Howard Johnson Mediterranea Hotel & Suites

My partner and I stayed at this hotel last week in Aug! It's a lovely small hotel. A very good 3 star! The food was good! The rooms were spotless. We gad a great view of St Paul's bay. It was lovely to open the balcony doors first thing in the morning to see that view!!! Bliss!! There is a swimming pool on the roof then another 10 steps takes you to the jakuzzi area. If you want a little peace and quiet, go to this area!! There are one or two small bars near by, go to DON VITO's for a glass of vine and sit on one of their balcony's, great view. We are a young couple and I guess we're 'sort' of settling down now, its a nice hotel, very nice staff, we will be returning for sure!! Natasha Muscat (manager) was nice she did everything for us! Thank You!!! S & J xxx

Last June was our first experience in Malta. I had heard very nice things about the island, and i must admit most of them were true. we stayed at this nice little hotel, that was far from being a superior hotel, but was worth all the four stars it holds.. The views were breathtaking, especially from the roof. Rooms were nothing special, but clean and cosy.. The best thing about the hotel was the staff, that were typical maltese, always trying to help, and with a smile on their faces(apart from one evening when we went a bit late for dinner, and everyone was looking at us like the enemy. Fortunately, there was live music, and the singer was so nice to play my favourite tunes 'Dance the night away' and 'Achy breaky heart', that we ended up dancing and forgetting the frowns.....) As for the food, we must admit that it was nothing out of this world, but i give it a good 5 out of 10....if it weren't over-cooked, it would have scored higher... We also managed to watch an England game on a screen they had on the roof, and it was quite an experience...maltese still seem to love the UK, and many maltese support England. Well,that's about all i had to say, and if i ever come back to the beautiful island of Malta, i'll probably buy my own apartment....joking apart, it would be lovely to stay in this hotel again.

After reading some negative reviews of the Howard Johnson I emailed the manager prior to departure who assured me that the hotel was up to the advertised standard, and largely I agree with him. I think some of the comments here (such as the hotel not supplying toothpaste) are from people who have little experience of what to expect from holiday accomodation in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. The room we got had a fantastic view of the bay and was very quiet. The air conditioning was welcoming and the bathroom adequate until the last day, when the shower exploded. The rooms were clean, although it would be nice if the twin beds could be used as doubles - they really didn't want to be pushed together, a problem exacerbated by the maids' willingness to remake them separately. The one downside to the hotel was the food, and the dining experience. The house wine was lovely (Lachryma Vitis, a local wine), the waiting staff were mostly pleasant, but the food was butchered and in one case made me leave the restaurant in tears because not even I could cook food that badly. The ingredients weren't bad, but almost every single meal was boiled to oblivion, the potatoes were always overly buttery, and the dessert was plastic. Breakfast was even worse, but at least there were alternatives. The worst aspect of the dining, however, was a karaoke singer they employed who sang the same songs in his faux-Elvis twang twice a week. It started off funny but by the end of the holiday my partner was holding me back from knocking him out so we could get a peaceful dinner. The Mediterranea is overall a good place to spend a holiday in Malta. It's quiet, has a very prominent position, and is within five minutes easy walking from the resort. However, Bugibba is not a particularly interesting place so make sure you have transport once you're there.

We had lots of problems while stopping in this hotel, including: 1st room we were shown to had sewage leaking from toilet, air con not working and broken shower. The view from the window was of pipes and the fire escape! After complaining for over an hour and threatening to leave we were shown to a 2nd room. This room wasnt without problems but we decided to shut up and put up as it was now starting to spoil our holiday big time. We paid for internet usage on the 4th night we were there only to find the PC was broken. The girl on reception wouldnt refund us, just kept saying 'we dont own the PC', even though it was in their hotel! Apart from the lady at breakfast time I found all the staff rude and unhelpful. Hardly a morning went by that somone wasnt complaining about their room. St Pauls was very quiet and pleasant but definitely wont be stopping in this hotel again.

This was a dissapointing holiday accomodation. It's possible that the main reason for my discontent is that my expectations where too high. If I had been expecting a 2 star hotel then I would have been pretty ok with it, but since I was expecting (and paying) for four stars it was a bit of a let down. I was disheartened when first walked into our room. It was large and had to windows but they looked into some untidy porches and a ventilation shaft. The beds were twins that were not even pushed togueter. The decor was colorful but very dated. The duvets and blankets looked very worn, but at least the room was reasonably clean. We asked for a different room but begged back for our first room when we were led to a darker, smaller more depressing room with one drafty window and a loud hum that sounded like maybe an loud air conditioner of pool pump. We were curtly told that there was no hope for a room with a view. We resigned ourselves to our faith as we had chosen the hotel through a package deal but there were many things that made our stay uncomfortable. The beds were not very comfortable, you could feel the springs through the matress. The hair drier was held togueter with tape. There was no shampoo in the room and when we asked for a tube of toothpaste at the front desk they looked puzzled and directed us to a local store. The breakfast was truly terrible. The bread was stale, the eggs tasted like they had been sitting for hours, and the rest of the offerings were unappetizing. We could only bring ourselves to have it twice even though it was included in the cost, we choose to have our breakfast elsewhere. The location would have been good if we had been there during the high season when there is a lot going on in the area, but there was not much going on during the low season. There was a bus stop right outside the door which was really nice for getting around the island. The only problem was that at night we were stuck in Buggiba unless we took a taxi to Valleta or Slima which was expensive. I think staying at this hotel would be a much nicer experience during the summer, because of the rooftop swimming pool and lounge area, but I still wouldn't recomend it.

The Mediterranea Hotel is situated in a quiet area of St Pauls Bay Malta overlooking the harbour area for privately owned boats. The location was perfect for a 5 minute walk to the main square in St Pauls Bay which provided a great place for either theme music bars or quieter onesit also had many varied resturants to cater for all pallets. The hotel has a friendly atmesphere in all aspects from reception to waiters and maid service. Maid service was everyday. The rooms are clean tidy as is the hotel. The hotel offers all ranges of accomodation including self catering appartments. We were half board and the food was first class. I would return to this hotel without any concerns and recommend to others wishing to travel to Malta.

we had to change room 3 times in 3w/ks the noise from the water pump from the roof top pool was deafing we was then given a room on the first floor and all was fine, the hotel its self is quite clean [not spotless] but o.k the maltese are very freindly and for this reason we would go back one day, maybe. beware of the touters in malta trying to sell timeshare, pests, several times a day jumping out of cars e.t.c malta is a lovely place spoilt by these idiots, still you can also get this in other countries and as i said earlier we will go back one day but not to the mediterranea, all though the staff were great and did there best.

for malta standards the hotel was very good. it was clean and peacefull! a good location. helpfull staff. 24hour reception.even though a 4 star rating is somewhat generous we will be returning one day god willing and that speaks volumes for any hotel in malta.

Have just returned from a week long stay at the Mediterranea. I booked this hotel through Air Miles and checked in other brochures who all rated this as a 4* Hotel. This is a summary: Room - I requested a double room at the time of booking and emailed the hotel direct in advance to request a room with a view (was willing to pay the upgrade). On arrival we were allocated a 'twin internal room'. - with NO natural light and a few 10watt bulbs it felt like we were staying in a cave - very depressing. Also, the 'rustic' decor was quite amusing - Everything in the room was glued on/ together - the skirting boards, the pictures in the walls, the headboards - either there is a shortage of nails in Malta or Howard Johnson hotels have a shares in a superglue company! Of course your not going to spend all day in your room so we set off for breakfast. Breakfast - It was time to tackle the rugby scrum that was to become a daily occurence. Two members of staff were on duty each day- always run ragged. We had to wait for a table to be cleared every morning and for the small very un-inspiring buffet to be re-stocked - never any milk, hot water etc. They could solve their problems simply by buying a toaster/ toasting machine - everyone wanted toast and the two staff had to prepare two slices at a time (very grumpily). Before I go on, I would like to add that Malta is a warm and friendly country - we had a great time driving round and meeting people, for a small island there is plenty to do and some lovely bays to relax on. But back to the hotel. A few further niggles we didn't expect from a large chain hotel: If you were German, Italian, Maltese or French, you could watch TV for free. However to watch the one English channel avalible (BBC World Service) you had to pay 2.05lm a day (appox.£3.50). This seems amazingly unfair - once or twice we just wanted to catch up on headlines etc. for a couple of mins in the evening. Our room had a small safe deposit box - we had to pay 5ml (appox. £8) to obtain the lock and a further 5ml to use the safe. The staff were young and clearly inexperienced at providing good customer service - basic greeting can make a huge difference. I was asked to come back in 30mins as they couldn't accept my 1lm (60p!) coin for the internet connection - they said it would upset the days 'float'. Get a room with a view or stay at another hotel - there are plenty of alternatives on the island. There are numerous plaques and articles plastered all over the walls detailing service awards etc won recently by this hotel - perhaps Howard Johnson had some shares in a plaque manufacturing company somewhere.........

The Mediterranea is so perfect. Don't know how we ended up with such a great room - it was actually an apartment with 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, full kitchen, etc. The dining room faced St Paul Bay and the statue of St Paul. I've never stayed in such a perfect hotel. There is a restaurant in the hotel that we considered average. The room rate included the breakfast, also just fair. Not the large American breakfast, but more typical European. A bus stop was a block away and that took us everywhere. The casino was within walking distance. Many shops and restaurants within walking distance. Most important to us was beaches, and we could walk either way to get to one. Malta does not have beautiful beaches, but does have beautifully clear water, and mild temps. I can't wait to go back to Malta, and would definitely book the Mediterranea again.