Hilton Malta

Hilton

This is my review of Hilton St Julian’s Malta

Arrived early afternoon and after a wait at reception checked and told room not ready.

Fine we don’t expect it until 3pm. No welcome drink as expected at a 5* and an ok welcome but felt rushed.

We had upgraded to Executive so decided to hit the lounge for afternoon Tea. The room where it’s served on 9th floor has a balcony area but sat inside as still had travel clothes on.

Now we have stayed in many hotels and always upgrade but this was totally underwhelming. The offerings of food were poor and the couches torn with dirty marks. Eventually got our room and asked for fridge to be cleared out as if you move anything they charge for it.

Room 905 was nice with double wardrobe, iron board, tea making facility , Hairdryer in wardrobe but pretty useless if you have long hair as had to press a button for it work. Balcony view of Marina is lovely. Bathroom has plenty shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion with usual shower caps. etc and there are multiple drawers in bathroom and bedroom which is a plus.

Towels changed daily but as it’s a bath I’d suggest a non slip mat as I fell from sliding while showering and I’d hate to be older trying to get in and out of that bath to shower.

Air con in room is excellent and the house keeping do a good job.

Evening went to Executive room again but they need to alter the times as it’s no use having it at 5-7pm as too close to afternoon tea and who wants to have to dress and be ready at that time while on holiday. Keep 5-6 for families and then 6-9 for adults. they need to keep first hour to children as this took up most of minimal seating (1 night they had taken majority of chairs away) due to families so adults had no option but to sit on balcony which was extremely humid. Frankly the offering of food over 10 days was dire and we rarely had more than breadsticks. They need to up their game on this with more options and snacks also a sweet offering at night would be good. The offering of drinks is pathetic with some wine, vodka, beers etc but compared to other hotels and the short time you have at night and trust me as soon as it hits 7pm they close over the doors. The shelves in lounge were thick with dust to point I could write clean me! This needs attention! Staff all nice enough though. I would not waste your money on this upgrade it’s most definitely not worth it.

We ate breakfast most days in the main restaurant as Exec room is a basic offering with only runny scrambled eggs or hard boiled eggs with a tray of mushroom, slimy tomatoes, non crispy bacon and literally hot dogs!

Pool areas. So you have the large main pool area but beds are 3* basic and again they are dirty, sun brollys are ripped and broken and on heavy concrete blocks which make moving literally impossible and with hardly any staff at this extremely large pool makes it near impossible to get help.

Do yourself a favour Hilton and add lockable wheels to the metal stands! Simple.

This pool again has very few staff to accommodate the large amount of people and you had to wait usually 30 mins to be seen and served. Needs a good clean up and to have no life guards on any pools is a disgrace.

We then went to Marketi beach pool and at least they have padded beds but again absolutely filthy and no organisation of beds or tables. More staff here which was surprising considering it’s a smaller area than main pool but do not agree to punting out cabana beds to non residents. Tbh I’d be fuming if I’d paid €90 for a filthy, ripped cabana bed.

Overall I’d say this is a 3+* hotel and no more it’s definitely not 5* and anyone that says otherwise needs to visit the likes of il Fuerte, Annabelle hotels for Europe. Rixos in Abu Dhabi. Hilton could take many lessons from these hotels. Totally underwhelmed 10 days in this hotel.

Won’t be back and won’t be using Hilton again.

We have returned today from a 4 night stay. We automatically get upgraded due to our Diamond level status so can only compare the room and Executive lounge to other Hilton’s we have stayed in. We were in a Relaxation Suite which was well equipped and had a huge freestanding bath and a separate walk in shower. The room had amazing sea views.
All members of staff were friendly and attentive, although sometimes service was slow in the bars in the evening.
The drinks, snacks and food in the Executive lounge was good, although crowded in the evening. Most Hilton lounges offer free alcoholic drinks between 6-8 and 5-7 was possibly a little too early. If you arrived at 6.00 sometimes you struggled to get a seat.

We only used the adults only pool, the padding on the loungers was stained, however they are covered in towels. The bar and food service was excellent, you buzz from a button on your parasol and your order is taken and delivered to you.

In our opinion this is an excellent hotel, with polite and attentive staff, it is clean and in a good location. We will definitely return for a longer stay.