Brilliant Hotel & Spa in Golem

I spent a week at the Brilliant Hotel in Albania. While the hotel building and rooms deserve 4 stars ( one lift only, nor enough space at swimming pool and entertainment area) the overall experience was mixed and, in several ways, disappointing. Location & Beach • Very poor location – not much to see or do nearby. • The beach was not nice, and the sea water was not clear at all. Food & Drink • Food was very poor, with repetitive meals served daily and little to no variety. • The only consistently good options were the fresh fruit, salads, and herbs. • Drinks were a let down: only very basic options like whiskey & coke or gin & tonic were available, popular drinks such as Aperol Spritz or Mojito were not included in the All-Inclusive package, forgot about Prosecco :(, spirits was served from unlabelled bottles, and the wine (served from machines) was of awful, all drinks were only available until 10 p.m., which was quite disappointing. Service & Facilities • Staff were generally friendly, and we appreciated the very good DJ and the leisure area/lounge across from the hotel, which also belongs to the Brilliant Hotel group: the DJ was free, but everything else had to be paid for, even access to the swimming pool there cost €20 per day, which felt unfair for hotel guests. • Sunbeds and towels are free for quests, which was quite helpful. No chance to find a free sunbed after 8 am around swimming pools. Unless you want to pay £20 (adults only). • No free access to gym, spa and salt Grote ( which was not working anyway). All-Inclusive Experience • The All-Inclusive package was extremely limited. • The hotel has an à la carte restaurant, but All-Inclusive guests were not allowed to eat there at all – not even once during the week, which is very unusual. • It felt like the hotel was divided into two classes: - Full-paying à la carte guests had access to elegant restaurants with white tablecloths. - All-Inclusive guests were clearly treated as lower-tier customers. Entertainment • We were not surprised or impressed by the entertainment – no themed nights, no atmosphere, nothing special like a "bbq night”. • The only memorable evening was when they had Albanian dancers, which was genuinely enjoyable - but quest were sting on the floor as no chairs provided, comparing to the opposite site where customers from the restaurants were siting by the very nice dress up tables - you can see this on the main photo of the hotel. • There was also every day some live music, but it was hard to enjoy due to confusing background noise from other nearby hotels. • Overall, the Albanian dance night was the only standout, and the rest was either lacking or unclear. Poor Experience with General Management We had a bad experience involving the minibar: When we opened the fridge door, a bottle of water fell out and broke, making a mess in the room. The bottle was clearly too large for the fridge door, so the issue was not our fault. Despite that, we were asked to pay f