My Tirana AmEx Saga. By Uncle Monty.

My Triana AmEx Saga
By Uncle Monty
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Don’t try to use or cash your American Express

Travelers Cheques in Albania or at least not at the

two-star Hotel Alpin on Rr. Siri Korda close to down-

town Tirana for you’ll soon come unstruck like me.

There I gave two pre-paid American Express

(AmEx) Travelers Cheques of Є50.00 each and

was met with instant suspicion as if I’d commit

some kind of grave crime! It took five different
staffers at Hotel Alpin to figure out what I had

given in part payment for my hotel bill. Elsewhere,

I’d encountered no problems whatsoever with using

such worldwide cheques and to which have openly

been welcomed as payment at such diverse places

like Iran’s Tehran, China’s Bejing, South Africa’s

Capetown, Russia’s Moscow and The Faroe Islands

to just name a few cities or places from around the

world where I have used AmEx cheques without
even an hint of suspicion or rejection. But not so at

Tirana or least not at Hotel Alpin, which is part of

the Albanian group of tourist businesses under the

management of http://www.albania-holidays.com/

and http://www.albania-hotel.com/.
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Hotel Alpin, moreover, was not only the end of my

troubles staying there, but it was also the beginning of

my troubles with my first morning of their so-called

“breakfast” that was an utter disgrace to even offer
let alone think someone should accept without question

such disgusting food as rancid butter, dried out honey,

and lukewarm tea. The only edible part of the breaksat

for me was the fresh slices of Tirana bread. I threw my

hands up in the air and off I went and bought my own

breakfast away from the hotel on Bulevardi Zogu i Parë

and there I did so for the next six breakfasts. I then

asked Hotel Alpin and/or Albania Holidays.com to

knock off a few euros per day from my hotel bill for

the six breakfasts I was forced to buy elsewhere due

to the lousey one I was first served without even a

“good morning” or “hello.” I think a 5 year old could have
cooked up something alot better than Hotel Alpin. All I
got was an evasive reply, but the bottomline was my
hotel bill was still the same at Є196.00. and they’d not
taken off even a penny. All they were interested

in was how they could fleece more tourist money

out of folks like me.
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Now back to the continuing saga of my AmEx Trav-

elers Cheques. I watch the various staffers at Hotel

Alpin discuss the pros and cons of my cheques over

almost a two-hour period as if my act of payment was

somehow a dangerous encroachment on the laws

of Albania. Then one of the hotel women suddenly

shot off to the local bank with my two cheques in

her hand. She came back about ten minutes or so

looking none the wiser, I guess.

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In the meantime yet another phone call was

made to Aida of Albania holidays.com. Yes, it

was all about my bloody cheques. They seemed

confounded by it all. Then the Hotel manager –

a heavy set, older, taller man, who spoke I guess

not a word of English, looked despondently at the

AmEx cheques and frets and puzzlement showed-

up on his rather cold and unfriendly Albanian face.

They then basically ganged up in united ignorance

against my use of such AmEx world cheques.

I think they'd never seen such cheques before in

their lives, yet they're supposed to be catering to

foreign visitors visiting Albania. They need to be

taught lessons on how best to serve such visitors

and not to alienate them for reason of local ig-

norance that I saw at Hotel Alpin. Not once did

they ask me to explain what AmEx cheques

were or to ask me if I would kindly pay my bill

some other way without them. They seemed un-

able to figure there was nothing wrong with

accepting them as legimimate payment like

anything else. Their ignorance was appalling.
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I finally took the damn cheques back of my

own will and in controlled anger– which

already I’d legally made out to Hotel Alpin

and countersigned – and decided to pay them

instead in £90.00 British Sterling to resolve

their lack of business practise to overseas

travelers. Still worried, nevertheless, that

they were going to be “cheated” by such a

foreign visitor like me, the same woman who

had been to the bank earlier then rushed off

again to change my British quids in to Euros.

She came back with Є110.00 from my

90.00 quid. But now, I was left short
changed with having already paid Є60.00

deposit on my first day at the stupid Hotel

Alpin. And so when I’d also paid another

Є40.00 with the Є110.00 the woman got

from the back, I had now given the hotel

Є210.00 for my bill of Є196.00. My change
should have been Є14.00, but I got only back

Є12.50. I felt if they wanted to be so niggardly,

so should I. And I saw no reason to give them

a dime more than I reluctantly owed Hotel

Alpin. So finally, the five staffers all went

their separate ways. And, sadly none the

wiser I suspect.
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Dare I also mention I got a massive bout of diarrhoea

while at Hotel Alpin? I believe such resulted from

the fresh hot water running out in the coffee machine

and they then used what was putrid water that came

out of the leftover waterflow. Not until I’d almost drank

the full cuppa of tea (with my own tea supplied) with

my quick gulps did I realise the water was funny and

sour tasteing. With my milk and sugar added to the tea,

it initially disguised what was otherwise throwaway

slops in my tea. It was like taking sugar-coated medicine
with later rotten side effects. Well, the next day I was

running all over the place like a scared rabbit tryng
yet to cope with yet another problem stemming

from my ominous redezvous with Hotel Alpin.
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Albania-Holidays.com, however, was to give me still

one more and final problem before I was to head out

to Mother Teresa International Airport at Rinas.
Aida of Albania Hotel.com had confirmed with me

that I would be picked up at the hotel by 10:30am to

arrive in time to board my plane to Rome at where

I was set to spend a short interlude with my dear

Contessa Maria, who has now recovered nicely

from her hip operation since I last saw her in mid-

January on her stopover at London from New

York City. It was now 10.30am and still counting

and still no sign of any taxi that I was assured

would be at the hotel on time for me. I was begin-
ning to get worried at now almost 11.00am and
that I would miss my 12.30pm Alitalia departure

flight from Tirana to Roma knowing how the traffic,

coming and going, to Triana Airport can easily come to

a sudden standstill and go nowhere for quite awhile.
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So I hollered out loudly to the Hotel Alpin staffer

telling her no taxi had yet arrived and that I

needed to leave immediately if I was to get to the

airport on time. She swiftly called Aida and the

promised taxi finally arrived five minutes later.

And sure enough the airport road was jammed.
How I got to the airport on time still amazes
me and I had just minutes left after going thru
Albanian airport security and passport control

to find my seat ready at 16A.
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So the saga of the American Express Travelers

cheques, the gathering of five people for almost

two hours to figure what to do with them, the

lousey breakfast, my bout of dreadful diarrhoea,

the refusal by the hotel to knock off a little of the

cost of my hotel bill, and my belated taxi ride, all

added up, quite clearly, to a very negative exper-

ience with Hotel Alpin and its management

http://www.albania-holidays.com/
and http://www.albania-hotel.com/
*
With all this said, let me make it very clear that my

visit to Tirana was otherwise wonderful and my
personal encounter and conversation with, for

example, the Orthodox Archbishop of Tirana and

All-Albania, His Eminence, +Aasntasi, and among

other marvellous encounters with such as the erudite

Albanian antiquarian book dealer Ramiz Zajmia and

with “The Urchins of Tirana” or the city street kidz,

only adds joyful memory of my adventurous stay

at Albania. And no matter what Hotel Alpin failed

to do properly in handling what I’ve outlined herein,

I wouldn’t have missed my actual visit to the country
for all the Leke in the world!! Did I dislike the

Albanian people? Absolutely not. I liked them very

much for they are a passive and gentle people on

the whole from what I have seen of them. And their

Balkan sufferings and their history of foreign occupation

and their past communist oppression I certainly em-

pathise with them there, too, without a doubt. My

criticism of one hotel in Tirana, is not intended as

criticism against the good people of Shqiperise.
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Here now at Rome after flying in from Albania to

Italy this morning, Contessa Maria immediately
said I should have stormed out of the hotel right
away on the first morning at Hotel Alpin and paid

for one night’s stay and never returned again. I

told her I wish now that I had done that. Instead,
I allowed them to screw me royally!!
But never again …
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And one final word. Here’s how Alpin Hotel des-
cribes itself on the Internet in its own copyrighted

words for those searching for a place to lay their

head for awhile at Albania’s Capital of Tirana:
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[Rr. "Siri Kodra" Nr 20, Tirana Why Alpin Hotel?

Hotel Alpin is a small, quiet, brand new hotel built in

2003, situated 200 m far from the centre of Tirana.

The good management, inspired by great hospitality of

this alpine style hotel, will do all to enhance the pleasure
and comfort of your stay. What makes this hotel a good

choice is a combination of the quality service with a very

good price. The languages used by the staff of the hotel

are English and Greek.] Here then endth the lesson ...
(My comments: Only one staffer spoke English and I

never heard a word of Greek. Quiet, yes; Alpine-Style,

hardly. Good choice, NO. The PR is great, but the

reality at Hotel Alpin is pretty “iffy,” I think)
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My other upcoming stories on Albania will include:
“The Urchins of Triana,” “Albania’s Edith Durham

and Fan Stilian Noli,” and “Rare Coins and

Banknotes of the Republika E Shqiperise.”

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Shown below: A very rare 1914 Twenty Gold Franka Banknote.
I am told this note may also have belonged to King Zog of

Albania. While the suggestion is most intriguing, I think

it’s pure speculation at best ...

Hello to everybody now here from Rome.

Truly, Uncle Monty. +Hocktide, 2oo8.