Thanks so much for a wonderful holiday. You all did so much to make us feel right at home. Hope to see you next year.
Ted and Esther Landymore from Suffolk

Where do I start? We wanted a "boutique" style near the nightlife, but not too close. The Rafael Spinola seemed to fit the requirements.

On arrival we found the location ok and, although the hotel and room where small, we were happy.

Unfortunately it was downhill from there. The room was dirty. Dust and dirt filling all sorts of gaps, the floor had old hair and rubbish on it. The bathroom floor and bath had old hair on it. The toilet seat was also dirty. Over the next 7 days...

No soap provided.
Sink not cleaned.
Toilet seat not cleaned.
Dust and dirt remained.

Finally we found a cockroach in bathroom (and captured it ourselves under a cup we had bought). We ask the staff to remove it, but 12 hours later it was still there. Complaining to reception, the receptionist asked if we could kill it ourselves! She eventually removed it.

2 nights later we came back late (around 2 am) to find perhaps 6 or so cockroaches "scatter" when we turned the lights on. Suffice to say we did not sleep that night! The staff/manager the next morning did not care at all and refused to even acknowledge a problem. We listed our (many) complaints then we moved to another room to calm down and shower.

We checked out and moved to another hotel, passing a pest control man on the way out.

This hotel is not suitable for tourist use. The staff are incapable of running it properly.

Avoid.

Just back from this place and I concur totally with what is written below. the hotel is tiny and situated in a rather dim street, off the main thoroughfare.

Inside the restaurant was a joke and the bar nonexistent. The breakfast was so bad we choose to eat elsewhere. The lift is tiny also and not for the faint hearted.

Staff were obnoxious at best and downright threatening at worst - our air conditioning was broken, as was the shower, and they simply refused to fix either. Beware of the night receptionist who will curse at you if you wake him!

Finally ive never stayed in anywhere quite like this, here in Northern Ireland this would be a guesthouse at best - not a 3* hotel.

Avoid at all costs!

My wife and I spent a week of our honeymoon at the Rafael Spinola Hotel. We were very disapointed with both the hotel and the service. The hotel is located just outside the heart of Paceville in St.Juliens, but on a quieter street than most of the other hotels. The area is very dirty though, and you are surrounded by english language students who drink every night.

The room itself is functional at best. The matress of the bed must have been at least 10 years old as everytime you moved, the springs would pop. The sheets are not changed (although standard in most europe low market hotels). However, the pillows are a joke, are very very thin and you only get 2 per room. As a result we had to use coats as extra pillows. Its also recommended to bring your own towls as on more than one occassions we they changed our towls and did not replace them. When asked, we were told the hotel was full so there was not enough towls avaliable for all the guests. The toilet/shower is very small, and you feel clostrophobic sitting on the toilet. There is no view from the rooms except of the paceville carpark, which can get very noisy on Friday/Sat night from 10pm until 5am. The only redeming feature of the room is that there is air conditioning (although very lould and not very powerful).

The 'swimming pool' seen in the brochure photos is deceiving, as the pool is very small and cannot really be swam in, but is ok for cooling down in. There is a beach about 15 mintues walk from the hotel, but is very small and crowded.

The free breakfast that is advertised is also a joke, and consists of stale bread, processed cheese and ham, instant coffee and the fruit is a lemon slice (unless you get up very early in which you are rewarded with an orange), and the orange juice is dilluting juice.

We found the staff to be very irritated when asking simple questions (about Buses), and the cleaning staff ignored the 'Do not disturb' sign on two occasions. We found 2 cockroaches in our room on our final day.

Also beware that when you phone long distance with a phone card, you are charged 1Lire for the call by the hotel as well.