"TUI set us up for a disappointment here in the first instance by saying it was 3 star accommodation - I have no idea when it was last assessed but I can assure TUI and anyone reading this it is most certainly NOT a 3 star hotel, in fact I wouldn't give it a star rating at all. We arrived on a late flight and on getting to the hotel had to step over bucket of paint as workmen were painting the foyer. The guy on reception looked perplexed at our arrival but did find our booking eventually and stood there with his hand out demanding the tourist tax before going any further. Being half board we expected, as we had received in other accommodations 3 star and above with TUI on a late check in to have a cold selection and a bottle of water in the room maybe - NOTHING. This was 11 at night, not even a bottle of water offered. Our room was on the fifth floor - as an aside only two of the three lifts were in working order - and as soon as we exited the lifts our hearts sank, a drab corridor with a threadbare carpet, the room itself looked like someone else had complained and been moved, it was meant to be a twin room but three beds had been stuffed into it meaning only one bed had a bedside table and reading light, the fridge was a desktop fridge and was haphazardly chucked on the floor, the safe in the wardrobe did not lock, a fact we told reception the next morning, we were still waiting for the promised maintenance to come and fix it as we boarded our homeward bound airport transfer. The bathroom had seen better days, in the seventies maybe, the shower was the most uninviting limp affair and there was a sticker on the bathroom window saying it wasn't to be opened so no way to let steam out of the room. The toilet flush handle had to be pumped like a bicycle pump to get it to start the flush and then this had to be done at least twice per use. It was and is dire. As it was so late and we were so tired we just slept once we'd gotten used to the sound coming from the air con which didn't really work, the room was the same temperature with it, without it and on all the settings no difference - the next day we stepped onto the balcony in the morning and we could have cried, it resembled a war zone in the street below us - piles of rubble and boarded up derelict buildings home to many poor stray cats. Let's make the most of it we thought, let's see what the feted games room has to offer - a broken pool table, a broken air hockey table, a ping pong table with no bats and balls, a broken grab a prize machine and a smell of damp so cloying that we almost choked. The spa didn't seem to have anyone working there and the sauna was cold, the indoor pool was overheated and over chlorined, the little honesty shop had no receipts all week in the tap to pay machine, the TV had hardly any channels and the ones it did have were mainly in German oddly and they had also removed the USB ports from the TV so you couldn't plug your own device into it for entertainment in the late evening, the wifi was non existent past floor 2, it was just a litany of shabby, broken, drab things. If there is anything nice to be said about the place it has to be about the poor staff who are doing their best to turn this sows ear into a silk purse, all with the exception of reception are very pleasant and helpful, the outdoor pool and bar are wonderful - you wouldn't think it was the same hotel and the food is actually quite good. This hotel and its surroundings ruined our holiday and soured our impression of Malta - we will never be back."
