Adam1222

You can arrange a transfer through any number of companies but yes taxis in Malta are safe.

whiskerxx

I stayed last Friday and Saturday night.
I used the complimentary weekend voucher for the second night.
I was travelling alone and booked a Club room.
On arrival I was "upgraded" to a Junior Suite (supposedly).
I got a very large room with the same amenities/furniture as a normal room I expect, desk, chair, easy chair, nothing to stand a suitcase on even though there was lots of space.
Bathroom did have a jacuzzi which worked, and a separate shower.
The room had a balcony with a very uninspiring view over unattractive roof tops and building sites.
My room was 1515, and suggest that everyone tries to avoid it.
Club lounge is on 15th floor and rooms on this floor with even numbers are likely to have more attractive pool views. Odd numbers look to the street.
Club lounge was ok. Breakfast with a small buffet and limited a la carte menu. Afternoon tea with a very small selection of canapes (couldn't call them sandwiches) and a couple of varieties of small cakes, and scones with jam and cream which was neither clotted nor fresh, and more akin to shaving foam.
The evening canapes were limited, and not really a substitute for a meal. They had a limited range of cocktails with a a bar tender making them to order, plus help yourself bar 5.30 till 7.30.
There were plenty of staff in the lounge.
The rooftop sky beach has good views, and came complimentary with my upgraded room. If you don't have a suite, I believe you have to pay. I wouldn't pay for the privilege. Bizarrely guests are advised that Sky beach loungers are out of bounds on Sundays as the facility has a Corporate booking every week! Still can't get my head around that one!
I received bowl of fruit and a gift of 3 small jars of Malta sea salt as a gift.
The hotel is handily placed for anyone looking for strip clubs for evening entertainment! There are at least 5 within 50 metres!!

whiskerxx

[email protected]

Exleftseat

THANK YOU!

Land-of-Miles

I booked a Panoramic Suite at Corp rate and got a great discount as that was the highest upgrade category. Stayed just over a week ago for a week as a paid stay.

The free minibar was one of the best I have ever had, the suite was great ( the end suites like we had seem to be the biggest with gym area), very spacious just lacking an extra lounger on the terrace.

I thought the club was good, one of the better IC's I have visited. The buffet was extensive but there was only 2 hot options each night. The breakfast I did think was more limited and there was a dearth of healthy options, I never asked if we could go to the main restaurant as I imagine it would have been pretty horrid. Champagne on request was a nice touch as was the relatively broad cocktail selection

Skybeach is great and if you commit to a 250 euro drink spend you can have a cabana and full free lunch which is a great deal, although the 2 of us sometimes struggled to spend 250 euros a day on drinks alone. It is a massive improvement over the pool downstairs. The only annoying thing was the presence of small children, I would have expected a venue like this to be adults only or over 12 at least. The kids really ruined the ambience on a couple of days, in what otherwise compared rather well to the pool deck at the W Barcelona but with a bigger pool lower prices and less pretentious guests.

The gym is fantastic, possibly the best hotel gym I have ever seen.

Overall a totally fabulous stay and we will be retuning soon.

There is a local App equivalent of Uber but if paying by card rather than cash you need to enter your details each trip. At the airport there is a taxi desk and you pay before your trip with card or cash. We found the service good value and very reliable.

Exleftseat

Wow. 250 Euros on drinks alone? Guess with only my wife drinking one or two glasses of champagne and me chiming in with a Heineken, that's not going cut it by a long shot! Pun intended.

Land-of-Miles

Well not drinks alone but given that if you hit 250 euros lunch was included (which you could make quite lavish and 3 courses), it was hard to spend on much beyond drink. A bottle of Champagne, a bottle of wine and a few cocktails soon mount up though.

marlin1978

I totally agree with the rest of your statement - but can't do with this quote: I am also father of a 4 year old one and we enjoy swimming and relaxing at the beach club and the tranquility at the top of the hotel. Maybe my daughter is not so loud overall but I would complain heavily if access would be refused (also RA status and booked a higher category). But as always - it depends to the situation and of course cautiously parents...

Land-of-Miles

The setting is a beach club, Access is sold at 50 euros a head (except for those guests booked into suites).

I know of no beach club in the world with chargeable entry that allows children, it simply makes no sense.

This is not the only pool in the resort. There are other far more family focussed pools and I would be rather worried about the younger children in this environment (it simply is not designed for young children). The vast, vast majority of Sky Beach guests when we stayed had no children but we all suffered the disturbance form the small but noisy minority who did and utterly failed to keep their sprogs behaviour and noise under control (which seems to be the modern way). It simply should not be accessible by under 12's. It is the only significant negative I can think of about the resort. Having a single high end pool as child free would be very much in keeping with the vibe the property is trying to create. Screaming kids are going to put off paying (and high spending customers).

marlin1978

Ok let´s agree to disagree - I am happy that there are Intercontinental hotels in the world with so called "roof top" or "high end" pools (like Bangkok, Malta, Amsterdam, Hong Kong or Dublin per example) where children with their parents are welcome. Probably these guests are also important for these hotels, there are obviously families which spend also a lot of $ and expect the same service as the other guests or distinguished couples.

Cielito_

I have nothing against kids in the lounge, at the pool or anywhere else. But children who are obviously not educated should be removed immediately. At the sole discretion of the staff.

There are wonderful children who have been taught how to behave in some places. But there are also troublemakers and the parents just let everything happen... No guest dares to say anything, but the majority is obviously annoyed (and the good behaving children too).

I generally dislike the submissive nature of the hotel industry. A little more self-confidence can not hurt.

Land-of-Miles

Of those you quote all the others have a single pool (I have visited all of them),their staple customers are in fact business people and rarely families (with the resort exception at Malta). No other property has more than one pool and I think where there is a single pool it is probably fair game.

Where a property makes a big song and dance about their beach club "Sky Beach" here and charges entry and where there are other pools (3 of them) available to families, I think it is wrong to deny me as a child hating non parent an opportunity to escape from screaming sprogs, you chose to have them, I did not.

marlin1978

You are absolutely right, Cielito. We have to differentiate between behaving children and troublemakers and can not exclude them all from a variety of hotel facilities. It is of course a thin trail and can lead to trouble, but usually the majority of the other guests will (in silence) applaud ... That´s it from my point of view - from my side no more discussion in this IC Malta thread.

336

They are not very responsive at all on that address.

I have sent them a very straightforward question on Monday. Didn't hear back from them.

LTN Phobia

Glad to read they finally started accepting card at the airport taxi desk

By the way I totally share your view re: children in certain settings (or to be more precise, the preference for not having children).
I'm disappointed that they allow children up there.