Soreda Hotel

There must have been fundamental improvements at the Soreda since other comments here. Our views will redress the balance. We got good value for money giving the 7 rating. We completed their client survey frankly & if they act on it, the rating may increase. Unless you have the basis on which stars are awarded, it's difficult to be objective in giving own ratings.
The service & facilities were good, with cheerful & helpful staff - so was Med Hotels courier, Jennifer. The food was good, in the context of its being mass catering - tremendous selection, good quality, plentiful & variety for the several nationalities there. Cleanliness was good throughout, along with decor in the main public areas. Our bedroom & some corridors were a bit tired on the decoration front, but not desperate considering the price. The room lighting was a bit dim for the large number of elderly guests at this time of year & a coat of paint on the walls would help. We didn't view or use the fitness club. The open-air roof-top pool was fine. We also urged them to cease the practise of clean towels every day. Most hotels world-wide (even Hilton, etc. in our experience) now give guests an option of clean towels only when requested. It's an easy way for hotels to reduce overheads & contribute to the enormous energy savings we've all to make. Malta has a renowned, cheap 'bus service. A good holiday which we can recommend.
The frustrating aspects of the holiday involve the Malta Tourist office. Having read the poor reports here after booking, I emailed they & Med Hotels for details of how they score for star (& 'wings') ratings. The tourist office seems to have shut. Med Hotels replied promptly but I still await details of their rating system.

Having seen the other reviews on this site, all I can say is that I wish I had read them before going.
I echo all that has been said - the hotel was shabby and dirty, with many lights out of order, three large dead cockroaches in the lobby and a strong smell of something decaying in the lounge bar. We were there for four days and for the whole of that time some dirty glasses stood outside a bedroom door waiting to be removed.
The food was inedible so we had to forgo the pleasures of half board and find other places to eat, the indoor pool was closed, the rooftop pool surrounded by half finished work left in a dangerous state and some of the staff were decidedly unfriendly. But then, I would be unfriendly too if I had to spend my life working there!

This is not really a review of the hotel as it was so bad we decided not to stay and forced Mercury Direct to move us elsewhere, albeit at a surcharge.
The hotel in general was grubby and seedy in a back street but noisy location. The staff were surly, the rooms decrepit and dirty. We paid to move to Marfa and stayed in a clean and pleasant hotel with excellent food, none of which were to be expected at the Soreda if conversations with other guests during our brief sojourn were to be believed.
Avoid at all costs, you will be wasting your money.

The hotel room was clean and the shower pressure was decent. But sadly, that’s about as good as it gets. We stayed here on a long weekend during May 2004. The mattress was old and had my wife and I meeting in the middle all night due to the extreme ‘roll together’.
Sadly, the food was quite simply inedible. My wife and I stayed on half board but just couldn’t face the food, we checked out the dinner on both nights.
The location also isn’t fantastic, it’s a good 10min walk to the bus stop and restaurant area through some fairly poorly lit dodgy back streets. The communal areas of the hotel were in a bad state also with the main lounge looking (and smelling) like a tired 1950's working mans club and the pool looked like a great way to get an ear infection.
How it got 4 stars is completely beyond me. Stay here at your peril.

If you are over 65, don’t mind surly staff, going to bed before 11:00 pm and have no taste buds this is the place for you. It seemed that everything was too much trouble for the staff and went out of their way to be unhelpful. The bar shut at 11:00pm and we had trouble ordering a drink at 10:55pm. The food was absolutely awful and although we were all inclusive we ate out most nights. Our room was in the old part of the hotel, we had a shower but nowhere for the showerhead to hang. Everyone who was staying at the hotel was complaining about the food and service.