Arriving at the airport in Malta, the chauffeur was already waiting for me in the arrival hall. I had arranged an airport pick – up via the hotel, and everything went smoothly.

Check-in was ok, the hotel appeared to be rather busy, there were two lines for the reception. The check – in was made by mrs. KELLY She was very friendly and service – minded.
My stay had two nights, royal beach club rooms, and four award nights. The hotel upgraded my award nights to the royal beach club room so I would not have to change rooms. I was not able to use points, since the hotel was fully booked. I thought it was quite nice of the Dragonara hotel!

My room was not ready due to my early arrival, and I had a drink on the terrace of the lobby bar. There was a chinese girl serving, and we could talk about Beijing and the St. Regis. She was quite nice.

After my lunch, my room was ready. Kelly escorted me to my room. The room was quite large ( see my pics of the room & hotel:
http://www.e-traveller.net/pics/2004...nDragonara.php, had a great view and a small balcony between two terraces.
She told me I had not received an upgrade because the hotel was fully booked. She would try to give me an upgrade the next morning. It was fine with me. She was really nice, enjoying her job. She gave me information concerning the moneymachine, etc. She was great! :-:

In front of the royal beach club rooms, in the South wing, were the Beach clubs. In the evening/night there appeared to be very loud music coming from the clubs. Even with earplugs I could not sleep of the drumming sounds. The next day there was no other room available. At that moment, mr. Hubert of (SPG) guest relations looked into the reservation system. It appeared there was an upgrade to a Tower room available for the next day, that was great! It was located in the other, quiet North wing.
After two terrible sleepless nights I was very happy with the Tower room. The room was similar to the Royal Beach club room, but it had a large terrace with a stunning view, wow I felt lucky. And I could have a nice sleep, since I had no banging sounds of the beach clubs in the middle of the night!
A small disadvantage was the noise of the construction work during the day, right next to my room. (See my pics) However, the noise was not too disturbing and I enjoyed the nice terrace very much.
In the evening the hotel offers a friendly turndown service. When I was in the Tower room I had a interesting conversation with mrs Anna. She did her work with much pleasure and spoiled me with candies.

The Royal beach club lounge was located on the same level in the South wing ( see my pics url] http://www.e-traveller.net/pics/2004...nDragonara.php [/url and had a nice terrace with a grand view on the see. In the morning a nice breakfast was served here. In general there were to many guests to have breakfast. Many with children. The personnel who were serving here, were not well equipped at all for so many guest. I had a look in the small kitchen and they could not cope with too many guests, since they had to wash and dry everything by themselves, no dishwasher. The consequence was that many tables were not ready and many people and children were waiting. The personnel was very friendly, and I can imagine it can be a hard job, serving the different kind of guest in the summer season.

The interior of the hotel is quite beautiful and stylish. Everything is well kept and shining. There is a small swimmingpool on the backside of the hotel. There used to be another one, but they closed it in favour of the terrace of the restaurant. Furthermore, there is a rocky beach with parasols and sunbeds.
In summer, the hotel is overcrowded with many package tourists / families with children, and it seems clear that the guest are of a different kind than in other months. The swimmingpool and the pool area appeared to be crowded with families, so it was almost impossible to swim. There is a poolbar available.
The rocky beach was another option for swimming. When I had a swim here, the water was rather polluted with garbage. Children were fishing pieces of glass from out of the bottom of the water.
The beachclubs in front of the hotel were very nice. As a guest of the hotel you have free access to the beachclubs. The pool here was also crowded with families. Guests of other hotels are allowed here, for an entrance fee. Of course you can swim in the sea, there are small stairs from the rocky beach.

There is a nice healthclub in the hotel. I liked very much. You can have different massages, ( I had a very relaxing one), have a work-out in the fitness club which has various machines, take a sauna or Turkish bath, sit in a whirlpool. And….. Yep, I could have a swim in the indoor pool! Sometimes here are families too, and swimming is rather limited. But with some luck…., it is nice to have a swim here, albeit indoors.

Many restaurants are available, some are located in the beachclubs. In the hotel, there is the very nice Terrace restaurant, it has warm interior ( seem my picshttp://www.e-traveller.net/pics/2004/malta-WestinDragonara.php). You can choose from a limited a la carte menu, or go for the buffet.
Since most of the families have a package, most of them go for the buffet. It is great for the children here too. It is quite a dining experience with all the families in the restaurant.
Service is very nice, personnel makes you feel at home.
I did miss the Wines of the World, I regret it not available in the hotel. The foreign wine-list appeared to be limited.
On Saturday there was a great barbecue on the terrace, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was just fine. I enjoyed it very much.

Room service is friendly and reliable: they tell how long it will take and deliver it in time. Quality is good. The a al carte seemed to be more promising via room service, compared with the a la carte in the restaurant. It was great to have breakfast and dinner on the terrace!

The location of the hotel is fine, it is only 15 minutes from Valetta. The taxi drive however is very expensive. Going by boat even more. It would be a good service of the hotel to offer a bus shuttle to Valetta i.m.o. Especially in the hot summer months.

Some thoughts:

Be aware of the noise of the beach clubs when booking a Royal Beach clubroom in the Southwing in summer.

In summer the hotel is overcrowded with a different kind of guests, package families, even in the club lounge. I have never seen so many guests with tattoos in a Starwood hotel as here. Swimming pools and the pool area are overcrowded with families.
I think it would be great to have one outdoor swimming pool for adults, so it would be possible to have a nice swim. It just bothered me a lot since it was very, very hot!

The Terrace restaurant has a different ambience in summer when it is crowded with package families.


The hotel is just great :-: , it has very nice rooms ( especially the Tower rooms with the large terreace and the penthouse), service of the personnel is friendly and they seem to be very dedicated, quality of the food and drinks is high, and moderated priced, the location is fine, there are great beachclubs.
Only, in the summer the hotel seems to be a sort of children’s paradise, and the hotel is overcrowded with a different kind of guests / families. If you go here with your family it could be fine, but if you want a peaceful and quiet holiday you could think it over to stay here in summer.