Topaz Hotel

Just came back from a weeks stay at the Topaz Hotel on an all inclusive package.
Had read the bad reviews about the hotel before I left and was dreading what I would find. To my surprize I found the hotel to be very nice. If your friendly to the staff they are friendly back, if all you want to do is moan then as you can understand they get fed up with it (The English do tend to like to moan) My room was clean and tidy and the bed was made every day. The reviews said the beds were hard mine was extra soft, no problem but it did give me a back ache towards the end of my stay. The bathroom was also cleaned every day and fresh towels put in there, the shower was superb and nice and hot.
I had a balcony with not much of a view but then I did not go on holiday to sit in my room, but in the late afternoon the sun was on the balcony until quite late so was nice to sit out there have a coffee and relax before getting ready to go out. The food in the restaurant was fantastic, the choice is endless and every day there is something different. I would never go on holiday at the height of the season and going when I did was just right. There was a lack of sunbeds by the pool but I made do with a sunbed mat of which there were plenty. The indoor pool was very pleasant and always empty. My only gripe was the having to que up to get a ticket for one drink, sign it and then que again at the bar for the drink. It was not so bad at this time of year but I imagine it's a bit of a pain in the high season. I went with my dad who is in his seventies and he really enjoyed it too. It was a shame that I could not get him a drink when I went up to get mine.
The hotel evening entertainment is not up to much but then you should be making your own entertainment and just a five minute walk away there is a bar that is called the Grapevine and it has live music Thusday, Friday,Saturday and Sunday. Went there three nights and it was really good and they come round with bar snacks all through the evening and it is very friendly.
There is a cinema but a five minute walk away as well showing all the latest films.
I would say the Hotel doesn't really cater for kids, there is no kids club...well I never saw one and the games room is now closed down due to holiday makers recking it!!
I have been on an all inclusive holiday before and there were poolside bars and food like pizza, burgers being served all day and ice cream and ice lolleys for kids. There is nothing like that at the Topaz, the kids can get scoops of ice cream in a plastic cup and a bowl of crisps and that's it.
If you go all inclusive I would advise that you have your breakfast, then your lunch and evening meal all served in the one restaurant and then you will not need anything else all day, but a different matter if you have kids I feel.
There were some children at the hotel and they were perfectly happy playing in the pool all day and were happy to go in for lunch and then have some ice cream later by the pool.
I would say the hotel would appeal to the older generation and the younger folk may find it a tad boring.
I really enjoyed my time at the Topaz and I would definately go back again.
I never saw one cockroach or nasty bug that the reviews talked about, but then you do get these kind of things in foreign parts. But not when I was there.
The main thing we go on holiday for is the sun and good food and there was plenty of sunshine and the food at the Topaz was just perfect. A really great holiday.

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from this hotel and found it very basic.the room we had smelt damp and musty,the bathroom smelt of drains.3 bars advertised but only one open.queued to pay cashier for drinks then queued again to get them.the food was acceptable but if you wanted a fried egg for breakfast you had to order it from the waiter and wait until it was brought to your table.the hotel was a ten minute walk from the main centre of bugibba which had plenty of bars and restaurants.since the old buses have been replaced by arriva buses it is quite common to wait for over an hour before you can get on one.the local people in bugibba are very friendly and helpful.
the hotel is advertised as four star but i find it hard to give it more than two.hotel described by other guests as fawlty topaz towers!!

3 readers found this review helpful

if you are going to malta do not stay at the topaz my wife and i and two friends have just returned from a two week stay there, the rooms are dated and smell of damp the bathroom was even worse you banged your knee on the sink when using the toilet and the shower curtain was old and dirty,our friends room was even worse but they did get moved eventurly,do not beleive what they say online the royal oak bar was never open the cocktail bar was never open the forum room was only open to the hundreds of students(running and screaming and banging on doors in middle of night ie 2-3 oclock)games room never saw one,pool area not enough sunbeds and nearly all broken and dirty,the poolbar was not big enough for the amount of people, the nights we were there it was 4to5 deep at the bar and only 3 bar staff on, you were made to feel like second class if on allinclusive with plastic glasses while paying guests were given proper glasses and served a lot quicker.the entertainment was for over 65s nothing for children at all,the lifts were always braking down we had to carry our luggage down 4 flights of stairs not good in that heat. the hotel is in a very run down area with at least 4-5 hotels closed and as many bars, streets are flifthy rubbish every where,the staff were very friendly and rooms were cleaned and sheets changed twice a week but thats the only good thing about the hotel,got to say that malta is a great place to visit so i won,t let the topaz put me off next time i will stay in a proper 4 star hotel and i hope you do as well

3 readers found this review helpful

Awfull hotel with bad food in the restaurants and very, very bad service from employees! Would never stay there again!
Laud music from the pool every night - and we even paid extra for the pool view!
The same 4 songs played every day by the pool side. All day!

5 readers found this review helpful

We had to cut short our holiday of 14 nights and left after 5 nights it was so bad. My 12 year old asked every day if we could go home. Bad points : Reception staff unhelpful and unfriendly, left luggage room always unlocked, everthing old and musty, photos and information regarding this hotel were inaccurate and must have been taken many years ago, sauna is shut, we never saw the games room if it even existed, pool has only one entrance and exit, the sun beds and sun shades were very old and dirty with many broken, no inflatables allowed in pool, bettys pool bar food horrible, evening entertainment ok if you are 70+, no entertainment for children, our room was dirty, fridge had a hair inside it, exposed electrical wires behind it, bed and pillows very poor standard, slats in bathroom open onto next doors bathroom so you cant open them, shower curtain filthy and had been ripped then sewn back together!, there was a cockroach and a spider in our bathroom, we had half a caterpillar in our cooked meal and lipstick on our breakfast cup, kids club not running due to lack of children, when i saw the kids room I personally would not of put my child into it. It was as miserable as the rest of the hotel, there are also hundreds of forgein students with little supervision staying at the hotel,this hotel is rated 4 star it should be rated 1 star. The worst hotel we have ever been to. Good points: leaving!

4 readers found this review helpful

Access to room via tunnel under the road, meals were taken by going down in a lift walking through tunnel then climbing stairs. Room stank of cigarettes (even though no smoking policy)and damp, cistern in toilet leaking constantly floor alway wet. no privacy as only curtains were thick heavy ones that needed cleaned. Meals repetative and not very good, only one worth eating was breakfast. All inclusive but had to pay for towel hire at pool and anything else you may want to use i.e kettle, iron etc. Staff overworked were glad when told didn't want bed made up, sheets didn't fit anyhow like sleeping in a nest. Chairs all stained and bases of beds marked. Cheap local beer cisk (anagram sick)and cheap watery spirits.

4 readers found this review helpful

My room
Dingy, shabby furniture, and badly lit with no terrace or balcony. The bathroom had only one light above the sink (which was cracked) making the rest of the room very dark – perhaps just as well! The toilet seat was broken and the only air vent led to a vertical passage and all the smells from other rooms came through, most of them not pleasant! I would have asked to move rooms but having heard everyone else demanding room changes for various reasons decided I might end up in a worse situation than I was, as at least the room was in a relatively quiet location. There was no guest information in the rooms – I only discovered the day before I left that there was a shop in the hotel.
Communal areas
Again tired and shabby – the net curtains in reception were filthy and the upholstery was tatty to say the least; the reception staff were miserable and unhelpful; probably not surprising given the number of complaints they were getting. The food was mediocre and not as advertised on the menu. The pool side sun loungers were dirty and many of them broken with few umbrellas. The stairways up and down from the accommodation to the reception area were so narrow (one person at a time) that if a fire had occurred on the first floor I pity any one higher up they would not have got out.
People were cutting their holidays short it was so bad.

5 readers found this review helpful

having stayed at the Topaz for two weeks all inclusive i have very mixed feelings about the place. The staff were helpful and very friendly. The cleaners are extremely efficient, also helpful and again friendly. The place is kept very clean. However the food is a bit strange, breakfast is ok, lunch is a concoction of the previous nights left overs and it became obvious what was going to be presented.
The two weeks we were there the hotel was host to several hundred of school/college students. whilst in the main they were well behaved there were several occasions when the noise levels were unacceptable and meals almost became a bun fight. Many kept residents awake for best part of the night and this went on for many days, the staff seemed unable to manage this despite having security on hand, assistence from the local police needed to be sought. This is a place i will not choose to visit again.

7 readers found this review helpful

This is def. not a 4 star hotel. Is in need of a makeover. furniture very shabby. breakfast is OK but evening meal is the same thing every night, gets to be very boring and tasteless. The hotel's position is a long way from the bay. The sound of dogs barking left unattended by their owners on the balconies of the surrounding flats for most of the day is maddening. Malta on the whole is not a place for young children or Teenagers, their simply isn't anything for them to do. If you like shopping forget it, apart from the fact there are few big shops anywhere on the island, what there is are too expensive. I certainly wont be going back. Also watch out for the bus drivers they all try to rob you

5 readers found this review helpful

We went to the Topaz in November 2010 for 1 week.The hotel was very good,staff very pleasent & helpfull,rooms very clean,sheets & towels changed daily.
The food was excellent with plenty to choose from.
All main bars & restaurants were only a 10 minute walk which my elderly parents managed quite easily.
I have just booked to go back in March with 1 of my parents as we found this to be the best holiday we had been on for years