Todd Doster

Review of Hilton Malta

Beautiful and well-kept property with nicely appoi...

Beautiful and well-kept property with nicely appointed rooms that pass the white glove test. Property boasts a five-star rating, but falls short, in my opinion for the following reasons:

For this trip, we booked a room to include executive lounge access as we normally do on trips longer than a couple of days. The advantage is having a normally more intimate setting for Happy hour to end the day, in which we were disappointed with this property as you have to arrive very early to get a seat before they open the doors. If you fail to do so, the room may be packed with no place to sit. You are not allowed to take even a soda from the lounge, so taking a cup of coffee or soda back to your room is forbidden, even if you are unable to find seating.

When we arrived at the hotel, we found no bell staff to greet us or assist with luggage. This definitely is a disqualification for 5 star rating. The check-in process was smooth and offered a traditional Malta Mulled Wine at that time, which is quite good.

A few minutes after arriving at our room, we were offered turn-down, which we declined since we had just finished 17 hours of travel. This was not offered at any other point, which would be normal expectation for 5-Star rating along with a simple mint or candy and/or itinerary for the next day.

For Honors Gold Members, the breakfast in the Executive Lounge was very good. Fruit and Melons were perfectly ripe, and the resort-style eggs were not too runny on most mornings. Morning staff in the lounge were excellent. It is worth taking the breakfast over the points as we were not disappointed in the quality and variety of food.

It is worth booking on the higher floors with great views and balconies unless you plan on spending little time in your room. Beds are comfortable and the rooms pass the white glove test. Everything is wiped each day and the floors are mopped with nice touches of towel characters on the bed each day. Expect a typical European climate control where there is no way to set it to a comfortable setting at night. We had to sleep with our sliding door open a couple of evenings to keep the room cool enough to sleep.

There is also not Hotel Staff outside to help with Taxi and the Taxi drivers seem to have their own system. This does tend to distract from the entry as there are normally a number of Taxis directly in front of the property with the drivers mulling about and no organization. Would expect a 5-Star property to have staff and one Taxi at the ready and the rest of the area clear for incoming. This is the first impression of the hotel. The other issue is the doors. They either have a slider or a revolving door and anyone's guess as to which or why they change. We got stuck outside for a couple minutes one evening when the sliding door would not open. It was not until someone attempting to leave had to go to the concierge for assistance in opening the doors.

Service for the most part was excellent and the quality, condition and upkeep of the property is very good. I rate this property as a typical or slightly elevated Hilton branded property that normally boast 4-Stars.

For people who seek out the name brands for the loyalty offerings, the location is better than the Radison and Westin, but probably a bet less than the new Marriott opening soon. It is a nice, but long walk to the Sliema Ferry over to Valletta. Recommend that with a cab ride home at the end of the day.

Can't comment about the Casino, and I was under the impression it was owned by the same company. We attempted to go down once, but there looked to be very few people in there and we waited for a number of minutes for a couple people in front of us to go through an identity process before entering. We choose to leave after waiting for some time without going in. I would recommend to the property to make it easier for hotel guests to register for the Casino as the impression we got when we went down there was a little shady.