1926 Le Soleil Hotel & Spa, Sliema Malta — Hotel in Sliema

We stayed here for a short break, just 2 adults. Prior to our arrival, the hotel messaged via WhatsApp asking for pre registration and access to their website app where you can book a taxi from the airport to the hotel (it’s €23 through the hotel. Or you can go to the taxi stand in the airport and it is €20). We tried to get an Uber which would have been cheaper but the payment wouldn’t authorise through PayPal, as it was coming up as €13. Maybe Malta doesn’t use PayPal? ||The hotel entrance is very modern with nice decor and a calming environment. We were greeted by staff, who, throughout the stay, were nothing but friendly and helpful. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived. Check in is at 3pm and we arrived at about 11:30. We had requested an earlier check in which was approved, subject to availability. We requested this, along with a high floor and sea view, when we made the booking through Booking.com (other booking sites available…). Even though the room wasn’t available, the staff explained that we could still make use of the beach club which is about 100 metres from the hotel whilst we wait for the room. ||The beach club has its own restaurant and bar area. There are a lot of sun beds available. Parasols also, which you have to ask the staff to put up, down, move around. We were told that you aren’t allowed to take any other food or drinks in from outside and they need to be purchased from their bar. Large water is €4. Cocktails are €11. They have happy hour everyday 4pm-6pm which is a set choice cocktail menu, 2-4-1 on the same cocktail. The food is slightly pricey in the restaurant (brioche ham and cheese toastie with crisps - €14) but tastes nice. ||The pool area of the beach club is nice. Some maintenance is required on the pool as tiles are missing and the pool floor in places had bits on it, almost like it hadn’t been vacuumed. However, it looks out at the sea and there is access via some steps to the sea if you want to go in. There is no sandy beach in Sliema. It’s all rocks. Beach club opens at 9:30. Closes around 6pm. ||Once the room was available, you get the access code via the website app. This must be a new system as the doors to the rooms still have locking barrels in them. ||The doors don’t feel or sound very secure. Each time our neighbour went in and out of their door, it was like they were coming in through our door! The hotel have put a new coded system in but not upgraded the doors. Due to this, the rooms aren’t very sound proof and quite a bit of noise can be heard from outside the room. ||We booked the superior room which had breakfast included. Quite a bit of space available for us two. Enough hanging and folding space for clothes. Areas to store suitcases. Tea and coffee available in the room and bottle of water, for which, the first one is free but there after you need to pay for another. ||The shower was small and the water didn’t appear to get that warm. The plastic around the shower door was also damaged so water leaked out into the bathroom quite a lot. The shower also didn’t feel very secure. The sliding doors were wobbling. They came out of their guiders occasionally. The whole unit just needs replacing really. ||The hotel has Molton Brown shower gel and shampoo on the wall. We ran out of shower gel after the first shower so had to call reception to refill it, someone came straight away to do this.||The air con system in the room is good in the sense that it does make the room cool but the conservation/eco system they have in place is ridiculous. The air con only works if all the doors are closed and you are in the room as it is motion activated. So when you want it on through the night, the air con turns off and the switch is too far away from the bed to just reach up and turn it back on. So you have to get up out of bed, in the middle of the night to turn the air con on again. And it appears to only be on for an hour. During our stay, the room was too stuffy and hot to not have the air con on through the night. The air con also doesn’t automatically come back on once you close the balcony doors. So you open the doors and the air con goes off but once you close the doors, you would think it would come back on but it doesn’t. ||On the topic of balcony doors, one of ours didn’t lock. Luckily we were on the 6th floor so possibly not going to get someone breaking in. However, not really the point. We had to chase maintenance twice to come and have a look at balcony door which resulted in not being able to open the balcony door as we couldn’t lock it again once it had been opened. It just needs replacing. ||The bed was large and comfy. The hotel have put a mattress topper on it although it was too small for the bed so felt strange having the pillows on the actual mattress and then the rest of your body higher up than your head. Either get a mattress topper that fits or get rid of it. ||One of the light switches was cracked and broken. The plug socket made my plug extremely hot. The USB charging socket next to the bed didn’t let me use my phone whilst it was charging. I didn’t really trust the electrics in that room in all honestly. ||I just think for a 4* hotel, it’s not great the amount of things that were broken, not working, not quite up to 4* hotel standard that were in our room. ||You have access to the gym, which is across the road. We didn’t use it but seemed very modern. One of the staff stated it had only been open 2 months.||The website app is quite good. On here, you can make reservation for the rooftop pool, book taxis and get general information. ||We had to join a waiting list for the rooftop pool area as it only allows a certain amount of guests up there at any one time. There are gazebos available and sun beds with a parasol but you need to reserve your spot well in advance otherwise you are unlikely going to be able to get up there. That being said, we were luckily and just went up one afternoon and asked the staff if any were available (this was about 3:30pm) and a gazebo was available so we were able to have that for the afternoon. Bookings are 9am-1pm and then 2pm-6pm. So if you want to book all day up there, you need to make sure both times on your preferred date is available. Otherwise, you might get asked to move…||Breakfast was a choice of pastries, cold meats, salad, fresh fruit, cereal, yoghurt, “full English” type food, toast, tea, coffee and juice. It’s open 7-10:30 weekday and 7-11 weekend. Sometimes the hot food was a bit cold if it had been out for a while. ||We used the app to book a couple of taxis during our stay. One to the airport from the hotel which was €23. Reception stated that it is room charge but it turns out that it defaults to pay the driver, who does have a card machine within their car. So once we arrived at the airport, we just paid by card in the car. ||We also booked a taxi to St Julien’s which is €12. However, there doesn’t appear to be a way of booking a taxi for the return journey so we were advised by reception to get a card from the taxi driver and contact them when we want picking up. We just called the hotel again and asked them to contact the taxi company for us instead, thinking it would be easier for payment as it would just go on the room. ||The taxi booking system seems like it could be easier. ||Upon our arrival at St Julien’s, the driver expected payment for the journey. We advised them that we would be paying the hotel as we were told by reception staff it is room charge. The driver had to double check with their boss which was fine and all okay. Upon arrival back at the hotel, we made the payment of €12 for the journey and thought nothing more of it. The next day, whilst en-route to the airport to go home, the taxi driver stated they have been informed by the hotel staff that we hadn’t paid for the St Julien’s taxi journey. Yet, when we checked out, we were told everything had been finalised, nothing to pay. If you are going to have a taxi booking service via a hotel website app, just have it that guests pay the hotel and the taxi service invoices the hotel rather than having multiple options to pay. Clearly just gets confusing. ||All in all, it is a nice hotel with helpful and friendly staff. Nothing seems too much of a problem for them - supplying us with additional beach towels for a boat trip. Lots of facilities available for use. Exclusive use of the beach club, rooftop pool area, wellness options. It’s in a good location with lots of restaurant, bars and shops a 5-10 minute walk down a hill to the harbour front away. However, with the problems and issues stated above, would give this...

We booked a Junior Suite. Our arrival was all very courteous and pleased to find we had a 10th floor room which gave us panoramic and sea views which we had not completely expected. We had a balcony, plenty long enough, but only around 2ft wide, and no room to walk past one of the small chairs. There is so much building work going on in the vicinity, I counted 40 tower cranes from our balcony, but work does not start until after 8am and finishes no later than 6pm, so no unwelcome disturbance. |We used the roof top pool, although the booking system was not very efficient for this, and everything in the hotel is booked on their app, which they help you set up on your phone when you check in. The roof top pool is quiet, only around a dozen sunbeds, but they are fabulous and comfy and plenty of parasols which staff are happy to put up and adjust for you. Despite the booking system making it appear fully booked, when we were there on 3 occasions , there were no more than 4 other guests. The downside - the pool was too shallow to swim in, and if you want to cool down after roasting in the sun, use the shower, the pool is far too hot, like bath water.|We also used the hotel's private water front pool, bar and sunbed area. The pool was great, able to manage a little swim, and perfect temperature. Sunbeds were good, and parasols again put up by staff. It was much more congested down here , no need to book, just turn up and towels provided. Drinks available any time, just catch the waiter's eyes. Disappointed not to be able to bring own water, it had to be bought from the bar, no outside food or drink could be brought in. My big gripe was loud club disco music - it is not a club 18-30s hotel so why play loud thumping bass rubbish. Fortunately a couple of visits to Le Plage area they had someone playing the music quieter, and although not an Abba aficionado, hearing 4 of their songs in an hour was a distinct improvement.|Breakfast was a good spread, with English cooked breakfast, continental meats and cheeses, fruit yoghurts, a choice of pastries and various teas and coffees from a machine. We only had one lunch, taken down at Le Plage, a decent enough burger and chips.|Room was spacious, bed and pillows comfortable, a good size wardrobe, with iron and board, we had to ask for more hangers, but ended not unpacking our bags because there was not a single drawer - very disappointing. There was a room safe, and the room was cleaned daily, and also an early evening visit to top up on the complimentary tea and nespresso machine. One complimentary daily bottle of water as tap water not considered good for English palate. air conditioning worked well and not too noisy. Nice big shower, but I dont think the guys that installed it, put on a big enough slope, as I ended having to squeegee the water into the drain with my feet after the shower.|We had a great complimentary bus tour visiting 3 locations on the island on a 1960's vintage bus, I was a little disappointed it was not the older vintage bus shown on their promotional pics, but you cant complain about free. I was disappointed that the night after was arrived there was also a free sunset cruise round Valletta harbour, which we were not made aware of, and the reception staff indicated it runs on a Wednesday - however after looking for it on their app it did not appear, and it was only the day before the reception staff told us it was not running that week. So we ended up booking one of the trips through VisitMalta.com.|We booked a taxi through the hotel back to the airport, very clean, on time and cost Eur23 for the two of us.|At round £200 per night with breakfast it was pricey, and I guess we got what we paid for. I have to admit that paying that much, I was expecting a more usable balcony, drawers in the room, a less rowdy pool by the sea, and to be able to use water from the room or elsewhere by the pool, and not to have to pay Eur3 for a small bottle. I thought also to qualify as a suite it would be more than an ensuite room with a skinny balcony. On the plus side, there was the complimentary tour, and a panoramic view. Decent location near bus stops and Sliema Ferries with plenty of local restaurants and close to 2...

We booked a Junior Suite Room 901, as it is slightly larger than the standard rooms. The hotel’s presentation on the booking platform gives the impression of a modern and high-quality establishment. Unfortunately, reality did not match the pictures, especially in terms of furnishings as well as the pool and fitness areas.

Booking Process & Communication One day after receiving the booking confirmation, I received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number asking for my credit card details, stating that my booking would otherwise be canceled. This was concerning. After contacting the hotel directly, I was assured that this was an attempted fraud.

Room & Cleanliness The room’s furnishings seem carelessly put together, with little attention to detail. The wall behind the TV has visible drill holes from an initial incorrect placement. The walls appear to have been repainted at some point, but the job was done poorly.

The bathroom had significant issues: • Barely any water pressure in the rain shower, forcing us to use the handheld showerhead. • The bathroom door handle was loose and held in place with visible screws. • Mold in several corners, which caused an unpleasant odor. • The lack of windows in the bathroom made ventilation impossible.

Room Atmosphere & Safety Issues A large bottle of scented oil was placed in the room, producing an overwhelmingly strong smell. Combined with the odor from the bathroom, it became unbearable, so we placed it on the balcony. The cleaning staff accidentally knocked it over and replaced it with a smaller bottle but did not clean up the spilled oil. That evening, we unknowingly walked through the oil in the dark, spreading it across the room. The next day, my girlfriend nearly slipped and seriously injured herself. The oil was finally cleaned up the following day.

On the second evening, when opening our room door, the door handle completely detached. At the reception, I requested to speak with the hotel manager, as my patience was wearing thin. The staff member told me he was in a “very important meeting” and would get back to me when he had time. While the handle was quickly reattached, I have yet to receive any follow-up from the manager (as of 21.02.), which must mean it was an exceptionally important meeting.

Check-out Experience The hotel offers an online check-out process, which we used. However, upon leaving the hotel, a staff member—the same one who had taken our broken door handle two days earlier—approached us and simply asked for our room number. There was no inquiry about our stay or whether everything was alright. It seemed as though handling broken door handles was such a common occurrence that she no longer remembered us. A simple “Have a nice flight and thank you for staying with us” was apparently too much to expect.

Other Aspects of the Stay • Breakfast: The service at the breakfast buffet was excellent. The staff was friendly and attentive. • Construction Site: There is a construction site directly in front of the hotel, with significant noise from early morning until the afternoon. • Gym & Pool: The gym is well-equipped and has everything needed for a short workout. The pool, however, was cloudy, and the sun loungers and cushions were dirty and worn out.

Conclusion Had the hotel manager taken the time to reach out to us, this review might have been less harsh. Ultimately, we had a fantastic time in Malta, but we expect a basic level of safety and hygiene in our well-earned vacation. This hotel presents itself as a stylish, high-end establishment, but upon closer inspection, it proves to be...