Qawra, Sunflower Hotel Reviews

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Good Points: We spent some time at the George pub in Tourist Street and found the staff very friendly. They always greeted us with a smile and we are not the heaviest of drinkers so it had nothing to do with increasing their profit. We enjoyed the Music Quiz held on a Monday evening.

Another highlight was an evening trip to see Malta at night, which involved driving around in a 15 seater bus. The driver gave a brief description of areas as we passed through and we spent half an hour in Valetta followed by a visit to Balzan to a firework festival. The atmosphere here was lovely. The village of Balzan was full to the brim with local people on this eve of a fiesta, one of many nights celebrating a saint. The fireworks were amazing.

Bad Points: We have recently returned from a holiday in Malta. We were booked into the 3* Sunflower Hotel, Qawra on a half board basis. The entire holiday was a complete disappointment.

Our holiday rep was nowhere to be seen on arrival at the airport in Malta. We travelled to our hotel from the airport still with no rep to refer to. There was no rep present at the hotel check-in either. As I had holidayed in the area before, I did not feel it necessary to attend the welcome meeting and at the time we did not feel it was necessary to speak with our rep. Whilst at the hotel, we checked the available times of our rep and found she only visited the hotel between 4.45pm and 5.15pm on approximately 3 days a week. The rest of the time she could be contacted by telephone. When on holiday, it is stifling to find one has to race back to the hotel early evening to speak to the rep when necessary. We discovered this to be inconvenient and it would have been more desirable if the rep had staggered the times of her visits to each hotel. We realise she had other hotels to attend but surely being available at various times at each hotel would have made her more accessible to holiday makers and therefore able to offer a much better service. There was also a note at the hotel stating that the rep was on leave for several days and an emergency number had been left. Why we were not offered the non-emergency services of another rep?

Our first impression on arrival in Qawra was one of disbelief. The whole area was a vast building site. The words concrete city came to mind. As our airport transport neared the hotel we were beginning to pity whoever would be staying in this isolated area, not realising that it would be our accommodation. The road leading to the hotel was a vision of debris and derelict buildings surrounded by building work.

The brochure sells this hotel as a place for the mature visitor. In no way is this an ideal location for this type of traveller. Pavements are virtually non-existent. Where they do exist they are often badly maintained. Travel distances advertised would be more appropriate to the proverbial crow but not to a person. Daily, we had to take care at every footstep not only because of the badly serviced roads but also because of the copious dog fouling of the pavements. A mature traveller would I am sure prefer a more central location to that of the Sunflower Hotel.

On arrival at the hotel reception all guests were told how to use their room keys and then off they went. Only ourselves and one other party were left waiting. We were then told that our rooms were not ready and that we would have to wait. We accepted this without complaint and sat waiting, and waiting, with no explanation. Over 40 minutes later my wife calmly spoke to the lady on reception and said this really was not acceptable as it was now mid afternoon and we had been up since 3.30am that morning and were extremely tired. The lady on reception became very offhand and spoke to my wife in a surly manner, telling her the room would be ready in a few moments and that they were very busy and we would have to wait another 5 or 10 minutes. Eventually, the hotel manager arrived and told us we could go up to our room. There was no apology from the staff at all. We went up to our room to find that it was still occupied by 2 cleaning staff.

Hotel literature in the room stated bed linen would be changed on a weekly basis, we stayed 8 of our original 14 nights at this hotel and our bedding was not changed once. The literature also stated guests should strip their bed if they required it to be changed sooner and leave their dirty linen in a heap. Why not leave a card for guests to note they want their beds changing?

The hotel had provided 3 bins on each floor for the disposal of waste paper, glass and plastic. The hotel literature also stated guests should take their rubbish to the necessary bins and dispose of it there. We noted these bins where down the corridor from our room past approximately 6 other rooms and then around a corner. We did not pay to stay in an hotel and then have to strip our own beds and clear away our rubbish. We left any plastic/glass bottles neatly by the bin for the cleaner to remove from our room. Why not supply the cleaner with separate bags for the litter? We paid for a service, not to service!

The holiday brochure promised entertainment at the hotel. We only witnessed this on one occasion during an evening meal in the hotel restaurant when two men played guitar as we ate, no other form of music was played at any other time during our stay, not even background music as we dined. A television was on constantly in the bar but there was no other form of entertainment. The bar was dark and gloomy and rarely occupied, hence, no pleasing atmosphere.

The rooftop pool area was extremely small and the pool was not as clean as it could have been. The pool closed very early each evening, around 6.30pm and the bar at the pool area closed even earlier at around 5.30pm. Not much of a social scene! The views from this area were not very picturesque. It was impossible to take a photograph from the rooftop pool area without there being several cranes in any image. Views to the front of the hotel looked out on nearby building works and rubble lined streets. Views to the side revealed dereliction and wasteland. Views to the rear, which included views from our balcony, looked out on more dereliction, a field full of scrap cars, not a pretty site! Scrubland stalked by stray cats, on one evening we counted 23 cats, these were encouraged to remain there by a local lady who arrived each day to feed them.

It was necessary to wipe down all seats and the table before sitting out on the balcony as they were constantly covered in dust from the continual building work taking place. We even had to be careful just leaning on the balcony as that was as dirty as the balcony furniture. Some mornings we were awoken as early as 6.00am to the sound of pneumatic drills and other building site noises. We spoke to a resident of Qawra, who told us it is illegal to continue with building work during the summer season, this law is obviously flouted as are other laws on the island. At no time before our holiday were we informed of building work taking place in the area.

We found the restaurant staff to be friendly and helpful. The reception staff however, in particular the lady who first spoke to us on arrival and the manager were rude, unhelpful and lacking in customer care skills. We were not impressed with the managers way of speaking to diners or the way he ordered people to sit for dinner.

Eventually, we felt we could no longer tolerate the circumstances we were in and telephoned My Travel customer service helpline to request a flight home. We were offered flights to either Gatwick or Newcastle, neither of which was convenient to ourselves as we had travelled from Manchester. Had we accepted one of these flights we were told we would have to pay the cost of a charter flight. Not happy with this we requested a move to another resort, again we were told if it was possible we would have to make a further payment. Unfortunately, mid-conversation our telephone card expired and we were cut off.

We immediately returned to our hotel and telephoned another My Travel number, we spoke to a lady who was already aware of our situation, as she had heard of our previous call. We were offered alternative accommodation based in Qawra at the 4* Santana Hotel, a sister hotel to the Sunflower. My wife requested that we view the room before we accepted it, so it was arranged for us to take a look at the room later that same day. My wife agreed with the rep, that if we should accept the room we would incur no further charges and that free transport to the Santana Hotel via a shuttle bus calling at the Sunflower would be arranged for us the following morning at 9.30am. With this in mind we went to see the room at the Santana.

What a change! We were pleasantly greeted by the reception staff who were aware of our arrival. We had a look at the room and decided to accept it. That evening we paid our drinks bill at the Sunflower Hotel reception where we confirmed the arrival time of the shuttle bus for the following morning. We had wasted a whole day of our holiday attempting to resolve this matter.

The following morning after breakfast we again called at the Sunflower reception and spoke to the same receptionist who was in attendance on the day of our initial arrival. I handed in our safety deposit box key and again asked what time the shuttle bus was due. The receptionist, who was standing next to the manager at the time, looked at me blankly and exclaimed, you are leaving? I find it impossible to believe the receptionist was not aware of our imminent departure as a rep had spoken to staff at the hotel regarding our move. The receptionist then told me the bus was due at 9.30am.

After standing waiting for the shuttle bus in the hot sun for over 15 minutes, it was now 9.45am, the manager came out of the hotel to shut the door and my wife politely asked him if the bus was on it's way, as we had been told it would arrive by 9.30am. He did not look at my wife but said he would phone and see if it was on its way, he went back into the hotel slamming the door behind him. By 10.05am, some 35 minutes after the bus was due, the bus had still not arrived. I went inside the hotel in time to see the manager disappear through a doorway. I asked the receptionist if the bus was on it's way, she made a telephone call and then said it would arrive soon. I commented on the fact that the manager did not have the courtesy to relate to us the results of his phone call. The receptionist just shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. I went back outside to my wife and shortly afterwards the shuttle bus arrived. We were not given a questionnaire to complete by either the hotel staff or our rep.

We spoke to several guests of our dissatisfaction with the Sunflower hotel, it's staff and location, many agreed with our comments. In particular, two young girls who wrote a lengthy complaint on a Sunflower questionnaire, which they allowed us to read. They too complained of the attitude of the staff, the lack of entertainment at the hotel, having to pay Lm 1.25 (£1.94) per day for a cooked breakfast even though they were on half board, the uncleanliness of the pool and the resort being lacking as a whole ie no nightlife for the younger person. Whilst resident at the Santana, we also met a family of guests from the Sunflower who had spent all day at the Santana. A lady from this family said they had been at the Santana all day as there was nothing to do at the Sunflower and it was too depressing to go back there, as there was nothing to do other than sit in her room.

Our experience at the Santana was one of complete contrast. We found all of the staff to be very pleasant, always ready with a smile and wanting to be of help. It was a much better atmosphere and made what was an unpleasant holiday more bearable.

When I visited Qawra over 10 years ago, I found it to be a very enjoyable place to visit but things have changed dramatically. The resort of Qawra is in decline. Many of the locals are intent on taking as much money as they can from the gullible tourist. We were warned by fellow holidaymakers to check our change when shopping and especially when travelling by bus. We felt as though we had to be constantly on our guard. A resident of Qawra told us that local rumour is major hotels are to be bulldozed and skyscrapers will take their place. Unbelievably, he also said the resort will be closing for 4 years whilst regeneration takes place. He purchased property there 8 years ago when it was a good investment but now he is finding it very difficult to sell as the area has deteriorated so much.

We met up a few times with guests from the Palm Court Hotel, Qawra. They told us several rooms had been burgled at this hotel during the week and this had been going on for many weeks. One guest on arrival put his luggage in his room, went to the reception for a safety deposit box key and on returning to his room found it had been ransacked. What a start to your holiday!

The Santana Hotel literature contained an advertisement for a local store named Craft Point, opposite the hotel. The advert offered, a 15% discount on all gifts and souvenirs purchased. We visited this store wishing to buy several gifts, which we took to the cashier who told us we would be offered only 5% discount. My wife queried this and said the hotel advert was offering 15% discount. The cashier said we could have 15% discount but only on certain items, he also said the discount was only available after spending a certain amount of money. Upon returning to our hotel we checked the advert only to discover the cashier had lied and was attempting to deceive us. We left the store without purchasing these items.

We booked a trip costing Lm 31 (£48.19) with Captain Morgan Tours, this company seem to have conquered the tour market on Malta. The tour involved us being picked up at our hotel, a morning boat trip to the Grand Harbour, lunch at another hotel, an afternoon boat trip above & Below) and return travel to our hotel. We did everything except the last boat trip as this was cancelled by the company. We were told we could make this last trip at our own convenience. We visited the tour operators office to arrange the last leg of our trip and were told we would have to make our own way back to the hotel. My wife disputed this as we had paid for this service. We were then told if we did not want to do this we would be offered a refund of only Lm 6.50 (£10.10). Fortunately for us we still had time to make the trip but people who didn't would have been offered only a partial refund for something beyond their control. We spoke to a couple from Cardiff who had booked a trip with the same company and paid Lm 60.00 (£93.27) only to have the trip cancelled by the company and be offered a refund of only Lm 40.00 (£62.17). How unfair!

I bought 2 bottles of water from a shop fridge. The cost of the water was advertised on the fridge as 20c. I waited for change from 50c and was told there is no change as there was an extra charge of 5c for 'cold' water. We would have paid 25c for the water without question as we had been charged between 12c-50c for the same size bottle in various locations, incidentally our hotel charged 50c. Little things like this underhand way transactions are made do not endear you to the local way of life.

Touts who pester people on a daily basis constantly swarm the area around the bus terminus at Qawra. They offer so-called free this and free that, again we were informed by a local resident that these touts were giving nothing away as what they were offering was free anyway. I mentioned this to one of the touts who shouted loudly after me, we've got a clever one here!

Tourist Street, a main street leading to the bus station was deserted come Midnight and during the evening many bars were empty or had 1 or 2 couples sitting outside. Our room at the Santana was a corner room with 2 bars opposite, we were pleased to see some life in the area, all music ceased come Midnight and the bars closed. There was a bar called Hannibal's, which seemed quite lively, across from out hotel. We could hear the DJ doing his best to entertain the small number of visitors in the bar. We wondered why there were never many people present, as he seemed to be working hard to attract custom. We decided to go one evening and discovered they only served warm bottled beer. No wonder it hardly ever had any patrons!

We felt confined to the resort as buses ceased to run at about 6pm. We made a day trip by bus to Gozo. On our return, a couple alighted the bus at Mellieha bus terminus and got off at Qawra, a journey of about 45 minutes. They asked the time of the last bus back to Mellieha and were told it would be at 6pm. It was then 5.45pm so they crossed the road and waited for another bus to take them back to Mellieha, so much for touring the island and seeing something different! Their only other option was to take a taxi. We had been warned about the local taxi drivers. Either they do not have meters or if they do have meters they don't use them. Personally we never took a taxi anywhere, despite being besieged by taxi drivers whilst waiting at bus stops. One taxi driver returned to pester us several times in the hope of a fare. A holiday maker told us of how she was harassed by a taxi driver who initially offered to take her the distance of a 50c (78p) bus ride for Lm 6.00 (£9.33), eventually dropping his price to Lm 3.00 (£4.66) before driving off without a passenger. During the day, buses are frequent and at most cost 50c but passengers take their life in their hands. We heard from one couple who found the experience so frightening they got off a bus mid-journey. Passengers were often heard gasping loudly in disbelief at the erratic driving technique of the bus drivers and other motorists. We usually hire a vehicle when on holiday, I am an experienced driver, it is a major part of my job but I did not want to take the risk of driving amongst very unpredictable Maltese road users. We were told there was sometimes a late night bus but that it was unreliable and that you were lucky to get on it if it did turn up. Another taxi, maybe!

All in all, this was a holiday experience never to be repeated and we will certainly not be returning to Malta. We feel compelled to make other tourists aware of our experience and it is our intention to publish the details of this holiday on the Internet along with many photographs of the hotel and the surrounding area. They certainly differ from those in the holiday brochure.

Please do not feel we only complain when things are bad. We have used My Travel several times in the past and have experienced very enjoyable holidays. On our return we have made reference to these on the Internet giving very favourable reviews. People often put up with bad situations when on holiday, saying that they will complain when they get home, only to do nothing about it once they have returned. We feel our major annual holiday was a complete let down and spent many days in Malta looking forward to our return home. We have returned with a feeling of despondency.

General comments: The world is a big place and we wanted to experience somewhere different so we went to Malta, what a big mistake!

We love everything about Greece, the climate, the people, the culture, the food and will probably return there in the future. Our advice is to give Malta a wide berth!