"The worst hotel so far: Db san Antonio Hotel and spa, Malta.
They had an add saying that for every guest who stays minimum 5 nights in their hotel in Oct 2025, the hotel will cover the cost of transportation from the airport and back to the airport.
Even though my mum (who was also part of our booking) spent 6 nights there, the hotel and the managers refused to cover the cost of transportation. We ended up paying a taxi for my mum so she can reach the hotel. My mum came 2 days later than we arrived as she traveled with a different plane from a different country, but we paid in full my mum's costs (the accomodation and all inclusiv) even when my mum was not there. So the hotel received more money anyway. The rejection from the hotel to pay for my mum's transportation brought us a lot of stress.
We initially chose this hotel because the transportation was offered by the hotel, and we said let's chose this place so we have everything that we need.
When we arrived to db san antonio hotel and spa in Malta, we paid in full to cover the accomodation plus all inclusive. We booked a duplex accomodation so that we have more room for my mum, 3 small kids, my husband and myself.
After we paid the full fee, a different guy came (a manager this time) and explained some details about the breakfast, lunch and dinner, pools etc. He also mentioned someting " we have a small issue, but only for tonight. " and we asked "what do you mean?" And he said " you are going to receive an accomodation with a sea view, but only for tonight as we had some maintenance issues with the duplex that you booked".
It was 23:30 and we 3 small kids that were tired and we were tired, we said ok, if it's for tonight only. But we did not know that the sea view accomodation means. We were expected to receive something better than we booked for. But, surprise.
When we arrived there, the new accomodation was very small, the quality was very bad, we had more than half of the room full of bags.
So actually there was only one room, smaller than we booked and probably cheapper.
When we saw the room, we became very upset as there was not enough space to move around, the toilet was broken we could not flash it. There was no water when trying to use the toilette seat.
There was insects in the bathroom, moold as they had no windows in the bathroom and there was no extractor fan either.
Very dirty room and bathroom. And old.
We were calling the reception to ask why they gave us a worst room, as we did not book thay type of the room and they said that they have maintenance to do for the duplex we made the reservation.
We said that if we spend one night there, they need at least to give us the refund between the two room prices.
They refused to take actions during that first night saying that we should wait for the manager who is coming in the morning as they have more flexibility in the morning.
We asked if we are allowed to see the duplex that is in mentenance and thay was specified in our booking, so that we make sure they say the truth and the guy from the reception said that this is not allowed by the hotel policies. We learnt out the next day from other receptionist that our duplex was actually booked with other tourists. So the hotel made a double booking on the same duplex. Also, they knew that my mum will join us 2 days later than we arrived, so they changed our reservation in a smaller room as they knew about these details. If we would have changed my mum's flight, and come together with her from the first night, my mum probably would sleep on the floor. In the room that they gave us for the 1st night, there were 2 single beds arranged one next to other, to simulate a double bed. And 3 small baby cots. So no space for my mum to sleep.
The hotel is dated, with old bathrooms, old rooms, we saw insects even in the restaurant area where food was everywhere. The insects were on the floor, people waking on top of them, in rush to grab their food.
The food was very boring and the same. Most of the food seemed to be reheated or prepared again but adding some veggies or a souce. Very oily the food. We only had one day, it was a saturday when they added good food and diverse. But we noticed that that day it was full with new guests, as big buses were coming with guests.
The pools..the water was cold, even in the smallest pool where we went with our kids. The top roof bar and the infinity pool were closed completely during our stay.
The kids entertainment was too late, the kids were tired already at that point. Thw adult show started even later so we only stayed for 5 minutes one night, as we had 3 small kids with us.
They gave you the option to book for free a "restaurant" . ..they had many options, but in the end we could choose only the mexican one. The restaurant is not a proper restaurant. It is another space from their hotel, where they serve less food than they have for the all inclusive. The bookings for the restaurant are late as well from 8pm the guy gave us the option. We 3 small kids 8pm is too late for dinner.
When the hotel gave us a bad room for the 1st night, and for the next morning, they brought us stress a lot as we ended up arguing between ourselves (my husband and I) plus between us and the receptionist. Also they ruined our next day, as we could not go for a day trip, as we had to wait for them to give us the final room. We had to pack everything up again, the next morning...it took us time . So we arrived very late to the breakfast, they nearly closed the breakfast..
The next day they wanted to give us the duplex we booked. We asked them to see it, before we move in, they showed it to us, but they said that it is still dirty from the previous guests. So we were really upset to learn again that our duplex that we booked was given to someone else when we arrived to the hotel.
So the hotel told us that they had maintenance so that we don't say anything and accept to sleep in a bad small room.
We went back to the reception and we asked to see a manager to discuss our situation with.
We had to wait for the manager to come. When the manager saw us, he knew the whole situation so he said, "look, I will give you a better room", so they gave us 2 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms and two balconies, sea and pool view. They called those rooms as the best accomodation they had.
The view from the balcony was nice, but we could not stay on the balcony with 3 small kids as the balcony was not safe for kids. They had a fence with metal bars, and the kids were trying to add their hands or legs through that fence. And we were at floor 8.
One of my daughters lost her slipper through this fence. So we decided to not use the balcony during our stay. We never found her slipper even though we asked the hotel for it.
The same, when someone from the hotel moved our stuff from a room to another one, they lost a soft toy, which was the favourite toy of my daughter baba black sheep, we told them, but we never found it.
Their best rooms tgat they gave us were dated, old, again dirty, again insects, we had issues many times with the sink that was bloocked. Etc.
When we arrived to this hotel , they brought us the trolley for the bags ,but they left...so we had to carry all the bags from the taxi insidr the hotel, from the hall entrance on the trolley. When we were ready a guy came and took the troĺey and brought our stuff in our room.
When we left the hotel, there was nobody to carry the bags or the trolley with all the bags. I had to push a heavy trolley myself and nobody from the hotel helped me. They said that they are sorry but the guy who is normally in charge with this, is out of work and he will arrive one hour later.
Too late for us..as we had to leave
To collect us from the hotel and to bring us to the airport, it was a company that was collaborating with the hotel. We were 3 families. A family with 4 older kids and 2 parents and us: my mum, the 2 of us and 3 small kids with 3 car seats plus a couple and many pices of luggage.
The driver forgot to take the additional part that is normally installed at the back of the car and where he keeps the bags of the pesengers.
So he eneded up adding all the bags inside of a small van. He did this and my husband and I eneded up not having enough space to seat down.
We went a long journey standing up. Initially the driver started the trip, but after that he returned to the hotel. I mentioned to him, that we are very late, because he arrived late and we don't want to miss our flight. We 3 small babies it ia not simple. We had 3 car seats to leave at the big items in the airport , 2 baby strollers plus many bags to check in and some to take inside the plane.
In the end the driver started again the trip, he drove very bad like he was carrying potatoes.
I had pain in my legs as I was standing in a bad position in the van
The same my husband had to keep with his hands the bags, so that all the bags don't fall on all of us.
This was our terrible experience with this hotel.
We don't recommend this place. Don't waste your money.
Another thing to add, a manager tried to be nice during our stay , as he knew that they messed up our reservation and he came many times to say hi or to say something nice to the kids. For this manager we give 1 star to the hotel, otherwise it is zero stars. And sometimes it can be too much even with someone coming to you all the time. At the end of our trip, this manager gave a card to my husband and asked him to give good reviews about the hotel.
Probably that's why he was approaching us all the time."
