Tirana’s chaotic hotel-development model: a mature market — what will become of the towers?

Entrepreneur Behar Male, a shareholder in the capital’s top-earning hotel “The Plaza Tirana”, says Tirana’s hotel market is already mature. “For revenues to grow, we need to raise prices, but if we do that, we’ll lose customers.”

He adds that Albanians themselves are not ready to pay high prices, neither in Tirana nor on the coast, while the tourists who come here are low spenders oriented mainly toward Airbnb-style accommodation. “Tirana doesn’t have good tourists; those who come want a room for 50–60 euros for two people. On the other hand, the capital doesn’t have much to offer either.”

Mr. Male is skeptical whether there will be business in this market for the new hotel developments rising in Tirana. “Most of them were spurred by the infrastructure-tax exemption, and I believe they’ll be converted into offices or other units.”

Unlike Tirana, the coast has far greater potential, but Male says there are no proper structures that would allow rooms to be sold at higher prices. “Apart from Meliá and a few hotels in Durrës, we don’t have the hotel structures needed to bring in charter tourists. On the coast we need 50–60 standard-compliant properties, at least half the caliber of Meliá, with over 100 rooms each — then we can talk about tourism.”

In the south, the villa model has dominated so far, and only recently has there been a shift toward hotel structures, whose trajectory remains unclear after SPAK’s operations.

According to a Booking search, for a stay on October 16–17, “Hotel Rogner” — advertised as 5-star with a 9 rating — charges 158 euros per night, breakfast included.

A similar price is found at “Xheko Imperial Luxury Hotel & SPA” (9.1 rating). Five-star “Mak Albania” costs 126 euros. Four-star “Tirana International” is priced at 119 euros, while other rated hotels range between 60–90 euros.

The most expensive are “Marriott” and “Maritim-Plaza” at around 180–200 euros per night.

High-end hotel prices in Tirana remain relatively low compared with European capitals and major destinations. In Athens, the average rate across all hotel categories was around 178 euros in 2025, and in Rome around 190 euros, according to hotel-data providers.

In Milan, one of Europe’s priciest hotel markets, 4- and 5-star prices are several times higher: 4-star hotels alone average 200–250 euros per night.

For example, the 5-star “Tirana Marriott” offers rooms at around 200 euros per night on average. In Milan, the 4-star “Milan Marriott Hotel” costs about 250 euros per night for a stay on October 17–18 and sits 2.7 km from the center.

By contrast, the “Meliá” hotel in Lalzi Bay — cited by everyone as the country’s best tourism model — sells rooms at 200 euros per night even in October, in minimum 3-day packages including breakfast and dinner. In September, the package exceeds 1,000–1,400 euros.

“Airbnb”, a parallel market competing hard with hotels

Albania’s emergence as a tourist destination led many people to rent out homes short-term, competing with hotels while also attracting many foreigners thanks to cheap daily rates compared with other European countries.

Data from AirDNA, Airbnb’s analytics arm, made available to Monitor, shows that across the country an average of 26,300 apartments were rented through the platform in 2025, up from just 6,000 in 2021.