Hilton Malta — Hotel in Saint Julian's

We have stayed in this Hotel several times. The travel restrictions because of COVID/CORONA now are not excisting anymore! So I have decided to return. As expected from the last stays several problems appeared again.

PORTER IN FRONT OF THIS 5 STAR LUXURY HOTEL again was not to be seen.

That includes that none of the staff has helped us to carry the luggage inside. Even inside the Hotel nobody has cared about it. So we stored the luggage in front of the reception desk.

CHECK-IN: The CHECK-IN was not done in a professional correct manner like it should be done. The young female receptionist from NETHERLANDS was not correct informed how to handle the CHECK-IN including payment.

The BOOKING CONFIRMATION of HILTON says: " There is a credit card required for this reservation. When you CHECK-IN A HOLD MAYBE (!) PLACED ON YOUR CARD FOR THE FULL ANTICIPATED AMOUNT TO BE OWED TO THE HOTEL including estimated incidentials through your date of CHECK-OUT!"

The lady first said that they will only make a print of the card. Then after my questions she has informed me that the Hotel wants to block money of the card. After my new questions I got told that the Hotel wanted to block 1.000 €. I have rejected it and then I have asked her to talk to the Manager about this case. She has not talked to the Manager but she has talked to one of several available guest relation manager who then decided that they would charge at once the full amount of 927 € ( not 1.000 € like they wanted to do). That means the room rate was pre charged! The receptionist was not informed that we have stayed in this Hotel several times! An invitation for a welcome drink was only done after my reminder. Thanks God I could present the last reservation number and then the receptionist has found it and we should get an UPGRADE for my booked and paid room with Seaview! We needed to wait some hours and got the keycard for the room. I have asked the female receptionist to get exchanged 20 € for tip into coins. She came back and told me that they don't have coins. She has exchanged the banknote into 10€ and 5 € notes. Bad for them! No tip for the staff! Like in the past nobody has told us how and where to find the room. It was self service! Even after several years the Hotel has not fixed better informations how to find the room. After 10 minutes of searching without finding the room we gave up and complained at the reception and ask for somebody to show us the room.

We then got shown the room in the 7th floor with Seaview. ROOM Of course there was no Welcome Card for a frequent guest in the room. Of course there was no fruit basket or a bottle of Prosecco or Wine in the room!

It was just looking like designed by IKEA. At the table was only one (!) chair. AMENITIES ARE NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE!

MINERALWATER IS NOT SERVED ANYMORE!!! YOU CAN GET YOUR WATER OUT OF A SEPARATE PIPE IN THE BATHROOM NEXT TO THE WASHBASIN!!!

AT THE WALL ARE FIXED BOTTLES WITH SHAMPOO, SOAP AND BODY LOTION.

If you want to wash your hair while sitting or laying in the Bathtub you need to stand under the shower otherwise you can't do it!

The light condition in the Bathroom is poor. It is not lighted enough for shaving a beard or for doing a correct make-up!

The toilet is not separated with a door!

Turn down service was not to be seen. Sweets on the pillow were not presented. AC in the Room is central controlled. BREAKFAST Now there is only self-service offered. The Restaurant is looking like a big overcrowded canteen. Freshly squeezed orange juice was not available. Only juice out of the brick pack.

Mineralwater was available out of big containers. One of the staff poured mineralwater out of plastic bottles into the container. This is interesting because the management has written in the room that drinkable water is available out of the pipe because they want to reduce the use of plastic bottles. QUARTERDECK BAR AND LOUNGE Red Wine was served with wrong contents. After complain it was served ice cold. Check-out: No question for...

I am a frequent guest of this Hotel and have stayed here about 10 times.

CHECK-IN: Done May, 16th by the TRAINEE E. She hasn't recognized that we are frequent guests. I wanted to pay for the whole stay upon arrival with my Credit Card which she put into the CARD READER and telling me that I should fill in my Password. But she didn't filled in the amount I needed to pay.. That was similar like to use a CARTE BLANCHE... Then she didn't wanted give me a receipt and bill for the amount I have paid. After my complaint I got the same information from the Supervisor whom she has called. Due to my wish finally I have received a hand written receipt. Then I have mentioned that I am a frequent guest. The room wasn't ready because they wanted to take out things from the MINI-BAR (Fridge) because I was unwilling to pay an additional Deposit although I just have paid some thousands Euro in advance.

ROOM in the 9th floor with booked and paid SEAVIEW and LOUNGE ACCESS. The room is basic designed and equipped. The materials are cheap. big Table has one (!)chair. The bed table by my side was round and small (radius 40 cm) with a fixed (!) Lamp which nobody can remove. In addition they put the House Telephone on it. Because of this very limited space I put my Cell phone on it which fell down and the result was a broken surface! The bed itself was quite comfortable. Mineralwater bottles you can buy. Drinkable water is available in a separate pipe near the washbasin in the Bathroom. Showergel, Shampoo and Bodylotion is available in big bottles fixed at the wall.

The new Installation in the room will affect each Guest in the room: It is equipped now with MOTION SENSORS. I have asked the Receptionist who was uninformed. I wanted to get it removed or switched off. Then I got a written message sent to my room with the text that a Manager wants to talk to me about this case. I went down and have asked for the sender of this Message. A young female Guest Relation Manager spoke to me but surprise she was uninformed as well and announced the MAINTENANCE to come to my room. Very fast MARTIN appeared who has informed me in an arrogant way that it cannot get removed or switched off. After that I have received a Mail from the GENERAL MANAGER, Mr. Richard Cuello, telling me the same and that these MOTION SENSORS should also reduce the consumption of Electricity. Fast I have answered him that I am irritated about that goal because all of the back side of the Hotel or more precisely each Balcony is lighted with lamps while the sun is shining during the daytime!!! He was irritated and surprised because of my information with attached pictures as an evidence!! That evening I was sitting on the Sofa and writing while py Partner was outside the Hotel. THEN, after 10 minutes, a BLACKOUT in the ROOM has happened. 20 minutes later, when my Partner returned, at once the light got switched on! The REASON for this BLACKOUT were the new MOTION SENSORS !!! At once I have sent a new Mail with complaint to the General Manager. My Mail was read the following day at 9:44 a.m. Now I was waiting for a quick response. But no actions were taken. No answer has arrived. To avoid new additional problems in my room I went down to the Reception and have asked for a Meeting with a Guest Relation Manager. A new Manager fast appeared and he wasn't informed but he was surprised. He then contacted the General Manager who appeared and has told me that this has never happened before.. The following day I got his new Mail in which he has written that they now have bypassed the MOTION SENSOR REMOTELY!!!

No Compensation was done.

GIFTS/PRESENT FOR FREQUENT GUESTS upon arrival: Due to my information while CHECK-IN I have found a cushion with the text: " WELCOME BACK". In addition we have received two (!) little plastic bags from the Supermarket with Chips. And we got a small glass with goat cheese in oil...

PORTER Karsten: 5 Points EXECUTIVE LOUNGE 9th Floor: 3 points, MRS. KRASIMIRA: 5...

The hotel features relatively large and spacious rooms. We booked the “King Executive Sea View” rooms, which seemed fairly spacious and had a nice view over the Ocean.

However, there’s a catch! Not all “King Executive Sea View” rooms give you a real “Sea View” as advertised on the Hilton website (see pictures on their website). We were rather shocked after we checked in and got into our room as what we received was a partial sea view at best. We were basically looking at a side-wing of the hotel (see first picture). Only after we walked onto the balcony, we could sea some of the sea - but again, it looked nothing like the picture on the website. Now I do understand that hotels only show the best rooms and vies on their website, but it’s not like we’re inexperienced travellers. In other hotels that treat their customers fairly, such a room would have been advertised as a “partial sea view” room to set the right expectations.

Being very disappointed and rather baffled, I went back to the reception to ask if we actually got room category that we booked. Apparently that was the case, and unfortunately for us, the hotel was booked out - so no chance to switch rooms. We had no choice but keep the room for the first night but I went back the next morning to find myself in another bizarre conversation. The front desk staff first tried to just discard my concerns completely, repeating that this was the right room category. Because I would’t give in, they changed their strategy and tried to sell me an upgrade to a suite which had the “same view as on the website”. So now I have to pay extra to get what I booked in the first place? Eventually they gave in and we were able to switch rooms many hours later to a room that had the same view as on the website. And it was gorgeous (see second picture).

In general when it comes to the staff and their friendliness, we have to differentiate between two areas: the Executive Lounge and the rest of the hotel.

The staff in the Executive Lounge was just absolutely lovely! Nice, caring, polite, attentive - they really made up for some of the other experiences that we made. We enjoyed every single one of our trips to the lounge because of how nice the staff were there.

The rest of the hotel, however, is another story. I have rarely experienced such arrogant staff, especially at the front desk. It was just such a disappointment. The front desk trying to sell me an upgrade to a room/view that I booked in the first place was just one example. During checkout, after being asked if our stay was okay, I shared my criticism about the room situation. And guess how the front desk responded? With silence. It was very awkward - and it was actually this very check-out experience that led me to writing this review.

Now to those who like to travel with their four-legged friends. In general, the hotel is pet friendly and allows dogs for an additional single surcharge, which is fair compared to some other hotels. Be aware though that this hotel has some very strange policies, that go beyond anything I’ve seen in pet-friendly hotels and also are much stricter than any restaurant in Malta. Dogs are not allowed anywhere except for the lobby and the room, which means that you cannot take your pet to the bar or any of the restaurants. Unaware of this rule, we went to the bar with our dog on the last day with the plan to spend a few hours there and have a nice meal while waiting to go to the airport.

Sadly, we had to yet again experience rather rude and arrogant members of staff. Whilst the first waitress happily handed us the menu, I tried to order a cocktail with the second person who came by. After making my order the waiter just looked at me and says “no pets!” and walks off. It was just bizarre.

Would be come back to Malta? Yes, definitely! It’s an amazing island with very nice people, great food and breathtaking scenery. Would we go back to the Hilton?...