Shkodra Backpackers Hostel - Mi Casa es Tu Casa

Keep in mind that we are the only reviewers reporting this since last July... but we woke up with bed bug bites. 😢 We liked the affordability and neat atmosphere, and the staff helped arrange trips to Theth and Valbona, but the bug bites and creaky beds unfortunately made this a rough stay for us.

CAREFUL!! BED BUGS!!!!! I was shocked and deeply disturbed by my stay at this hostel in Shkodra. On the very first day, I discovered bed bugs biting me, causing painful welts all over my body. The bites and the constant anxiety about being bitten caused me so much distress that I actually suffered a panic attack. I couldn’t stay another moment and checked out immediately.When I reported the problem to the organization that booked this place for me, the owner was informed, but instead of taking responsibility or apologizing, she responded with aggressive and passive-aggressive behavior. She was rude, dismissive, and unprofessional—making the situation even worse.It’s clear this hostel has a serious bed bug infestation problem, as numerous reviews from other guests confirm with photos and descriptions of bites. This place is unsafe and unhygienic, and the owner’s attitude shows a complete lack of care for guests’ well-being. I strongly warn anyone against staying here.

edit: we got bed bug bites from the outdoor hut!! we realized a few days after our stay we had bites on our hands and legs and backs. ———— The hostel overall is cute however we had issues with our stay which really impacted our experience here. I think that most of the issues stem from the room we booked, which on hostel world is listed as their “rustic cabin”, but in reality is a garden shed turned into some rooms. There were no photos of the room on hostel world, but we assumed it would be nice as the rooms which are located on the inside of the building looked lovely. The garden shed rooms have tarp ceilings which light shines through at 6am, and you can hear everything in the room next door. Our floor was made of two parts and was very uneven. The worst part was the door, which did not close and did not lock at all it had a small hatch which hardly closed. The door also had a 5cm gap at the top which allows for mosquitos to enter the room, and we woke up with many bug bites. when we first arrived we asked about the door not closing, and the staff seemed uninterested in the issue, and said that we would not get cold and that there will be mosquitos but there’s nothing they can do about it. The second night we stayed, the dogs were fighting outside the shed and woke us up with growling and barking at 6am. As the room didn’t have a lock, we woke up to an employee walking in without warning. This happened again the morning we checked out, when we were at breakfast they came into the room and cleaned it, while our things were still there. As the room doesn’t have locks you can’t control who enters it. The common spaces are also closed by 11, and you feel pressured out and into bed by then. That is the only area of the hostel with wifi, and you can’t really sit there in silence past 11 without feeling as if you are wanted out. It felt very unwelcoming inside in the evenings, which is not nice because it’s the only place with wifi so we needed the space to plan our trip and look at things online. We left one morning at 5am to catch a bus, and the electricity wasn’t working either, perhaps they turn it off at night. Additionally they have dogs everywhere which is fine, but it’s a bit unhygienic to have them in the kitchen, we had some dog allergies and we really suffered from it, as we didn’t expect the dogs to be everywhere. All of the mentioned above is fine, if we knew earlier what we were getting into, hostelworld provides very little information of the hostel. More information about the shed rooms, the dogs everywhere and the lack of electricity at night would been nice so we can prepare better for it. It wasn’t all bad though there were two very sweet and helpful employees who welcomed us well, the kitchen was clean and nice to cook in and the overall look of the building was nice. I think the reason why we had such a bad time was to do with the shed outside, if we stayed inside this review would’ve been 5 stars i’m sure. They should just make sure to not have the shed in use for guests, or if they do just put photos of it online and tell people they won’t have locks or a proper door so they can expect it!

I had bed bugs in my bad - it destroyed my sleep. The guy in the reception helped to find different bed.

The outdoor rustic cabin is a shed that gets very hot at night. My friend got bed bugs from sleeping and the staff did not acknowledge this issue. We were accused of wanting to move to a party hostel when we checked out early. When we returned to the hostel the same day to use the hostel’s drier after doing our washing, we saw someone else had likely been checked into the bed. Unsure if the mattress had been cleaned in between. Facilities inside the main building are nice but overall vibe tense.

BED BUGS in "rustic cabin", which is basically a shed. We asked for a refund which was quickly given to us. Some staff were nice, but some quiet rude and cold. When we spoke to the owner about bed bugs (very nicely) she acussed us of wanting to change hostels to go to a party hostel. Overall its a nice space, but bed bugs and weird vibes from staff ruined it. Wouldnt reccomend.

Stayed 3 nights, and there are BED BUGS. Started getting a rash on my wrists and arms after the first night. And it has now spread all over. The ‘Rustic wooden cabin’ stated on the sites was just a wooden shed. The floors, bed frames, lockers - everything creaked all the time. It wasn’t clear on the sites and there weren’t any pictures too. The fridge wasn’t working and my food went bad, I found out a few people had informed them previously, but they were still telling new guests to use the fridge.. The dogs are cute. Overall felt deceived. I switched hostels afterwards.

after staying there i got a rash all over my body, they definitely got bedbugs. some staff were nice while others were really unhelpful. they also didn’t tell you that the fridge broke and all our food went bad the overall vibe was kind of weird and tense when you book the “rustical wooden shed” they don’t really disclose that you will be staying in a shed in the garden, the whole room creaks when you’re moving. the other travellers in my room also found it misleading and weren’t so happy

There are BED BUGS. Got a rash after the first night, it’s spread all over my arms, body and legs now. The ‘rustic wooden cabin’ is just a wooden shed, everything creaks and shakes. The fridge wasn’t working and the staffs were told by others, but they still continued to tell new guests (inc me) that we can use the fridge. All my food were spoiled. Terrible place.

Wir hatten leider eine riesen Bettwanzenplage nach unserem Aufenthalt, was unsere restliche Reise sehr beeinträchtigt hat. Von Kopf bis Fuß hatten wir hunderte Bisse, die uns auch tagelang später noch plagten. Als wir uns mit anderen Reisenden austauschten, wurde schnell klar, dass das ein länger bestehendes Problem des Hostels ist, was leider seit Jahren nicht adäquat in Angriff genommen wird.

The bed was full of bed bugs, the sheets were dirty, the shower floor had mold. Waste of money It is important to note that after giving them a bad review because of the poor quality of service given, they keep contacting me from different phone numbers, and are making me feel violated. If they are such a good hostel why do they need to contact me afterwords to change the review and try to guilt me? Do not stay here! the place is not clean, and the host will stalk you afterwords if you do not give a 5 star review

Unfortunately my partner has been quite seriously bitten. We initially thought this was fleas from the dogs but it is clear now that it's bedbugs and has affected us for the rest of our trip. It's the only night we didn't share a bed and is specifically on his face and along his sleeping positions. Again, in a busy season in a hot country and regular guest turnover this can be expected and we should have checked the bed (we did after and saw residue). I raised this with reception and they responded very gracefully, they are aware and working on a solution. We would just like to encourage that this is taken seriously to preserve what is otherwise a 10/10 hostel. Regardless, as I said, we would very happily return if this is addressed.

Unfortunately one of the beds we used had bed bugs. We informed the hostel after we stayed the night and they noted they would clean the mattress, so hopefully just a one off. The other bed we used was in good order :)

The hostel had a nice vibe, however it was quite hard to get some sleep due to the high temperature in the room, and the room also contained bed bugs. Me and the guys that I traveled with all got bed bug bites and marks from the bed bugs could be seen on the wall in the room.

Very dark and a bit creepy house. The dogs are very angry so be careful, and overall just a bit weird vibe. So many signs everywhere felt like I was bombarded with information all the time, with strict rules. And the day your to lake Shala was so long and not worth the travel time, as you basically arrived at a resort where everything cost money, far away from the serene pictures seen online. And the cleanliness was not very good, and bedbugs which were only killed with steam. Would not recommen

There were bedbugs in my bed and they charge a conversion fee if you pay in Albanian Lekks. They charged me 3 euro for the conversion fee. Other than that everything was good.

Since you have to leave your shoes outside (which is totally okay), I expected the place to be clean, but my socks got dirty in 5 minutes. There were several dogs which could start randomly barking at you when you pass them and a cat and they were allowed to roam inside and outside bringing dirt and their fur all over which may make an allergic person go insane. There are other things, but for the money I payed, it doesn't matter honestly. But my main gripe is not that, but... bedbugs. I'm extremely sensitive to them and their bites always grow twice as big as in any other person and they stay with me for weeks, irritating me with the itching. I was in a shared 4-bed room when I woke up in 30 min from irritating itching and saw a full grown female bedbug right in front of my face. The owner moved me into another "suite" room which is located near the showers. Apparently, I brought some of bedbugs with me, since I got bitten a couple of times more and crushed one on the bed, but nothing after that. Apparently, it is not the first, nor the second time it happened, judging by the reviews (which I should have checked more thoroughly beforehand). In the morning everyone was like nothing happened, nobody told nothing to the other guests who might bring them to other places or home. Nobody apologized to me, the only thing that was done is to move me to another room, which I'm thankful for. The size of the bedbugs, the speed with which they attacked me and the reaction of the owner makes me think they knew about that problem for some time but still allowed people to live there. I ask the the people who own the place to do something about that, please, don't ruin people's holidays and your own business with it.

Some hosts were nice, but the rest didn’t seem to care about the guests at all, it felt more like they were forced to work (volunteer?) there. The bed was extremely uncomfortable, it was shaking, and I felt like it was about to break soon. WiFi didn’t work in the room. There are bed bugs in this hostel, and I am not the first person to report that (check other reviews online), so it’s not a one-time case… After making a case via booking.com I was informed BY THE HOSTEL that I would receive a refund for our stay. 3 weeks later after giving them my bank info I still haven’t received any money. When I sent the message to ask for an update I was ignored and didn’t receive any more information. With all the consequences we had to face (paying for medication for the bites, avoiding the sun, paying for professional cleaning of ALL our things, buying new clothes for the time of cleaning, not having a regular night of sleep for 3 nights because of the pain, irritation, itchiness; wounds and scars after the wounds – more than 30 to be precise – time and energy that we lost to take care of this), the refund should be the BARE MINIMUM that the hostel does. I am beyond embarrassed to have to explain this to adults. There is no other way to say that it's just unprofessional and disrespectful to your guest. Also, check the hostels’ responses to negative comments – that should be your biggest red flag to avoid this place at any cost…

I got badly bitten by bedbugs in a dorm room. When I complained about this, all my clothes were washed free of charge and I was relocated to upstairs. The old woman - apparently the owner - came after me upstairs and started accusing me of bringing the bedbugs to the hostel. She was very aggressive and even suggested I should go away. I knew these bedbugs were resident in this very establishment, as I did not have bites before. And I did not have bedbug bites ever after this incident. I read the Google maps reviews, as well as Tripadvisor reviews from past and learn this is a recurring pattern at Shkodra Backpackers spanning many years. Belittlement and even accusations against travelers when the guesthouse hosts are very well aware of the chronic bedbug infestation they have.

Ich hatte schon befürchtet dass Bettwanzen im Zimmer sein könnten, da es sehr süss roch. Ich wurde dann leider auch tatsächlich von Bettwanzen gestochen. Die Besitzerin war wenig überrascht und kommentierte es nur mit "Ein Drama am Morgen". Mir wurde keine Unterstützung angeboten, wie beispielsweise das Waschen meiner Kleidung bei 60 Grad oder die Rückerstattung des Geldes, das ich bei der Ankunft im Voraus bezahlt hatte (nun verstehe ich auch warum). Jetzt werde ich wohl den Rest meines Urlaubs mit Wäschewaschen verbringen und mich Sorgen, dass die Bettwanzen sowohl auf meinem Körper als auch in meinen Sachen sein könnten, und ich sie möglicherweise in andere Unterkünfte oder gar nach Hause mitnehme.

Alors que nous avions réservé une chambre pour deux, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans un appartement un peu à l’écart, sans wifi . Même s’il était grand, il ne correspondait pas à ce que nous pensions avoir réservé, ni aux photos correspondantes. Pour finir, nous soupçonnons être partis avec des piqûres de punaises de lit. Attention donc !!

“A window” in the dorm room which only leads to another “room”. No fresh air. Also they sold a room to someone else even if we booked it? We had to demand a refund multiple times until eventually they accepted it. Last but not least: bedbugs. Thanks for nothing. I’d recommend to stay away. If you split an airbnb on 3 people you pay almost the same as if you’d stay in this hostel per night.

[Watch out bedbugs!] I was standing in this hostel for one night with my girlfriend. The vibe in the hostel is nice. It is a shelter for travelling backpackers. But unfortunately it is also a nest of bedbugs. After one night in a double room each of us had around 30 beats which are inching and painful. We have reported it and made a complaint on the counter. We even didn't demand a refund. But instead of apologies the guy on the counter was laughing and making jokes about us. He told us that we couldn't distinguish mosquitoes from bedbugs. Moreover he told us that they change the sheet in this room each day - any person, who had any contact with bedbugs, knows that is not enough and in such a case it is necessary to make a strong desinfection, not only small cleaning. I strongly discourage from staying in this hostel if you don't want to deal with bedbugs.

L'endroit par son décor et sa situation nous a d'abord charmé mais nous avons vite déchanté. Les lits de mon ami et moi se sont révélés être de vrais réserves de punaises de lit. Bilan: une nuit terminée sur un canapé pour deux, de nombreuses piqûres sur tout le corps depuis presque 15j, des démangeaisons, une grosse allergie, un passage forcé à l’hôpital durant notre séjour en Albanie, un transport non désiré de ses punaises à travers les auberges que nous avons parcourues durant notre voyage et un mal fou à nettoyer nos sacs à notre retour. Le plus dérangeant est que quand nous avons prévenu l'auberge. ils étaient déjà au courant...