Fortina Hotel

I have literally ( ie. today!! ) just returned home, having spent a week in the Fortina Hotel 4* complex. I had read some of the reviews of the hotel on this website prior to my holiday and was slightly perturbed by some of them, to say the least! However, I decided to go with an open and positive point-of-view.....after all, what might seem awful to some might be acceptable to others etc. Apart from anything else, it was a holiday ,and a break from the usual routine and stess of everyday life.....and THAT, surely, cannot be a bad thing, eh??!! My Dad had originally booked the holiday for last September as a treat for my Mum and me, after a very difficult year for us as a family. It was to be a "girly week" in a posh ( well, 4* IS quite posh, usually, in my opinion, anyway!! ) hotel, with a bit of sun, lots of food and luxury. Unfortunately, due to ill health, my mum was unable to travel abroad so the holiday had to be cancelled at the last minute. We decided to rebook for September 2006 and my Dad decided he was going to come with us!! This was brilliant, as he needed a good break, too. When we arrived, the room we were given was not acceptable. The reasons will be listed below!! My Dad had originally booked a Superior Family Room with seaview ( this being at an extra cost ) but on arrival, our room overlooked the very shady gardens. When we raised this issue with the Reception Staff, we were told that the Superior Family Room wasn't felt to be appropriate for 3 adults sharing, as one of our party ( ie. ME, aged 38!! ) would need to sleep on a "camp bed"!!!!!!! NOT ACCEPTABLE! So, I ask, what kind of family would pay the fairly hefty costs incurred and be prepared to sleep on a camp bed for a week??!! And this is 4*???? The room we had actually been given ( ie. with the very shady, garden view ) was an UPGRADE to a Deluxe Family Room with garden view and therefore more luxurious, apparently, than what my Dad had paid for!!!!!!!!! The Deluxe Room, with garden view, consisted of 2 queen sized beds, a wee sofa, a very wee balcony and loads of beaten-up furniture, fixtures and fittings. The worst and most notable feature of the room, however, was the overpowering smell of damp which had a "urine-type" smell to it. The source of the smell was glaringly obvious. The shower leaked liberally on every use and flooded the bathroom floor. The bathroom door was warped with water damage and the wall, adjacent to the bathroom wall, in the bedroom area, and scarily close to the electric sockets, was water-damaged, with paint peeling off etc. The carpet at the bathroom door was rotting and bald in many places. The celing tiles in the corresponding upstairs room were soaked with damp, indicating that this was not an isolated problem. The room itself was a good size and would have been just about acceptable had it been clean. However, the bedspreads were dirty ( mine had dried blood and toothpaste on it ) and both bedspreads felt damp and sticky to touch, as did the sofa. Furthermore, there were no mattress or pillow protectors, and the pillows and mattresses were stained. There was also staining on the fabric headboards, presumably from many dirty heads rubbing on them. There were great clods/clumps of hairballs of unknown origin in all corners of the room ( long blonde hair, so NOT OURS, given that we all have dark hair ) and worse, still, SOMEONE ELSE'S TOENAILS ( again, not ours, as we had all done our toenail care prior to leaving home!!!!!!!! ). The room was equipped for 2 people. 2 cups, 2 glasses, 2 sets of towels etc, despite being a room for up to 4. No mini-bar, furthermore, despite being paid for. All these issues were raised on Day 1 and, again, on Day 2, but never fully resolved. We never received enough towels for 3 adults ( just as well my Mum travels well-prepared!! ), had to buy an extra mug ( as the coffee cup for the third person in the room was never provided ) and had to use the given hotel towels to block the flood of water from the shower ( 3 showers, twice a day = 6 !! ). Even so, the hotel cleaners didn't seem to twig that there were 2+ staying in the room and didn't seem to bat an eyelid that half of the VERY limited given towel allowance was used for sopping up the water around the shower. The mini-bar was eventually filled....it consisted, per day, of 2 wee bottles of water, one wee can of beer, one wee bottle of wine and a wee bottle of lemonade each day......for 3 adults. So, what if all 3 of us fancied a beer or wine or soft drink?? Forget it!! Fight over the miniture lemonade/one glass beer/ wine and buy your own water ( although the tap water is fine ) and also buy your own mug/glass/towels if you're a party of 3+. The coffee/tea/creamer/sugar supply was rarely filled. We bought coffee and tea locally from M&S, along with decent-sized bottles of water, and had to "steal" a teaspoon from the dining room! We ate, every day, in La Valette. The choice of restaurants is very limited, even on the "fabulous " all-inclusive package. Yes, you can eat in a variety of places but you must book 2 nights in advance ( so you can't just have a wee fancy for a curry one night! ) and even then, your 4* all-inclusive will only entitle you to the basic menu. You pay for anything extra, WHEN the other restaurants are open. La Valette is fine - nothing more, nothing less. Don't expect too much. Service was good, surroundings were okay ( but avoid the air conditioning above your head! ) and the food was edible. Very "samey", after a couple of days, however, and you will tire quickly. The Lido bar and poolside is fine. The big pool is very deep and there's a small, shallow pool at the other end. The loungers are"blagged" very early, however, so get yourself down at 8 am at the latest, and be prepared to help yourself to cushions, brollies etc. Basic, quite rude bar staff and keep your "meal ticket" with you at all times, as they ask you to present it, out of the blue, even when they've served you several times before, and KNOW you are all-inclusive!! The Island Pool looks lovely but only for 5 * customers so don't be fooled, like we were......we were, after all, only 4 * plebs!! I feel really sad about this holiday. Maybe we expected too much from a 4* hotel? Maybe I am being too critical? But we, at least, expected our room to be spotless and hoovered on a daily basis ( it was "hoovered once", sort of, if you can call it that, during our stay ) with enough cups, towels and basics ( like tea bags and stuff!! ) for us! All I can say is that I will never go back to the Fortina Hotel. I expected 4* standards and received approximately 2/3* max, UK values. I would never recommend this hotel to anyone. I hated it and was, for the first time in my adult life, delighted to be coming home. Even bleak and cold Glasgow is more desirable than the Fortina and that's not good!! This has put me off Malta for life!! I didn't particularly like what I saw of the island and although the antiquities were beautiful, I wasn't impressed. It seemes like a run-down dump of a place, with very poorly treated animals ( notably horses, kept in tiny pens in bright sunshine ) and no decent shops/supermarkets. Hey-ho, back to work with a tan, having dragged my clothes out of my suitcase and just about gagged on the smell of damp. Would rather have spent the time in the UK, personally, and forget the tan. My poor Dad's wallet has been hammered by this and that's a bl**dy shame. Be careful with what you book. The 4* is horrible, despite the cost. Malta again? No way!! The Fortina has sickened me so much that I will never go back to the island!

This hotel has a wonderful website but the hotel does not live up to it's promise. We booked a Jacuzzi Suite and paid £200 extra .. the room had a wonderful sea view overlooking valetta but the room was nothing like the pictures in the brochure or on the web! It was very small and about a quarter of the size of the room in the pictures. The Jacuzzi bath is not a Jacuzzi but a little "Ideal Standard" spa bath which was useless. The housekeeing was not good - example was the tiolet brush needed changing for a new one and there were only half a dozen coathangers in the room and the iron had bare wires exposed on the cord!! The bed was suppoed to be a Queen size and it was - the only thing is the matress was about 10" smaller than the bed and the springs had gone (4* not!) All inclusive said beer, wine and soft drinks in the minibar and there was - one beer and one soft drink nothing else!! It said we could eat in six restaurants and we were only allowed 5 without paying a supplement. The restaurants also closed on several nights therefore restricting choice further. They advertise "imported spirits" included but they only had a couple of these in the 2 bars that would serve us and we were not allowed to use the other 2 bars that did have more spirits. There is no indication of this on the website. The staff and duty manager were unhelpful and the manager even threatened to have me stopped at the airport after I complained about our room. He did eventually give us a refund for the suite after a lot of bother (and upset my wife as a result of the stress). Overall this hotel misrepresents what it offers, which is a pity as expectations are raised higher leading to a disappointing holiday. Never again!!

Just returned from a wonderful holiday at this hotel booked through Mercury Direct. We only booked two and a half days before leaving and got our holiday at a massive discount, so really, would have been prepared to be disappointed; instead we found ourselves in a beautiful 4* De Luxe garden view room which was kept absolutely spotless throughout our stay. It was all inclusive; we could only eat in the buffet restaurant, but couldn't fault that at all. All the staff were so helpful and friendly. I've never stayed anywhere else where we were made more welcome or where the staff went so far to answer queries or deal with our requests. As another reviewer said, the sun doesn't reach many of the 4* garden view rooms, but in high summer we found this an advantage. I followed advice given earlier and waited till the weekend to book spa treatments, many of which are heavily discounted from Friday through to Monday lunchtime. Can't wait to go back

This hotel was sold to me as a family holiday but we found to our cost this was not the case. If you are a couple the hotel is ok but there are areas where children are not allowed and this made our holiday difficult. The hotel has a 4 star and 4 star delux system as well as a 5 star area. The hotel management operates an in-house time share selling option which guests are confronted with after arrival. They are very pushy and allow children to look around with their parents. The reality is the children are not allowed to stay in the 5 star so what are you suppsed to do with them? Lifts frequently broke down and you had to use the stairs. Delux rooms are tired with stains on carpets and you really should consider yourselves lucky if you all get issued a bath towel! Just a few of the joys of this hotel.

A Week at the Fortina Spa in October 2005 was a lovely experience for our group of four friends. We like a drink or two and and the Gin and Tonics flowed to our delight. We did stay 4* and the rooms were basic but they were clean and the views across to Valletta watching the sun go down made for great compensation. Cannot reiterate enough the comments made by other people, the restaurants are fabulous we particularly liked the Healthy eating restaurant, not one of us diets so it was pure good food that attracted us back there several times. Our package included Thalssotherapy, a wonderful day long cruise to Comino and a Harbour Cruise, we added to this a day in the Spa Sante with massages, facials and pedicures (pricey but worth every penny) and a trip into St Julian's for a night out at the Hard Rock Cafe. We do like to party and did find the hotel lacked any sort of nightlife, very much an over 60's kind of experience, but OAPs taking line dancing very seriously is fun to watch after a few G&T's. Loved the Fortina Spa and we will be back.

My husband and I have just had a lovely 2 wks at the Fortina 4 Star. Unfortunately it seems that we were penalised for booking early in the year, as opposed to to last minute. When we booked (in January) we were told we could only get a garden view room but could upgrade if we wanted to, although I did ask for a seaview room. We did upgrade a couple of weeks before we arrived but were charged an extra £280 approx. for doing so. We paid this extra amount on arrival. The room we upgraded to had an absolutely wonderful view but the room itself was disappointing to say the least for that amount of money. The furniture was quite shabby and one of the wardrobe doors was broken. Our minifridge was only refilled after we specifically requested it and we were overall really disappointed, especially when we were told by other visitors that they had had an automatic upgrade on arrival without paying any extra and they were given a suite rather than a room. Very unfair system. We did mention it to our Rep who did not seem concerned one way or another. However, we still had a lovely holiday (although expensive) and enjoyed the company of most of the other guests. The bar staff were excellent, apart from one who we do not think smiled at all and seemed quite stroppy at times . Entertainment very poor, except on a Tuesday night (but everyone to their own!) All this said, we would actually return to the Fortina but would probably book a late deal to get the automatic upgrade!! We thought the food was great in the buffet restaurants and didn't even bother trying the other restaurants. There was building work going on close to us which was quite noisy and offputting at times but we ignored it as much as possible. Not particularly recommended for families with children as there are too many scuba divers practising in the pool, sometimes leaving very little space for swimming, never mind playing,

Myself, My partner and our 17 month old dughter have just returned from malta having had possibly the greatest holiday ever. reading some previous comments we were hesitant about visiting the hotel as it was our daughters first trip abroad. However. This hotel is fantastic, the food is great the staff are very helpfull and friendly and the view from our 2nd floor seaview room was second to none. Ok the place could maybe do with a lick of paint here and there but having spoken to people who were staying in the 5 star part of the hotel it seems we in the 4 star have the better deal. major building working is being completed in front of the new 5 star tower so they do not have the greatest view. All in all a great holiday , only returned on Sunday and by Tuesday looking to book up again.

Our second time here at the Fortina Spa Hotel so we knew exactly what we were getting, in fact the food had improved if that was at all possible. All the restaurants were amazing, after the first few days you have to cut back on the portions. Stayed in 4 star and as others have said needs refurbishing, which we were told had started, however if you do not like the room you are allocated, it is changed immediately without any fuss. We always have a room overlooking the garden, its lovely to look out and you still get a sea view if you are up high enough. Yes we also bought a time-share in the 5 star, we have found our little paradise and cannot wait to go back again in November. We were not hassled, we asked to view the other rooms, we know exactly what we are getting. One point, its not really for children, there is nothing for them to do, no childrens clubs etc,mostly couples and middle to older age people, there were a few groups of girls over the week-end doing a hen weekend, they were fine and loved the hotel, especially the treatments and spa. Also lots of locals at the week-end who come in to eat in the variety of restaurants on site. Just writing about it makes me want to go tomorrow!

I have travelled (and lived) all over the world but I can honestly say that my recent stay in the Fortina was the best experience I've had in a hotel. I went to the 4 * side of the resort which was exactly that, 4*. You get what you pay for in life don't forget! The room was large with 2 double beds and a sofa. It had a balcony overlooking the garden area which was lovely. The room was cleaned daily and the minibar also restocked daily. One of the beds had a dodgy mattress and when I pointed this out to one of the staff members it was changed the same day. I understood perfectly the arrangements in the restaurants all of which had friendly helpful staff. The instructions are simple and fair. Booking is essential as a lot of local Maltese like to eat at the restaurants which tells a story in itself! All the restaurants were lovely except for the Pizzeria which should have had more pasta on offer. If you go make sure you go to the Japanese Tepanyaki! What a show!! We even chose on a couple of occasions to eat in the buffet and it was not at all canteen like! The pools were cleaned several times a day. The bars were good although the pool bar could have done with another staff member. The spa and beauty side were out of this world! I have regular beauty treatments at home and the ones at the Fortina were definately better if more expensive. The daily Thalasso treatment was fine but a the water was a bit too salty for me! It is free and although the brochures state you get two 15 minute sessions a day in reality you get one 30 minute session so you don't lose out. The staff were helpful and friendly throughout the hotel. We didn't find the Indian's staff to be miserable at all! We only heard one couple moaning all the time we were there and that was due to a room, they were demanding an upgrade. I agree that the 4* side is a little tired but there are plans to upgrade them in the near future. The 5* side is gorgeous and well worth the money! If you like friendly people and good food then go to the Fortina! If you want a cheap holiday go somewhere else! We were so impressed with the Fortina that we actually bought a timeshare (and were certainly not the only ones!). We are off again for a free week in October and look forward to many more years of holidays at the lovely Fortina Spa hotel.

The best thing about the Fortina hotel was the view from our room – we had a harbour view – which was magnificant from the 6th floor. As for the rest of the hotel – we thought it very much over-hyped and well below equivalent other 4* hotels we have been in. Our room was basically OK but tatty – as is all of the old part of the hotel as they’re pumping money into the new section. The hotel is currently surrounded by building sites – a builder hammering a steel bucket at 0600 on a Saturday morning is no way to be woken up. We tried to use the spa – but could never get a slot and if you want to use the spa indoor pool after 3pm forget it as its taken over for use by private treatments. We also found that there were far too few sunbeds on harbour-side pool; many were broken from the last season and hadn’t been replaced. The reception staff with one exception were are not a lot of use and seemed relatively unknowledgable. Of the resturants we tried Taste, the Bistro and Health are good – just don’t go near the Italian one – our food was burnt in one case and tasteless in the other! We ate out after a few nights and found good food at very reasonable prices in local restraurents (why don’t they have a Maltese restraunt? – we’ve got home versions of all the others and we look for something local when away!). Our biggest turn-off is the “staff” trying to flog the new 5* section. They’re actually employed by another company and selling timeshare with all the associated “trade a week here for others round the world or we’ll sell it for you”. We thought it would be interesting to look round the new bit – only an hour of our time they promised. After 1 hour and 15 minutes with the 2nd rep and only half-way through her sales pratter, we stormed out: they completely misrepresented what they were selling and tried to foist on us something we didn’t want. The Mercury rep was also unhelpful – we were on our guard after she described absolutely everything as “amazing”. When we spoke to her, she just wasn’t interested. We may well return to Malta – but will avoid the Fortina like the plague and go for a hotel with much more reasonable deals.