Barcelo Fortina Malta

The hotel is near the Sliema Ferry, which is really great, because this way Valletta is easily accesible. The hotel rooms are really comfortable, from cheaper ones, to the more expensive ones. (We had a premium room, but based on the pictures, even cheaper rooms look really great too). Breakfast is buffet style, and really varied, there is a big variety of meats, and fruits. The staff is very kind and helpful, making communication very easy even if someones first language isn't english.

We stayed here during our trip to Malta and had a mixed experience.

The first thing to be aware of is that the pool shown on the website isn’t actually part of the hotel – it’s the neighbouring beach club. If you want comfortable sunbeds, you’ll need to pay extra, which we did, and we’re glad we did.

Midweek, the beach club has a lovely atmosphere. The food is very good, and it’s nice being able to press a button for drinks service at your sunbed.

We also booked the bottomless brunch. The food was excellent, but the drinks service was disappointing. Despite it being advertised as bottomless for a two-hour sitting, the service was incredibly slow and after just two Bellinis each it became very difficult to order any more. It certainly didn’t feel like a genuine bottomless brunch.

On Friday, the pool area was quiet, relaxing and really enjoyable. Saturday, however, was a completely different story.

The venue appeared to prioritise selling large amounts of alcohol over guest safety. Staff made a huge spectacle of groups ordering magnums of rosé, with parades of staff, dancers and social media cameras delivering bottles around the pool. As the day went on, several guests became extremely intoxicated. Children were in the pool with little or no apparent supervision, while heavily drunk adults were continuing to be served alcohol.

The most concerning incident was when a man in his twenties, who had been drinking rosé throughout the day, became so intoxicated that he lost consciousness and sank to the bottom of the pool. There was no visible intervention from a lifeguard. I ended up stripping down to my swimwear, jumping into the pool, pulling him from the bottom and dragging him to the steps. Staff came over and watched but did not assist with getting him out of the water.

It was genuinely frightening and could easily have ended in tragedy.

There is a nice venue here with good food and a great atmosphere during quieter periods, but the management of alcohol around the pool felt irresponsible. Guest safety should always come before creating social media moments, and after witnessing what happened, I wouldn’t feel comfortable returning.