Bayview Hotel

This is not a 3 star hotel. The room we were given was extremely small and had an almost non-existant balcony with only one chair! The blankets were covered with cigarette burns and huge stains. Plus, the bed wasn't even a real bed, it was a metal collapsable bed, the kind you use when camping! It was unbelieveable. We moved out the same night we arrived, we couldn't even stand to stay there one night. The staff were obstructive and rude. When we drove back there the next day to talk to Med Hotels on the phone about our refund (we pre-booked via Lastminute.com) we found an holiday rep in reception furious about the standard of accommodation on offer, with 5 sets of people who wanted to move hotels. At least it proved it wasn't just us being fussy! We ARE STILL waiting for our refund - even though Med Hotels promised us they would refund us without any penalty charge nothing ever materialised on the credit card statement... Don't bother staying here. Stay in St Julians and book a 4 or 5 star hotel. The Vivaldi was great!

We booked to this hotel through Intranet. We read all reviews, but we were not expecting that what we read will happened to us. It seems to be run for the benefit of the management and staff, not the guests. rooms: - heating: during winter time you would expect that the heating system is working. Well, it can be, but you need to ask for maintanance support. I would expect especially during Christmas/New Year time when the hotel is busy that the rooms conditions are checked before you get in. In addition when the heating is working you will have a lot of noise due to automatic switch on/off... - remote control. Be aware you have to pay a quarantee fee of 10 Euro if you need one for your romm. This if you are lucky enough and you do not arrive to late in the evening, when they have no more remote... we were too late ~ 9 pm, no more remote for our TV... - bathroom - if you are over 100kg or too tall, you will not be able to take your shower as there is no way to enter though 30 cm maximum space to open the door! - pipes: we had to ask again for maintanace as they also need to be repaired in our first day... - we pay for a see view, beeing scared about the view/ no view light in the oher area of the hotel. The view was OK, but the road outside was busy from early - around 5am - to late - 2am. We did not have one undisturbed night’s sleep. - the bed is also awfull - not comfortable at all and the blaket 10 years old...) canteen - breakfast and dinner were served in a cheep canteen, you can not call it restaurant, but you pay each evening 3.5 Euro for a bootle of water (1l), if you want of course water... For Malta a bit to much! I do not speak about wine which has been served for New Year (expensive as well and very bad quality! - never again after New Year) reception: - not usefull at all, none of our questions/request were fullfill. Customer service is zero in this hotel. We asked for weather forecast, - simple question - but we got as an answer: "look on Intranet", were by the way you have to pay. At the reception there was a print out from one week forecast, but you had 2 times the same day - Monday - and instead of 2008 was 2007 (we were there for New Year). We made a small remark, thinking that thy may change it, but nothing happened for next days....enough to notice how much they care about it. - needs additional training. When we wanted to pay at the end the bill for additional drinks during dinner they were even not able to deduct the guarantee which we have paid already, therefore you need to steps if you want to check out: first giving back the remote control and get the fee back and then you pay for the bill, in case you have one... other facilities: you may find an indoor pool, but the water was at the same temperature as for the outdoor pool. Well, for winter is a bit extreme, and we do not like extreme sports... For all these troubles we asked to speak with the hotel management and we have asked for a discount. Answer was: "you have to speak with your travel agency". We will do so. Don't be attracted by the accomodation price! Better to enjoy Malta waking up in a good hotel (Waterfront is 10 times better - we have been there also 2 years ago). Very disappointed with the whole experience in the hotel and we would not recommend this hotel to anybody - especially those under the age of 70.

Having looked at the reviews prior to travelling we were rather concerned about the comments that had been posted. The receptionist when we arrived was friendly and efficient and we checked in more quickly than in some more expensive hotels that we have stayed in (particularly in the UK). Our room was on the top floor and we had booked a side view. This is probably the better option as other people who had a front view and were lower down were affected by the road noise. We were able to leave our balcony door open at night without being affected too much by noise. There are only 2 rooms on the top floor so it was quiet even though the swimming pools and sun roof were located there. The rooms were clean with plenty of storage space - huge wardrobe and 6 drawers. The beds were comfortable and the room was serviced, the only exception being the one day that was clearly stated on the notices in the room. The room could have been better laid out which would have created more space when entering the room, however that is my only "gripe" about the room itself. The bathroom was also clean and the shower was hot and powerful. The overall decor of the hotel was also good. We were only there on a B&B basis so we can't comment on the evening meal. The breakfast choice was a cold meat, cheese and cucumber. There were only 2 choices of cereal and there was a choice of 3 dishes from the hot buffet. We didn't try the hot buffet as neither of us are keen on buffet breakfast either abroad or in the UK but there didn't seem to be any complaints from the many people who were eating it and I saw little waste. The bread was fresh every day and was very good and there were generous quantities of food. Tables were cleared quickly and there were lots of staff in the restaurant. All the front of house staff were extremely friendly and helpful with tips about the best bus to catch and where to go. The public transport system is very good and the bus stop to Valetta or up the coast to St Julien's is literally outside/opposite the hotel. Overall I have on occasions stayed in much worse hotels (particularly in the UK) and paid far more for them!

I booked this hotel a few weeks before we travelled, and the reviews were OK at that time. I was horrified to see two terrible reviews posted just before we set off on our week's holiday. However, our experience was nothing like theirs. We found the reception staff to be efficient and helpful (OK, they are not terribly out-going and friendly), our rooms were spotlessly clean and more than adequate, the beds were comfortable and the hotel was quiet and peaceful at night - no sign of the students others had complained of. Our air conditioning worked perfectly - in fact it was the easiest to control I have ever come across (one hotel we stayed in we had a remote control for the air con, and in two weeks I could only ever get it to be either on or off!) The hotel itself is well situated for bars, cafes, shops etc in Sliema and just a five minute walk from the ferry service to Valletta, which runs every 30 minutes during the day. We didn't pay extra for a sea view, but for those who do, the view is fantastic. You can take some wonderful photos from the pool area on the roof too. I would recommend this hotel, and think it is a shame it received such terrible reviews because of the behaviour of some of its guests, something which is to an extent beyond its control.

We stayed at the Bayview for 1 week in september, On arrival the reception staff were quite abrupt and we had to wait for awhile before a member of staff came along to show us to our appartment which was about a 5 minute walk from the main hotel. On arriving in our room the air conditioning was not working, we mentioned this to the reception staff who told us that the air conditioning was on a timer, however this still did not work but was soon fixed the next day. The appartments are a good size and very clean in recently refurbished building with well equiped with cooking facilities. However the Balcony (which is not big enough to sit out on) is over looking a small court yard, but this was not a problem for us as the apartment block had a rooftop that we could use.Would stay in this hotel again due to its location, and great views!

If you are a 15 year old English language student, fancy staying up all night making as much noise as possible, and then expect the management to be unable and unwilling to help you with even the most basic of problems then the Bayview is for you. If, like me you booked a double room with a seaview for your parents, and a one bedroom suite for the wife and baby just 300 yards away in the mistaken belief this was a nice family friendly hotel, then the Bayview isn't for you. We've never had a worse holiday experience. Don't book, I can't begin to tell you how terrible it is. If you can get past the hoards of noisy rude kids who seem to have taken over the hotel as they attend English lanuage school in the day and drink themselves silly all night then you are likely to find possibly the rudest reception staff anywhere. No wonder they ask for your money in advance! When I managed to get in the lift (with about 20 students!) and get back to reception to complain that me, the missus and the baby were in a tiny twin bedded room I hadn't booked, and without a cot, I was told "It's not my fault, reservations booked your room, it's their fault, they are not here until Monday." Could you move us to the suite we booked? "No, that's up to reservations." Could I see the manager? "No, he's at home and won't be back until tomorrow." Could you call him? "No." Get the picture etc etc etc So, next morning, after a night in hell, I have it out with the manager who doesn't give a stuff. No sorry, no first night refund, no sense of urgency. 5 hours later we are moved not 300 meters to "The comfortable self catering one bedroom apartments (situated in the annex** building 300 meters away from hotel) which are air-conditioned* have a balcony, direct dial telephone, television with satellite channels, safe deposit box (at a charge). The apartments consist of a kitchen and dining room, private bathroom and a double/twin bedded bedroom" but to a flea pit without proper air-con, no TV, no working washing machine, no safety deposit box, no dining room, no cooking utensils, strip lighting, plastic sofas, and a view of someone elses living room, and all this about 1km uphill out of town. Imagine asking my parents - in their 70s - to walk that each morning to see their grandson for breakfast. We had clearly ended up in the overflow accomodation for staff - poor staff!!!! All this for £1800 for two weeks. By Monday the manager promised to move us to a "lovely appartment" on the sea front. He promised we could see it the following day. He never rang, we never moved! At first when I asked for a refund (we returned home a week early - we had to stay 7 days as we had a family wedding to attend) they said no. My Uncle Charlie (who is Maltese) persuaded the manager otherwise!!! One final example that made me laugh - i stood at reception one morning and watched as two Italien boys politely asked if they could move rooms (they had booked something better than they had been given). They told the receptionist this was the 3rd day they'd come to ask to see the manager. She told them the manager was away that day, try tomorrow. I had been sitting with the manager in his office not 5 minutes previously! What a shower! This place is a hole full of rude management and front of house staff. Spend the extra money and stay in a 5 star in St Juliens!

The Bayview Lobby is beautiful. The airconditioning in the lobby was terrific. I think that's were they spent their money in remodeling. Our room was terrible. The shower pan leaked. The comforter had a blood stain on it. The curtains had cigarette burns in them. And the airconditioning was moisture not cool air. On another note, Dragona, up at the pool was excellent. She is was the only pleasant person we came across.

We booked and checked in the Bayview Hotel at the end of August. The hotel is not in a good location (although well connected by bus) , and we found the breakfast very poor. The roof top pool area was very nice, but the pool was small, unclean and too much crowded. Our rooms were in a building far from the hotel and had broken air conditioners (althought fixed promptly). Air conditioners can only be switched on during few hours in the evening (and it was hot). I was requested to pay the rooms in advance, as being the end of the month my credit card did not have enough credit. As I paid cash only the first of three nights (the day after , 1st Sept, my card would have had a new month of credit) I was requested to leave in hostage the passport. This was given back to me when I paid the other two nights in advance the day after, but found the whole thing quite unpleasant. I would certainly not recommend staying at this hotel.

We stayed at Bayview Hotel for 7 nights. The hotel was great - good views, room was a decent size and nice big bathroom (something we were missing since Malta was at the end of our europe travels)! The reception desk wern't very helpful at all times - it depended on who we spoke to. We had a problem with our air con - it wasn't working at all and we were pretty much sleeping in our sweat!! it was disgusting... i mentioned to reception to have this fixed immediately as soon as we arrived and it took them 4 days to fix.. pretty bad when we were there right in the middle of summer and our room was like a sauna!! Breakfast was ok - big range of sausages, toast, bacon etc. The hotel also had easy access to the bus service right out front and a little mini market a couple of streets over - and the famous Pastizzi shop.!!!! absolutely delicious! Overall the hotel was great - i would recommend to stay there due to its location and great views.

I would like to firstly to point out that we did not stay at this hotel, nor would I after the experiance we had. Whilst walking down the street we were asked a few questions, after answering them we had to pick a card. Great, we had won a 7 day return holiday back to Malta! After walking with the bloke to the hotel, we were asked a few questions then someone came to talk to us! What a CON!!!! We were asked a lot of questions about where we holiday and what we looked for in a holiday! After 10 minutes of talking to the guy we worked out that they were trying to get us to purchase a timeshare! Or 'Join their Holiday club' as he put it! After he worked out that we did not have the money to 'join' and after telling them that My parents have just been done by Timeshare, he spoke to his supervisor! (taking little trips out all the time to talk to someone). After he told us not to waste our time or theirs as we were not going to purchase they rather rudely told us to leave! (f*** off was nearer what they said) After asking about the 'Free Holiday' They told us we didn't qualify! Probably becuase we didn't purchase! The hotels it's self looked very nice, not in the best location, but the hotel staff trying to get money out of you is wrong! STAY WELL CLEAR!