... as all beds are numbered according to your room number. So, you get to know your neighbours straightaway.

The 2 nights we stayed we couldn't get to sleep until midnight as there is music at the terrace of the hotel, and they play it loud, really LOUD. Even with our windows closed it was loud! Ok ,the author of this is in his fourties, but I have teenage kids and they also said that it was loud....The hotel is probably competing with the hotel next door (Frojd) as from them we could also hear a lot of noise.

Concluding I must say that this is probably, I couldn't judge any other, the best choice in Shengjin. If you want to pay it, though. My title refers to the fact that the hotel is brand new, but you could already some signs of decay.