Bella Vista Hotel

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just spent a week at this so called 4* hotel.
Our room felt damp,as did the bed, the sheets had hair inside the madeup bed on arrival. The pillows were chipped sponge rubber also damp and packed so tight it wouldn't give to get comfortable. I couldn't get a replacement from the housekeepers [they were all the same type] There was no obvious working venting system for the internal bathroom hence the dampness I suppose, the room furnishings were adequate.
The restarurant was a joke, every morning either hard fried eggs alternated with scrambled eggs swimming in water, accompanied by either chipolata's and baked beans ,baked beans and more baked beans.Coffee came from a machine at breakfast and dinner.At dinner you had to pay for coffee again out of the machine.You didn't dare put your knife and fork down as a member of waiting staff would whip away your plate. .Dinner was passable if you could get by on salad cold cuts and potatoes.The hot dishes were not appetising at all. I didn't realise that lamb could have so many bones and not much meat. The desserts consisted of jelly in tiny s/s bowls or 1/4 of apples floating in water. Some nights we were offered a sort of gateuax.
Service from waiting staff was fast, so fast we had to tell them what we wanted to drink before bums hit seats.
One even tried to take my meal whilst I was eating it.
Not offered the advertised free transport to town.
Had to pay for a kettle,[no tea/coffee/cups]./ Had to pay for fridge/safety deposit box/for t.v.remote control.
Jacuzzi on roof was broken [pieces thrown inside along with many months of dirt/dust]pool table covered and tied up with old plastic and sun umberellas had no covers and the bar didn't exsist.
Only pleasant member of staff was Nadia on the reception desk, the manager looked liked he had a lemon in his mouth. In my opinion after staying in other 3/4* hotels all over the world this is definatley not 4* and is one to miss.

23 readers found this review helpful

Just arrived back today from a 7 day holiday at the Bella Vista. Had read the reviews before leaving and was a bit dubious as to what it was actually going to be like, so many contradictory comments.
We arrived early afternoon before our rooms were ready. We were able to book in and then leave our luggage in the left luggage behind the main desk. Went for a stroll around the area (sun blazing - got sun burn) for a couple of hours. Arrive back at hotel, room allocated. End room at front of hotel on second floor, overlooking the park. Lovely view over to Mosta and Medina and Rabat. Although on front of hotel over main road not too noisy (but am used to living near a busier road) Room clean, bed comfy, plenty of hot water for bath/shower. Maid service every day, and towels laundered. (advise take own travel kettle, tea bags, coffee etc as these not provided in room unless hired from the hotel). Dining room - plenty of tables, if you arrived later for breakfast you sometimes had to queue but we never had a problem. Food was ok, nothing fantastic. Sometimes could tell some of cold buffet was remainder of lunch, but all hot food was hot (at all times), served on warm plates. Waiters and waitresses worked very hard to ensure your table was kept clear of dirty plates etc., otherwise would become quite congested after three / four courses. Always polite when entered and left dining room. To those people who complained in their comments about the hotel should remember you get what you pay for. Can't complain about our stay at the Bella Vista, would recommend to others, but would point out not to expect 4/5 star, definitely 3 star.
Malta itself, beautiful, helped of course by the lovely sunny weather. Use the local buses, you don't need to book any tours, read up where you want to go, buses go to all tourist/places of interest. We bought two 5 day bus tickets, went all over the island, used as many buses as we liked, cost 22 euro (11 each.)opposed to trip on a one day tour 15 euro each.
Watch out for the tour boards offering trips for 1 euro, con to get you in to talk about alternative holidays and 9 different ways of paying for it (Bugiba). Also, may tell you there has been an accident on main route into Valetta causing chaos in to city. Again, con to delay you. Also may suggest that buses not reliable, not true.
Some of the drivers are miserable old b...s but don't let them put you off, just smile and say thanks. Qawra to Valetta 35 minutes, everywhere from Valetta within or just over half an hour. Yet again, another country puts our public transport to shame with regularity and COST!! Enjoy your holiday!

22 readers found this review helpful

I did not find the bad reviews helpful, I was a bit worried after reading these bad reviews but it’s not true. When I arrived at the hotel with my family I was greeted with a warm welcome by the receptionist her name is Nadia. We had a room overlooking the National Park on the front of the hotel and the room was very clean and tidy. When we booked we paid a superior room supplement so we had guaranteed views and some extras included. The meals at the restaurant we great as we had breakfast, lunch or snacks and dinner. Food was always served buffet so I could choose and eat as much as I liked. I did not understand some people’s attitude to fill plates and then not eat it, it is better to take less then if it was not enough you can go and take another serving. There is no limit of how many times you go to take food. On Wednesday there was an Italian night with some good Italian food and on Friday there was a Maltese night which was also very good. The restaurant manager used to talk to us every evening asking us if everything is ok. The bars also serve cocktails compared to other places I have been they are cheap, the cocktail of the day was £1.50 each.
Over all I think the holiday was very good value for money, to have a five star service you have to pay for it and with less money I was very satisfied. I would certainly recommend the hotel.

20 readers found this review helpful

I'm not given to writing hotel reviews but felt I should say something positive about this very pleasant hotel as some of the negative views expressed here are most unfair.
We are currently on the "all-inclusive" deal via hotelsbooked.com and easyjet. This is February half-term and the price was a touch over £250 each. Not only excellent value but we've been well impressed with the quality and variety of the food, the service and general level of comfort and facilities. OK, this is not luxury 4*, but then it's not a 4* price either. Sunday lunch especially was a real treat and well supported by the locals which added rather than subtracted from the experience.
The location is good and easy to find. We've much enjoyed using the indoor pool generally kept more than warm enough for all constitutions! A very courteous and friendly staff - nothing too much trouble. I expect it depends how you approach them?!
There are always those who seek to find fault and we've witnessed some on this on this trip. However, most guests are clearly very content - the free all day bar on the all inclusive deal will appeal to many if only for a cup of coffee or a cola whenever you want one!

5 readers found this review helpful

DO not book any holidays through hotelsbooked.com or any other travel firm concerning this hotel, because what you see is definately not what you get! The indoor swimming pool is filthy and very small the whole area downstairs is so dismal and horrible; the swimming pool having human hairs floating on top of the water! All the pictures of the Hotel on most companies web sites do not portray the correct picture of this 'Hotel'. It is not near the sea as was shown to us on their website, the outdoor pool is minutely small and in the shape of a 'coffin'! It has a large wall at one side which was shown on the website as being the blue sea and sky! The sea is a good 10 to 15 minute walk from the Hotel, the reception is in the walk through to a small shop and the restaurant will probably accommodate approx 60 people for a sit down meal. With over 150 bedrooms you can imagine you have no chance if all people book all inclusive! Our one and only meal at this Hotel was lunch when we first arrived; there was not enough food for the people who were dining, only a choice of 3 meals with frozen veg or a limpy lettuce with tomatoes and potato salad if you preferred a salad! DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE you will be robbed of your money if you do. It is not a 4* HOTEL as we know them to be. Hotelsbooked.com don't give a toss if you want to complain - they've got your money and that's all they care about. There are loads and loads of websites where disgruntled people have complained about this hotel and the firm and nothing seems to be done to stop this firm and it's co companies to keep functioning. ABTA get your finger out and do something!

2 readers found this review helpful

This hotel is great if you don,t like fun,food,entertainment or a good night sleep. The staff are dicortius ignorant and try to treat guest as if they are the important ones.The pool is small and gets very little sun, the bar on the roof terrace was never open.The food was terrible we were on half board ended up eating out.The rooms lets start with the fridge is not a fridge it a cooler box the T.V you have to pay 5 euro for the remote non returnable air con noise and does not work beds a few pieces of wood nailed together and a cheap mattress on it bedding not changed regular.entertainment 2nights a quiz the other nights someone playing a organ badly.The bar was over priced and drinks were of a low standard.I Love going to Malta but will avoid this hotel like the plague. In fact the local prison would be a better choice

18 readers found this review helpful

My husband and I (he's 61 and I am 59) had one week at this hotel and found it very clean, and comfortable. I think the room was rather on the small side (just had two single beds in it) but it did overlook the back of the hotel with a brick wall and looked down on the rear of the hotel shop.
The food and service together with the staff we thought was excellent - the Maltese are all so friendly!
We travelled all around the island on the local yellow buses (which are great fun!) and used the "on-off" open topped buses too. We were lucky with the weather too, having had just little showers, and just poured down on our last day as we were leaving, so that didn't matter too much.
We would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone, although whilst it is very quiet in the area, it is only a short walk to Bugibba centre (when you discover the short-cuts!!).

7 readers found this review helpful

Had a weeks break at the Bella Vista Hotel.
On arriving at 5am in the morning we were checked in. Absolutely gutted at the room we were allocated. When it was booked, it said TWIN SUPERIOR. What we had was 4 single beds, a shower that dribbled and a balcony that you could just about get 2 chairs side by side. Not what we had exptected. After having 3 hours sleep we went to reception to complain.
We were told there would be another room available at 11. We accepted that not knowing that above it was the roof terrace where entertainment was held nightly. After complaining to the hotel management nothing was done which meant every evening we had to listen to the noise above until 11.30. Our room was directly below the stage.
We did finally speak to the duty manager who was unsympathetic and aggressive in his attitude who even commented that he didnt want 'our type' at the hotel. For Gods sake we are both mid 50's!!!!!!
The pool area is far too small for the amount of rooms. The food in general was bland. Although the service was ok, the bar area was inadequate for the amount of peole using it.
The postion of the hotel is badly positioned. Its on a busy main road, with constant bus and truck traffic, car screeching.
In general this hotel is certainly not a 4* as advertised. It more like a 2*.
No air contioning either in the rooms, despite the Bella Vista advertising they do.
Dont be fooled by their website as we were.

22 readers found this review helpful

Ok, so first things first. We flew with Easy Jet, shock horror! We were a bit worried because of all the stuff we'd heard about them but actually the plane looked new, the flight crew were really friendly (and more to the point, looked happy to be there) and apart from a delay that was no-ones fault the flight was uneventful.
We landed, the luggage arrived, there was a desk in the arrivals hall for all the different tour operators and we were shown straight to the bus to take us to the airport.
The hotel looked ok from the road, not exactly shiney and new but alright, the reception desk was quite shiney, all glass and lights and the reception staff were never less than friendly and helpful and able to deal with any query we had.
Check-in was painless and our room was on the 5th floor. Hooray! I thought, that must mean a good view! Well, luckily for us we weren't expecting to be in the room alot so the view really didn't matter to us. Honest! The view from our balcony (which, by the way, was just big enough for 2 chairs and a little table, if you didn't mind climbing over the second chair to get in and out)was of the opposite balcony. Look down and you can see (and smell) the kitchen extractor fans, look up and you can see chimneys and the aerials and microwave links on the roof. In the mornings you could smell the burning toast and hear the clattering of plates as they came out of the dish washers.
The room itself was good, I have stayed in a lot worse. It had 3 beds, I don't know why, plenty of storage space, a fridge, a TV, a safe in the wardrobe and a lovely bathroom. I've seen the photos that another reviewer has posted of mould etc but honestly, our bathroom was spotless and the best thing of all, constant HOT water, instantly, the best bit of this holiday for me were the hour long baths in the afternoons before going down to dinner. Fantastic! The hotel provides soap, shower gel and various towels. you are not allowed to take towels from the room to the pools, but for €4.75 you can rent a pool towel for the duration of your stay and you get back €2 at the end of the stay.
There were times when we could have done with some heat in the room but it didn't seem to work. It may be that it was turned off by the hotel, but we didn't ask so I don't know. Perhaps by April they don't expect to need the heat.
There is an extra charge for the fridge, the safe and if you want a kettle and tea and coffee facilities that is extra too but it was something like €1.75 a day for loads of tea bags, sachets of Douwe Egberts coffee and creamer plus sugar and if you want more of any of that, just ask and they refuel you.
The hotel has 2 outdoor pools, one kids, one deeper, it also has an indoor pool and steam room (you have to pay extra for that) The sun goes off the outside pools by 1pm but there is a rooftop terrace to catch the afternoon rays and it has a jaccuzi and bar which are open in the summer.
What next? Ok the food. I loved it, hubby wasn't so keen, so it goes to prove you can't please, everyone all the time.
Breakfast was great. Juice, definitely watered down, tea, coffee. Toast, cereal, cooked meats like salami etc cake unusually, fruit and then all the hot stuff. We stayed a week, in the 7 days we had bacon 3 times and sausage 4. We had fried eggs 4 times and scrambled eggs 3 times, (only fried eggs and bacon once at the same time, which peeved hubby) These came with baked beans and hash browny-type potatoes.
The evening meals were different every night. One night they did a Maltese menu, one night an Italian, that was one hubby loved! There was always a choice of 2 meat dishes, 1 fish, 2 vegetables dishes (cauliflower cheese was great!) and one potato dish of some description, fried, boiled, roasted or chipped.
Most of the meat came in a sauce (not to hubbys taste) but one night there was a pork loin carvery which was nice.
There were various cakes and gateaux every night and cheese and biscuits plus ice cream 3 nights a week.
If you are full board you can also ask for a packed lunch to take out with you. According to some friends we made, the lunch time meals were good and they really enjoyed them.
If you like wine with your meal they do a respectable red for €6 or you can get a carafe of house red for €4.50 a litre, the only fault I can find is that you have to walk out of the restaurant with your leftover wine, rather than them keeping it for you until the next night, which is what I've been used to previously. Mind you it does mean you can buy exactly the same bottle in the shop next door to the hotel for €3.75 and take it in with you the next day, no-one questions it. If you are full board you get free tap water, if half board you get to pay €1.10 for a bottle but ditto buy a big bottle outside and just refill the original one.
The hotel has a free Wi-fi area and also provides internet access for €1.50 per half an hour.
You can walk to Bugibba Square in 15 minutes, it is up and down hill, so coming back is down and up hill, it really isn't a long walk, just don't rely on the map from the hotel because you will get lost.
Rather than spend a fortune on excursions we hired a car. €13 a day from a lovely man called Raymond at Astra Car Hire. We found this place on our first walk out along the coast road and he was so friendly we went back the next day and got a car. Really, for the price of a two day excursion that is advertised in the hotel newsletter, you can hire a car for 5 days and go where you like. Its also quite useful when it rains because then you have somewhere to retreat to for shelter. Mind you, you need nerves of steel to drive in Malta. All the drivers are crazy, no signals, lots of hooters, absolute chaos and the roads don't help. They talk about pot-holes over here, but really, you haven't seen a pot-hole until you drive in Malta. We managed though, so anyone can, honest!
They put on entertainment every night, mostly singers, if you like working mans club singers, that's about the mark. We ended up playing cards and then going up to our room.
The trouble was, we walked so far during the day that hubby (bless him, he's not used to walking!)just didn't feel like making the 15 minute walk to where the action was in Bugibba Square so we never went out in the evening. Mind you, we drove all over to some really out of the way places and never felt worried about leaving the car and walking around. All the Maltese people we met were really friendly and spoke great english.
As a place to visit, Malta seemed very delapidated, lots of buildings wrecked or half built, apartment blocks with the bottom 3 floors inhabited and the top floor but the floors inbetween undeveloped. weird!
We went out of season, so lots of stuff was closed. I'm sure that working waterparks and shoreside lidos would make a difference to families with children.
We thought that overall the hotel was ok, not 4 star, definitely, but reasonable for the price. One excursion we did go on, (on our last day) involved having lunch at a real 4 star hotel in Selima. It was an eye-opener! A real 4 star hotel and to be honest, if forced to go to Malta again I would have to stay at the Fortina.

3 readers found this review helpful

The food at this hotel is very poor. They serve up what isn't eaten at dinner one night, slightly altered the next night. All Inclusive is a choice you do not want to make. You will not be able to enjoy your stay if you are made to feel that you should not ask for anything or have more than two drinks each.This hotel wants to make as much out of the foreigner as possible. The worse they treat you the more likely you are to eat out and thus saving them even more money.The locals however have the run of the place at the weekends. The hotel should be a two star and be a lot cheaper than the book price.