db San Antonio Hotel + Spa — Restaurant in Saint Paul's Bay

Arrived at the hotel around 11pm, reception staff very slow, not welcoming or very informative, we actually found them quite rude over the course of our stay. Reception always seemed to be busy. We had 2 rooms booked on the same booking but were given completely different floors at different ends of the hotel. One of our rooms was a family room for 2 adults and a child but the room was only made for 2 people, not what you want with a very tired 4 year old who just wanted to go to sleep. No answer from reception when calling on the phone so had to traipse down to ask them to make the 3rd bed up and get additional towels. Also when the rooms were cleaned they again only left enough towels for 2 people despite having 3 beds to make. Our room was clean and fairly spacious however the AC was blowing out warm air (apparently it’s not AC from what reception told us, slightly confused as it’s listed as having AC). There were 2 ceiling fans which were a little noisy, that was once we’d worked out how to turn them on, there were no instructions on how to work things.||We were disappointed to find out that the kids water area with the pirate ship was closed for maintenance, we specifically booked this hotel for this feature, I had researched and read that all outdoor pools opened for the season mid April hence booking end of April. Had it been clear on the website we would have booked to come in May. ||We used the indoor pool which was sufficient but could have been better, it was blocked off from 12-3 for adults only. Also you have to pay €10 per pool towel (you get given a card per towel) which is then refunded upon checkout but we didn’t find this out until asking at the gym for towels for the pool, this is something reception should have told us at check in or at least had it included in the check in envelope with the keycards.||We were All Inclusive, the buffet selection was ok, albeit after 5 days became repetitive and once certain items had finished they weren’t replenished as they had run out, it was also very salty. The cups for tea/coffee never seemed to be replenished either and we witnessed management staff telling a guest off for using a glass to make a coffee, when the guest said but there are no cups management staff then seemed to scold the restaurant staff asking them very rudely to get cups! ||We booked in at one of the other Restaurants but was infuriated to be told once we were seated, only a set sharing menu was included with All Inclusive, if we wanted to chose from the regular menu it’d be an additional €12 per person for 3 courses, nowhere online mentions this nor were we told prior to booking the restaurant at reception. I only wanted a main course but was told I had to order 3 courses, I queried this as what I was ordering was less than €12, would this not be included with All Inclusive given that the sharing set menu was €32.50 each, I was told no you have to order 3 courses and pay €12. What would have been better is that you’re given a credit to order from the regular menu, anything over that amount would be chargeable. We didn’t book in at the other restaurant but I expect it would have been the same with a set menu and a charge to order from the regular menu.||Part way through our stay the buffet restaurant became extremely chaotic, there was a medical student conference being held at the hotel for several days. The hotel felt like it became student halls, it was loud and extremely busy and some of the students staying we not very considerate, especially when coming back to their rooms late at night, lots of loud conversations in the corridors, banging doors and what sounded like rearrangement of furniture.||We did enjoy the little cafe on site at the front of the hotel but they seemed very understaffed, we had to continually chase up our order or go up and order from the counter which they didn’t seem to like as it was more of a waiter service, 9 times out of 10 when our order came over it was wrong but we put this down to not having enough staff and permanently being busy. Of note the pastries are not included in all inclusive, only the cakes, tarts and ice cream were, there was also no other food offerings like sandwiches/rolls or fruit.||The spa treatments were amazing, kicking myself we left it until the last day to book in.||The Bugibba bus station is only a 5 min walk away from the hotel which we used to visit, Valetta, Sliema and Mdina.||Overall the hotel needs some improvements, I dread to think what it’s like in high season having had a glimpse of how chaotic it got with a student...

My family and I just spent 12 nights all inclusive at the DB San Antonio. 13 of us in total.

Not so positive:

The pools look a lot bigger in the pictures than they actually are. The children's pool is up some steps. The place is so busy (great for them!) that there is barely room to move in the pools in high season. They are also both noisy all day and the only way to get peace and quiet is the infinity pool area. 2 of our girls ended up with ear infections costing €140 for GP and meds! That's what happens when there are too many people in swimming pools. It cannot filter the rubbish and suncream fast enough.

Aircon. It's not full blown aircon and does not make your room cold - especially with the weather they've just had. The manager ended up bringing up 2 extra fans (which did the job strangely) as it was just too warm with aircon and the ceiling fans.

They do room service for breakfast (€4.75 charge) which is hit and miss as to what you get (usually it's a lot) - even if you specifically asked for croissants, we never once received them. Also, the cleaners do not take your dirty plates/food away! (They are removed with the next days room serrvice). They literally sat in our room for 3 days until I asked for them to be removed.

The elevator to get to the pool/Gueliz restaurant was also hit and miss! It could take you 10 minutes just to get to the next floor, so anyone with walking issues (such as myself) could be left in pain. The left elevator stopped working after the first day we were there. The main ones to the Infinity bar were fine. Not sure why people moaned about those.

The food. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty good food but it's samey. Even in the speciality restaurants (bar the Italian) it's the same desserts, some of the same food you find in the main restaurant. It's a damn great business, as locals pay to eat there also. Even the coffee shop had little to nothing different when we went in. The milkshake was small and not great and the free desserts were the same as the main restaurant! We had to pay for croissants! By the end of the 12 night stay, we found ourselves craving sandwiches and crisps.

For anyone who isn't an early riser (like myself), there is a period between breakfast and lunch (2 hours) where you cannot get brunch. Not a big deal for most but I eat brunch rather than lunch.

Now for the good:

The on duty manager was fantastic when we had an issue with the ceiling fans and aircon. And although he couldn't sort the aircon, the extra 2 fans made all the difference circulating the colder air the way the aircon couldn't.

The rooms are lovely and the disabled rooms are really great for those with walking or standing issues. The pools can be a long walk from your room, so requesting one is worthwhile. The rooms are fairly large and are spotlessly clean. The cleaners are great.

Reception is lovely and generally a cool area to sit if you need to cool off!

The drinks - most all inclusive use watered down drinks and are weak. Do not get fooled into thinking the same here. These drinks pack a serious punch and you will need to watch the amount you are drinking!

There are plenty of good quality sunbeds, but you cannot rock up at midday and expect there to be any in high season. People do put towels on, the minute they can. When it's windy, they put the umbrellas down and there is virtually no shade so ensure you bring plenty of high factor suncream! Malta gets extremely hot in high season.

The staff are generally really lovely! They changed room for me as soon as they could when we realised my room was too far for me to comfortably walk.

The location was pretty good for Blue Lagoon tours/boat tours. Plenty of restaurants around if you want to try something different. Sandwich shops across the road, plus a sports bar and supermarkets/gift shops.

The rooms are all very sound proofed by the way. We could not hear any noise from outside from either of the rooms we were in.

All in all, we had a wonderful time at the DB San Antonio and will remember it with fondness! We had a...

This was our 2nd and last time at this hotel! Our first experience had issues but we're quickly resolved. We all really enjoyed it so booked again not long after getting home. We even booked for a third time before we came for this one! This was a mistake. As we had stayed before we knew to do all inclusive plus before arrival so that our mini bar and room could potentially be done on arrival. I emailed the hotel about the AI+ and was told children 6-11 were an option, so we paid for my husband, son and I. We didnt worry about our three year old as herself and my son had used the AI+lounge all last holiday (the only reason we paid for my son is so he could have his gold band to match us) After a few emails and payment confirmation being sent they confirmed it was done. On arrival we were asked if we wanted the AI+ package which we explained we already had paid for. This was the start of a stressful day! The lady, who seemed annoyed of our existence, stated she needed proof of payment, luckily I always keep important emails and sent the exact same confirmation that I had sent back in March! We were also asked for our hotel voucher (jet2) and I stupidly had left it in suitcase so had to email over to reception to prove our booking, I understand some do this but I've never had to show hotel voucher before with jet2 holidays. This wasn't a major issue, more of an annoyance for my own mistake and not needing it before. After the AI+ was confirmed, the gave my son a red band and we quickly pointed it out saying he can't go into AI+ lounge which i then had to show emails to prove otherwise. My son got very upset over this as last year he loved having his own little vip area and was so excited for his gold band. The lady then said she would get the Guest Liason Manager to speak to us. At this point our parents had already checked in and got their room whilst we were still sat waiting and not even checked in yet. 30 minutes later the GLM came to speak to us asking us what was wrong being very polite and when we told him the issue, he said not to worry he'll sort it. He left for another 20 minutes and came back saying that the lady who emailed me was wrong and he would have to see if he could authorise it. We explained that we had already paid for it and that the children had used it all week last year anyway. He said that the policy had changed and to check the website. The policy had never changed as it stated no children under 12 last year however there were children in there not just ours. The rule was children could stay for breakfast etc but couldn't be in there past 6 and this was fine. No children were naughty etc and it was lovely. Back to this year and the Manager kept talking over us and being very rude stating even if he authorised my son he wouldn't let my daughter in and that we should leave our 3 year old outside alone if we all wanted to use the lounge! I asked him repeatedly not to talk over me whilst I explained and he then said I was blaming him for the issue which we wasn't, we was tired annoyed and his behaviour was disgusting. He acted like he was going above and beyond yet all he did was the bare minimum of giving us what we paid for! We immediately wanted to leave and tried to carry on with our holiday that would now be completelydifferentto what we were expecting. The lounge has an area out the front by the pool just for gold band members and guess who were there?.. children! So we took our children down and my son was happy and the new rule was children could be in the decked area but not in the lounge, this was fine. Our son had been given an 'exception' to be in there and we made sure our daughter stayed outside. All was back to nearly normal until our 4th day where someone new came out the bar telling us non of the children were allowed there which we explained and with a grunt he left. The GLM ignored us the whole holiday to the point it was obvious and we still hadn't seen the manager that we asked to see the first day. We loved this hotel but have since changed next holidays...