Although we generally enjoyed Malta, the people and the sites, the Preluna Hotel & Spa in Sliema was a major disappointment.
Above all, do not stay here at all unless you have a sea-view. Our view of close building was far less than we expected as a garden view. We were told no upgrades were available.
The Good: The location is very good. Directly across the street from a pleasant promenade and crashing surf. There is a bus stop right outside the hotel and the buses are clean, safe, frequent and inexpensive.
The Bad: We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon for check in and was told that our room was not ready - we were forced to wait for almost 1 hour with our luggage until it was prepared. What time was check in supposed to be? What made it all the more annoying was the smirky smart-alec attitude of the 3 young people running the front desk (LOL - maybe the only young people we ever saw in the entire place!) They knew they had us by the short hairs - we had no choice but to wait - and when we made inquiry every 20 minutes or so - was told that they were very busy and that it was being worked on. Sorry. Not good enough.
Why was I nowhere warned that this is like staying in a retirement home? 80-90% of the people staying here were at least in their 60-70-80's+. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes for a shall I say overly laid back (near death) atmosphere and impatience with elderly people trying to deal with an overcrowded buffet style meal or slowly ambling done hallways. We were here over New Years and hoped for a livelier place - the top floor lounge has spectacular views but the live elevator music was almost too much to take. Hmmm...playing to their audience I guess. The service was great at the bar - but I had the weakest Jack and water that I have had in many a year.
The food in the buffet was plentiful but to say that it was bland and mediocre is being charitable. None of our buffet meals were relaxing - it was like we were in some kind of war zone - patrons who were oblivious to the existence of others: cutting in line and dashing about to grab a roll or a spoon, balancing over-filled plates and drinks - close adjoining tables where you could have neither a private conversation nor could you avoid the conversations of your abutters. This does not make for any kind of dining experience at all.
The Ugly: Our room. You judge for yourself. See our pictures. A small room with a small bathroom with no view of any kind. A torn and re-sewn curtain, plastic furniture and a crooked light fixture AND the smallest flat panel TV known to man! The coffee maker did not work and it took 2 calls to have it replaced. There were burnt out light bulbs and they took 3 calls to have them replaced. How this would qualify as Four Stars anywhere is beyond me.
The crowing glory came at checkout when our bill was more than double what it should have been. They had us down for dining in their private restaurant - which we did not.; for their New Years "Gala" which we avoided like the plague and for other miscellaneous charges which were not ours. As I questioned each charge (making for a 1+ hour check out - interesting symmetry with the one hour check in ) and the slips were produced, someone had indeed written down our room number, but each were signed by someone other than us - with totally different names. I see this as emblematic of how poorly this place is organized and run.
As you can see, all in all not such a nice place. Maybe if we had a sea-view we would have been more forgiving of the snide front desk attitude, the weak drinks, the free-for-all buffets, the old age home atmosphere, the shoddy room fixtures and the archaic billing system. But we did not have one. So there you have it. I would never return nor recommend.
Room Tip: Insist on a room with a full frontal sea view or no room at all.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
