Hotel Bella Vista Reviews

This is NOT a 4 Star hotel! I read the reviews before I went on holiday but thought these people were just moaning about things for the sake of it. I am pretty easy to please and so didnt think it could be that bad. But I was wrong! Everything is true that has been written on this site. We went 6th October-13th October 2009

Me and my partner went all inclusive... But ended up spending most of our money eating out because the food was so bad in the resturant! I wouldnt feed my dog what they served up in there. Everything is just watered down and doesnt taste of anything. I was having the lettace for the first couple of days till I found what looked like a cockroach leg in it! Needless to say I never ate their again. They have no fruit either, which we had to buy ourselves. My partner ate there still but he had an upset stomache everytime he did.

The balcony view was basically a wall! No sun there, so we didnt bother using it.

The room wasnt very clean. An old lady in the hotel cut her leg open on the first night because the beds have wooden corners, which we also kept catching our legs on! The 'clean' towels we were given everyday looked dirty with brown marks on! This must be to match the bed covers! Not very nice to sleep in!

The drinks which were included in our all enclusive were VERY limited! And so we still spent money on some drinks. Which again didnt taste that nice, the cocktails tasted like washing up liquid!

The hallways are very dark, only tiny ceiling lights are on. Im guessing this was to hide the stained carpet!

The swimming pool is tiny. There was a swimming pool in the basement but it was very dark down there with nobody there. Also bizarly there was a couple of old cars on display on this floor, again in a dark room. Very odd place.

The staff seemed very nice when we first got there but somehow didnt seem as friendly as the holiday went on. I have no idea why? We didnt complain about anything. It wasnt worth the trouble But the staff do work very long hours and it seems they were trying thier best. Its just a shame they dont have much to work with.

One positive note: I didnt see any cockroaches! Just found a couple of legs! (There was 1 in our room when we arrived! - I kicked it under our table and Im guessing it will still be there now! lol)

So dont stay in this hotel, a 3 star would probably be better!

Hotel is dirty in need of good clean and revamp. Very limited food choice. The representative was not available whilst we were there. The bar on the roof was not open therefore when you wanted a drink had to either go in lift for 6 floors or take the stairs. Staff work long hours.

On arriving I checked in to find the hotel fully booked and was booked into their additional apartment blocked some 300metres away- pitch black at 1am in morning! -It was a self catering appartment which they blantanly cover up by stating it is a suite and are cheaper to book apparently. The receptionists fails to tell you that you have to pay for the aircon and safe! When you ask for this he then tells you to come back tomorrow as he is not open!!!!! It is supposed to be 24hr service. The pool is tiny, don't be decieved by the photos, it is not sea view, it is estuary and a good 10-15mins walk from sea front. The food is bland and not much variation. Although the staff were friendly- watch out for the guy on recpt, arrogant! And if you are a single mum, be warned of the dirty old men behind the bar who constantly throw sexual inuendos and wink alot at you and make every effort to have a right old gawp when collecting crocks from pool area. It is not a 4* hotel it is 3*. The entertainment is rubbish. The jaccuzi on roof top is filthy and has little blocks of clorine in the bottom for children to happliy play with. On date of leaving i left my baggage in the room by recption area with souvienirs- suprise suprise, they were gone along with some of my underwear!!! Overall if you are looking for a good all round family holiday i would recommend that you stay nearer into Bugibba as this is a good town and night life is great and right on sea front.

Rated as a 4 star, well maybe if located in Afghanistan! Everything was too much trouble, the watered down drinks were extotionate yet cheaper when my wife bought them when wearing a typical revealing holiday dress?!!? Pools should have been cleaner, no excuse being the size they were. The whole hotel was beyond hot and into a different dimension, no a/c throughout the whole place and in the room it just took the edge off so to speak. Location is terrible, miles from anywhere, certainly not Qawra! Been to Malta many many times, this is the worst place on the island and the staff are rude and down right miserable. What got me was the attitude, looking down their nose at you as if it were the Hilton! Save up a bit more loot and go to the Qawra Palace (which I came close to just booking into 2 days in) or Gillueru in St Pauls.

Returned today (20/8/09) from the Bella Vista - certainly NOT a 4* Hotel by anyones standard. We booked a last minute weeks holiday and didn't pay that much - so really, not that bad for money paid. The Hotel is quite a distance from anywhere buzzing! You really need to use the hotel shuttle bus or the local buses. Staff are civil, but do not go out of their way to assist unless asked. Maitre D is downright miserable, and not at all welcoming to the Restaurant. Beware, after a couple of days he will seat you in the back of the restaurant - which is dark, but cool - which is a bonus. The food is generally ok, but lacks changable options ie same every day. This hotel fails to open all facilities at the same time - not really sure if enough staf employed or just a cost saving exercise! Only one Bar of 3 opens at anyone time. Below ground level swim pool never opened whilst we were there. Treatment rooms also closed throughout whole week. We would not recommed this hotel at all.

We booked a last minute holiday for Easter half term and although we were concerned about some of the reviews we read on this hotel we were pleasantly surprised. Although on the outskirts the hotel has a courtesy bus you can book to take you into the centre of Bugibba to catch the bus or stroll along the front. The room was very comfortable and spotlessly clean. There was entertainment in the bar area every night which was good as there was nothing else nearby. The staff were helpful and there was internet access for our teenage daughter. Food was plentiful but the breakfast was basically the same every day but perfectly adequate. We booked our own trips through a travel agent in Bugibba near the bus station and we got about most places on the bus. We would go to Malta again as we didn't get round the whole of the island but if you have small children this hotel didn't really cater for them.

The infrastructure of the hotel is that of a solid 3 Star rather than a 4 Star which reflects on the rating system in Malta rather than this hotel.

Location is not central to Qawra. We had a car so it was not a problem, but its a fair walk into town and there is not much else close to the hotel. There is a shuttle bus which has to be pre booked.

The set up of the public areas is not great. The ground floor is an open area including reception, the bar, snack bar and small stage for evening entertainment. As a result the bar area lacks any atmosphere and films, which are shown on Tuesday and Thursday, can be drowned out by people in the area drinking, but not watching the film. The live entertainment was good for this size of establishment.

It did not affect us, but the pool area seems very small for a 200 bedroom plus hotel. There is a further pool in the basement, which we took a look at, but it seemed rather dark and unwelcoming down there.

Initially we were given a room which looked out onto a strange central well area facing several other rooms - this was constantly in the half light. We moved when they had an alternative which took a couple of days – this room was fine except the outlook was not great – see pictures. My advice if you are allocated one of these rooms is to go straight down to reception and ask to change. I thought cleaning was OK until I checked under the bed as we were going to make sure we had not left anything. I changed my mind then! Strangely they change towels but do not service the room, including making the bed on Sunday.

Breakfast was a bit basic, completely self service and suffered the normal problem when food is left out under lamps. The evening meal was variable, also self service, with soup, salad, main course and desert. Some dishes were good especially the fish, but the veg was unpalatable so we ate salad instead. We ate out about half of the time in the evening but would probably have got very bored with the offerings otherwise. Lines can form outside the dining room, especially for breakfast - this is probably because they do not turn round the tables quickly enough rather than lack of capacity. You can have a packed lunch instead of the main meal, but don’t bother, its awful!

Bar service in the evening is very slow, normally with a queue forming as they only put on one barman. Not unusual to wait 10 minutes or more to be served but of course, it feels much longer. I seriously doubt all inclusive (unless you get it thrown in as part of the deal) is worthwhile since this is not a resort hotel you are going to be spending most of your time at, and drinks are pretty cheap anyway. There is usually a decent wine on offer at dinner for 6 Euros, far superior to the carafe you would get on all inclusive.

There seemed to be too many niggles, an example of which is that they washed down the area between reception and the front doors between 8am and 9am. Absolutely crazy as it was then slippery at a busy time and a hazard particularly for the elderly in the hotel. There seemed to be a lot of extras they wanted to charge for eg tea in the room, use of the fridge, use of the safe, hire of a towel to use by the pool. On the bright side, some of the staff were very pleasant. Nadia at reception in particular was outstanding - helpful and efficient and always with a smile. Actually, I am not an overly critical traveller and a lot of the niggles with this hotel really could be sorted out with some efficient planning and management. I do not want to give the impression this was an awful experience - far from it, and the pricing was certainly competitive - but if we go back to Malta we will be looking at alternatives rather than going back here.

we stayed at this hotel for a last minute break and after reading some of the reviews were expecting to be dissapointed but on arrival we were shown to two very pleasant rooms that would not have been out of place in hotels that charge twice as much,we had booked two three bed rooms and were not disapointed there was room for 4 beds in one room no problem,as for meals there is always 2 different meats and a fish dish and you can also order from the snack menu and eat that in the resturant if you want,we took a 12 year old and an 8 year old and there was only one day they could not find anything they like at lunch time and the waiter overheard them and asked if the would like to order from the childrens menu and proceeded to reel of a list of selections they ordered chicken nougets and chips when they arrived they were strips of chicken coated in breadcrumbs not the rubbish we have at home,also at every meal we were offered drinks from the bar and wine with our meals we paid a budget price for this all inclusive holiday and were far from dissapointed ,the only downside about this hotel is the location if you do,nt have a car but i know that if you went out of the rear exit of the hotel its about a 10 minute walk to the shops, just a short bit about the entertainment there was something on most nights alright not west end quality but reasonable it kept use amused for 3 nights also if you have to use the internet take you laptop as wifi,s free in the public areas. we used this hotel in feb 2009 and paid £343 for a 3 bedded room for the week and could,nt fault this.

We stayed at this hotel on an all inclusive basis having found a good deal on last minute.com. A taxi from the airport took about 20 minutes. The hotel is not in the best of locations but a 20 minute walk will take you to st pauls bay and onto Buggiba. Rooms are basic, simply furnished but adequate. We had tv with 1 english news channel, cnn!, ensuite bathroom and balcony which looked over onto the pool. The pool was nice with a sunbathing terrace. Meals were all buffet style, except lunch which was table d hote. The food was good but a little repetative. Being all inclusive we had a free bar from 11am -11pm, serving branded beer and local wines and spirits. a caraff of house wine was also served with meals. If i got a similar deal id stay here again, this was our first tase of an allinclusive and we certainly saved some money!

We originally booked for an apartment in the Bella Vista Aparments, but when we arrived it seemed the apartments had been closed for the season - we'd been given a room instead. We complained and were upgraded to half board and given an additional room as there were 3 of us. The rooms were basic - rubbish beds and very small balconys. 1 room smelt damp, the other had a balcony overlooking the kitchen vents so stank of rancid fat if you opened the door. they did have fridges which was a plus. The buffet breakfast and dinners were good and there was always plenty of food and variety. The outside pool was very small and didn't get much sun so not a lot of use, there was an indoor pool as well, but we didn't find it until half way through the holiday. There was a roof terrace which was nice to chill out on, but it could have done with a bar. It was a fairly easy walk to restaurants and the various places around Qawra. We had a hire car and managed to find parking outside the hotel for free on a daily basis.

a clean hotel , with friendly, helpful staff. our flight was late night and the staff was very accommodating to people who had to wait for pick-ups at night. the rooftop sauna was excellent we really enjoyed it and the bar was right there to have drinks while soaking

dont expect 4* its more like 2* food was o.k. but limited choice its the first all inc. ive been on where no fresh fruit was included it had to be paid for,even tomato juice .
its so obvious the managment are trying to cut corners to maximise profit.
staff were well presented and good service though.theres nothing nice to look at around the hotel its very scruffy and sitting outside with drinks on an evenig is a nightmare with traffic hurtling past all the time be very carefull when crossing this road, we would never go back to this hotel.

besides these moans!malta is a lovely place the people are so friendly and theres loads of places to visit with fantastic bus service and very cheap.
beware of timeshare tricksters they are a nuicence and pester you all the time one of them became aggresive when i told him to get off.
the weather in feb is warm and makes a welcome break from our winter.

after reading the web site didnt know what to expect but found the food allright and staff very friendly rooms were clean spent a lot of time on roof top and out and about in malta no sign of rep at all till last day only problem we had was time share people in town square stopped five times in an hour there was plenty to do on a night time and entertaiment was okay as well went to gozo with the tour guide alliance would not recomend this firm at all they were very poor would go back to malta as people are lovely

There are people who will complain about anything and everything, and if I was one of those I would probably find lots to complain about.

";The food was rubbish."; Well, no it wasn't - it suffered from poor presentation, but if you ignore that, and accept the buffet (almost 'school dinners') delivery you will find that the food is quite good.
";There was limited variety on the menu."; So how do you provide choice AND something for everyone? Yes, there was beef on the menu most nights, but for some people that's all they will eat. The food was always edible, was not ";dried up"; and was not ";covered in the same tomato sauce."; The vegetables were prepared with a view to allowing Brits to indulge in the national past-time - complaining about the veg. and only once did we have superb mediterranean style vegetables - and the Brits complained! The potatoes were not ";awful"; - they were double cooked, semi-sauteed/roasted with herbs and were not boring british boiled.

";Breakfast was bad."; Not when we went! A choice of cereals, meats, cake, cheese plus scrambled and fried eggs, tomatoes, sausage, toast (that was toasted to order on a rotary machine, which was a darn sight quicker than some I've experienced) every day. Juices, coffee and tea ad. lib.
";You have to queue to get to the dining room"; - only if you insist on going to dinner 30mins before they close!
";There are only 37 sunbeds for 157 rooms."; - No, there are more sunbeds than will fit round the pool and more upstairs on the roof terrace.
";The place was never 4*"; Well no perhaps not - maybe 3.75* or perhaps 3.175* or .... what does the odd star here or there mean? It was clean, the rooms were cleaned regularly, the air conditioning DID work (if you gave it a chance). OK, the cool box didn't work effectively, but we were warned against hiring it by the reception staff.

";The pool was small"; - perhaps, but we had no problem using it in the height of the season.
There's a super, quiet (if the kids aren't being allowed by their undisciplined parents to splash water everywhere!) roof terrace with a 'compact' jacuzzi and occasional evening (fairly cringeworthy) entertainment.
";The hotel was on a busy junction."; There was a T-junction outside (with an apalling, but interesting, pot hole to catch the unwary or uncaring driver)

";The staff were unfriendly."; NO. The staff were polite and helpful, having to enact the money-saving tactics of the management. OK, Oliver might have been a little overzealous in his position as head of the fruit police, and Dracula took a while to smile, but at the wages they were on, I'm surprised they were able to smile. The younger boy staff were a cross between friendly and surly youth (we have those in Britain, don't we?), and they did get up my nose at times. But even the management were as helpful as they could be within the same parameters.
There is NOT dog excrement everywhere on the back route into town (there are very few dogs!)

";Long walk to Bugibba centre"; not if you used the back door (up to 5.30pm), found the short cut (out of the hotel, turn right, past the restaurant on the corner, through the walkway under the building on the right - and you end up down the way from the back door. Bit more difficult to find on the way back with a few bevvies inside you!) or used the hourly courtesy bus.

Bugibba is a bit like Weston-super-Mare, Southend or any number of tacky British resorts in an oven, but it's not a bad resort - jewellry, glass, 'souvenirs' pound shop (sorry, 1 lira shop), bars, casino.
With no sand (and the sand there is is inhabited by sand flys) the locals set out their towels anywhere - on the slipways, the rocks etc.. leaving the boats to push semi-naked bodies out of the way to embark and disembark.
Traveling by Maltese bus is 'fun'and seemingly disorganised, but its cheap and it gets you there.
Trips are always cheaper booked direct than through the hotel reps. Just go down to Bugibba for a 40% - 60% reduction.
Must trips are Mosta Cathedral, Mdina and Rabat, Valetta and Comina (although there is possibly too little space for the dozens of boats and hundreds of people who visit)
There are probably better hotels and better resorts on the island, but regards value for money at Bella Vista - you get what you pay for.

A tip to keep your battery charger and the air conditioning working when you're out of the room - take a piece of wood or plastic 25mm x 6mm x 65mm with you and insert it after the maid has cleaned the room! (I've only just realised, that's why they weld the key ring up - to stop you taking the 25mm x 6mm x 65mm key tag off!)

Oh and one more thing to be wary of - the guys inviting you to sample the delights of Salina (timeshare) resort. They've visited your home town and know the street you live in (yeah right!) They have two piles of free draw envelopes. The wife gets the free wine and the husband gets the star prize jewellry, which the wife is supposed to persuade him to accept. The couple get driven off to the resort in order that you can claim your free gift and the guy can claim his £2/£10 reward so he can go home (you're his last customer that night/day) never to be seen again until the sun goes down!!! Don't be stupid enough to fall for it. Even though the web reports of the complex are good, why do they have to sink to such low tactics to get people in?

just got back from bella vista the hotel
it is clean and modern
it is on a busy main road and they have just started building opposite pile driving starts at apprx 6 30

the food can best be described has motorway service station frozen vegtables and turkey roll type meats
the only thing they seem to cook fresh is potatoes the bread is normaly hard
if you want fresh fruit or yogurt it is extra ive never known this anywhere else
the fridge is extra but it works from the same plug has tv so goes of when you leave the room
dinner starts at 1745 and finishes at 2000 of a weekend if you are still in the dining room at 2030 you have to pay a suppliment of approx £5
it is about 15 minutes walk to the main part through dirty back streets or about 45 on the main road with a very narrow pavement
this is a 4 star hotel in name only even at dinner you have paper napkins
for a hotel that boasts 157 rooms ours had 4 beds there is only 37 sunbeds around the pool
most rooms only have a view of a wall or someone elses balcony

you have to queue to get in the dining room and to get served with your food twice we had eaten our dinner before getting a drink
all the hotel seems interested in is getting more money from you there are loads of kids space invader type slot machines

all in all i would not recomend this hotel especially now they have started building right opposite