Topaz Hotel

15 readers found this review helpful

My first big tip is take some fuses with you, the hotel charges 7 eura a week to turn on your fridge, all they do is put a fuse in the plug, no screwdriver required the fuse goes in the top of the plug. Second tip dont pay 12 euro for the remote to use the telly just follow the arial from the wall to the end and plug it into the TV, change channels from the TV. Dont expect snacks if you are all inclusive, on offer between meals is a ready made sandwiche of rubbery sliced cheese with equally rubbery sliced ham and soggy lettuce tomatoe in a plastic cover. You cant have a bag of crisps you have to pay for these but they will give you a bowl of crisps from a plastic tub that I dont know hom many people have dipped there hand into without rubber gloves or washing there hands first. No cocktails these have to be paid for 4.50. No meals around the pool these also have to be paid for now. If you dont eat inside if your all inclusive then you dont eat at all. We found that in two blocks fire doors had been locked to prevent people going to the pool before 8am. This hotel is under new managment and for some reason they found it fit take in over 1200 students, this happens most weeks. The staff are over worked and complain about being understaffed, the hotel havent got rid of any staff since last year but they have upped the intake of students, 4 maybe 5 to a room at 50 euro a night each child. Imagine if there was a fire where would people run to. The staff are mainly all lovely and work very hard. Our room had a bad smell of damp in fact the day we were leaving we took our hand luggage from the bottom of the wardrobe, which backs onto the bathroom wall and the luggage was covered in green grey fury mould. I have to say that last year we didnt have this problem. We emailed them a week before we went asking for a pool view they asked for three euro a night more for the privalage, I emailed them back stating that we didnt have to pay last year, they gave us one in the end at no extra cost. The food we had was nice the hotel is 18 years old the reception does look ok but after that all changes. There are many Maltese holidaying at the hotel which is fine my partner is Maltese however the maltese also walk in off the street in whole famalies and take brollies and beds that are meant for the paying guests. If you dont have a bed and brolly by 9am you wont get one. Better idea is to hire a car or catch a bus to one of the nearby beaches. Please have a good look around Malta its a beautiful country the countrside is lovely. If you have walking problems then this hotel is not the place for you, everything has shut down around this hotel so you need a 10 minute walk to enjoy the Maltese night life. This hotel is no more than a two star hotel. We will not be giving this hotel a third chance. Been back one week and missing Malta already but not this hotel.

5 readers found this review helpful

We went for 11 days and only booked Topaz for tha last 7 nights-thaank GOD! First 4 nights booked at the other hotel in Bugibba and was so happy when we moved to Topaz...
Reception very nice and staff very helpfull.
And we stay in hated for the most of reviewers studio that you have to take a wee bit of journey in undergroud corridors-my opinion,nothing to complain about because that was a quiet part of the hotel. We are young couple so dont mind a noise but have to admit i would not like to be accomodated in the room with pool room wher every evening intertainment is taking place-not the best one, thankfully finish about 11pm.
Our studio was clean, bathroom and rooms done everyday and whats important everything worked as it should.
Restaurant was lovely. So much choice for everybody.We were booked for half board and that was more that we could manage anyway. Wine, beer, water and other drinks in good , not v expensive prices.
Indoor swimming pool,most the time too busy, small but really lovely, outdor pool- small for the size of the hotel i believe but had bar and tv(world cup at the time)
There is indoor pub and pizzeria-if you read hotel info you can order pizza one day ahead instead of your buffet dinner.Last thing. Staff really helpfull! I developed bad allergy to sun(last thing you can ask for on sunny holidays)After few visits at the pharmacy shop and not very experienced pharmacists i was needing a doctor, went to reception and after 30 min doctor was in our room. 65 euro for a visit-just to let you know.
That was our second visit to lovely malta. What a difference (bad unfurtunately) after 2 years of malta joinining EURO zone everything seem to be worse...shops dissapeared, closed hotels and everything much more expensive... Shame, Malta such a lovely country, lovely people and so much history... Malta not for everybody but i be going 3rd time for sure.....

7 readers found this review helpful

We stayed at the Topaz Hotel at the end of June 2010 and although this was not our first holiday in Malta it was our first half board accommodation. We found the hotel to be spotless, staff very helpful and the meals catered for everyones needs - definately a 4*. The hotel is situated about a 10 minute walk from Bugibba Square. Buses run to all parts of Malta about 5 minutes walk from Topaz. Would definately go back and would definately recommend this hotel to all ages. No noises at night.

3 readers found this review helpful

Booked a cheap break away but even if cheap you expect the place to be clean, the apartment was filthy full of dust, stains round the toilet basin, the cleaner was light fingered, will definately go back to Malta but will not stay at the Topax certainly not self catering anyway believe the hotel rooms where a little cleaner

15 readers found this review helpful

my family and i just came back from malta about 2 weeks ago.we went just afew days after christmas.we stayed at the topaz hotel.we had booked half board basis and had 2 rooms,on arival the hotel lobby was clean,spaceouse and seemed like a good choice.we arrived very late at night and were really looking foward to a good night sleep.our rooms were on the 2nd floor.as we went up it had a hostel or hospital feel and look to it,the doors were old and had old fashioned keys that took ages to get into the rooms.the rooms were frowsey,old and shabby look.the rooms were were very basic and had very old bathrooms with basic cheap showers which u were ment to hold manually while having a shower.everything looked dusty and the linen was poor quality.we trywd to air our rooms and asked rececption if we could get moved.they told us all rooms were occupied and will try in the morning.the food is basic and you dont get much variety.the lifts were old and looked like they were from an council estate.the next day i was bit everywhere and felt so itchy and uncomfortable we asked our tour operaters to help us move to another hotel which 2 was a 4 star but there standards wer great and so was the cleaniness and quality.i would clasify topaz hotel as a 2 star and couldnt wait to get out of there.

8 readers found this review helpful

I say Costa Del Malta as that is what Bugibba is like, more on that later...for now the Topaz "open to anyone" hotel.
This hotel is not exclusive to holiday makers, at the weekends it is swamped with locals who can pay up to 20euros to use the pool and other facilities as well as a buffet meal, for a day. This means the pool gets very very crowded at the weekends. I was not happy about this as my partner and I paid a lot for this holiday only to find out we share the hotel with anyone.
The pool has no lifeguard so be aware there is no one to save you if you get into troubles as one poor fella did. The edges around the pool get very slippery and I saw several people slip and smack their chins or land on their backs.
We went self catering, there is a supermarket less than 5 mins away, had all the pots, pans plates etc you would need. The room also had a lot of english power points so no need for adaptors.
Buggiba is a horrible place, lots os places closed down, lots of englsih brash bars and lots of restaurants serving poor quality food. Do yourself a favour and go to Valetta or St Julians where the food is fresh and plentiful.

9 readers found this review helpful

We were a little anxious on arriving at the Topaz after reading some of these reviews, but were pleasantly surprised.
Our room was on the second floor, there are no amazing views from the hotel but our (small) balcony faced in towards the pool area (rather than the street) so was fine by us. There were 3 lifts that we could use and although there was ofer one out of order, there was always one to use (especially important being 6 months pregnant and with the temperatures creeping over 40 degrees!)
Over our week, the room was cleaned daily with new towels each time. The room was obviously old and not in it's prime, but it was clean and fit for purpose. The kettle, fridge, air con and oven/grill all worked fine and as we don't go away to sit in the room for very long we were more than comfortable.
Some of the sun beds were old and a bit tatty, but we managed to find comfy ones and could always nab an umbrella too. The pool is a good size and nice and refreshing for when you need to cool off - it's big enough to have a bit of a swim if the mood takes you too!
The people on reception were really helpful when we had queries, and the little shop was handy for water and snacks. We ate out rather than using the restaurant facilities so can't comment on the food. We found a number of places to eat out near the sea front - approx 10-15 mins walk away and all served a mixture of dishes and we never had a bad meal.
Plenty of snorkelling and diving is available locally. If you go to the blue lagoon on Comino (which is a lovely spot and nice for a little snorkelling) be prepared that there aren't many facilities here and as it is mostly rocky you will need to pay for deckchairs and brollies if you want to relax out of the water. Malta isn't the place to go if you like long sandy beaches!

7 readers found this review helpful

Arriving at the Hotel Topaz at just after 3am my party was very tired. We were told to get to our room we would need to get a lift down a floor, walk across to the next lift and go back up to the 1st floor. At 3am my brain couldn’t take it all in. We were staying in the apartments. They are actually just across the road from the Topaz but u can’t actually get to them that way. There is a door but it is locked. To get from the hotel to the apartments you have to go in a passage under the ground.
The room was basic but clean. The beds were comfy but the view was awful. The maid we had was amazing. If we ever needed her to come back a bit later as we weren’t ready to go yet she was always happy to do that.
We had breakfast included in our package. The breakfast was always nice and fresh. Bugibba was lovely. It takes about 10 minutes to walk down there. The rep told us the complete wrong was to go and our way was a lot quicker, (from the hotel turn left, then right then left, you will see a cinema, follow along that road until u come to a crossing you need to cross over the road where the road forks off but stay on the left and keep going straight on) The shops there were very good. But make sure to check how much they charge you. I went to buy a photo frame and a candle both priced at 2 euro’s each, the lady behind the counter tried to charge me over 6 euro’s each for them.
The food places in Bugibba are very cheap with good service. I highly recommend the place but I don’t speak that highly of the hotel. It did however have an indoor and outdoor pool. Both clean. Also a little shop and a hairdresser were both on site at the hotel.

4 readers found this review helpful

Loved this holiday which me and my boyfriend took after i finnished college to de-stress (aged 19 and 23 at the time). Warm friendly atmosphere and all the staff where really nice and friendly. Food was your typical buffet which had its good days and bad but overall we never went hungry, the snack bar at the pool was probably best for having a bite to eat and we did this a few days instead of the buffet (burgers and chips etc, we did try the pizza restaurant though which was good but empty which was strange as the pizzas were lovely.When we were going for a walk out during the day we could get a 'packed lunch' a drink and a ham and cheese salad sandwhich (which i thought were really nice!, we even got some for when we were coming home) Drinks were all really good and i can remember having alot of lager/beer which tasted great even though it was all local stuff.
The area itself was great too, quiet with a real family vibe, no beach but that was cool as we had a nice big swimming pool which we never had a problem getting sunbeds around. We hired a little motor boat too around the harbour and had fun going around the sea in it for an hour. The night entertainment was bad but who cares when theres a free bar! We got a bargain with this holiay so we could afford to try the local restaurants, we lovedddddd the Indian one, sorry i dont remember the name but im sure theres only one in the town. A few nice shops too around the front of the harbour and just arond the corner from the hotel is a cinema! We contemplated weather to go in a few times but didnt but it looked just like what we would expect from home with current movies popcorn etc...
Found one small nightclub which was rather questionable haha, i thought ide been thrown into one of the cheesey bars in ibizas west end!
Malta is really cheap too so even if you fancy a change from the usual hotel food and entertainmment then you can afford to. (we got a breakfast one morning which cost just 2 maltese pounds. BARGAIN.
Cant think of any bad things really, had a lovely time just what we needed. :)

5 readers found this review helpful

When we booked this we were slightly nervous after reading reviews on here and were pleased to find the oppsite of negative reviews!
The reception was clean and inviting, staff are friendly and helpful.
We had read comments about maids seeming to be a pain and things going missing - we had a different maid every day! but they were always polite and friendly. And if your worried about things going missing just use the saftety diposit box!
We were SC basis, the room was big light and airy, comfy bed, the bathroom usual hotel basic but fresh towels and bed linnen daily.
The kitchen was again basic - Fridge,kettle, oven/grill with 2 hobs(microwave style type thing) Has what you need unless you intend cooking a roast!!
We did get talking to another couple who were half board who were not happy as food was not that great apparently (we never ate there to comment on this) but may be usefull info to you.
Indoor pool and sauna were clean, as was the outdoor pool and pool area.
Im 25 and my partner 27, we were pleased with out stay at the Topaz, its relaxed and friendly. If you are going on SC basis we see no reason to be dissapointed if your not expecting the red carpet treatment! Its has all you need for a relaxing holiday :o)
P.S If you looking for food try the Steak House next to the cimema - you wont be dissapointed! :o)