Cosy 1 Bedroom in the Heart of Valletta

the only good thing was the location

When I made the reservation, I had not been informed that the accommodation would later request a €200 deposit. This was only communicated to me via email very late at night, stating that if I did not agree, I could cancel the booking within 4 hours — which was impossible, as it was past midnight and I saw the message in the morning. I had already booked with immediate payment and a non-refundable rate. Additionally, in that same email, I was informed that there was a limit to electricity consumption (a certain number of kilowatt-hours), and if I exceeded that, there would be an extra charge, which would be deducted from the deposit. The notification about the deposit came just 2 days before my trip, via a link that led to an external website. I did not trust this link, as it redirected me outside of Booking.com. As a result, I had to go to the company’s office in person so that the deposit could be charged from there, under terms that I had to accept — otherwise, I would have been in Malta without accommodation and wouldn’t get a refund either due to the non-refundable booking and the email I received in the middle of the night. The room was clean, but due to its age and poor maintenance, it looked old and dirty. The locker for the key wouldn’t open at all, and I had to be given a tool by a neighbor who saw me struggling. After about half an hour and with great effort, I finally managed to open it very carefully.

la camera da letto

il bagno sotto non era ottimale

Location was great, very easy to get to with taxi from the airport. Layout of the apartment itself was a little funny but got used to it quickly (bathroom and bedroom were on separate floors, and narrow stairs were a little tricky to navigate with luggage). Aircon worked fantastic, and you can tell the upper floor was recently renovated. Downstairs was typical townhouse, pretty damp due to the city infrastructure itself, so can't really complain there. Host was clear in communication.

Good location

Downstairs bathroom via small spiral staircase. Late check in fee despite using Property Company’s own Airport transfer service . No option to access key via door safe. Fridge froze everything

great location, short walk to centre of Valletta with loads of bars, restaurants, shops...

So many small improvements would make this a truly excellent place to stay: 1. most importantly: better sound insulation (i.e. better windows). This is a noisy location with cars racing on nearby streets on weekend evenings, music from nearby parties - and also a building site across the road, for which builders were shouting loudly every day except Sunday from 7AM until 9AM. 2. the staircase in the centre of the main room has dangerous sharp corners which should really be padded somehow, I very nearly took out an eye on it one morning. (cosmetically it would also do a lot for the whole look of the place if it was painted, and perhaps had some treads added rather than just the raw perforated metal, to make it comfortable to walk on it without shoes 3. the bathroom had no shelves at all. a shelf for a wash bag, plus a shelf in the shower would be great. Also, I don't know who carried out the plastering of the lower part of the wall, but they did a terrible job. so suggest perhaps a rack for drying two towels would be a great addition 4. there are no hooks for jackets downstairs by the door 5. there was no sharp knife in the kitchen, making cooking infinitely harder. All other kitchen equipment was good though. It would be great if the owners / cleaners could leave staple, non-perishable foods from previous visitors (i had to buy olive oil, salt, pasta, rice, nescafe........ which is OK, but I suspect every previous visitor must have done the same, and there's a whole empty cupboard where some of this could easily fit) 6. I had a small issue with cockroaches, which is not necessarily a big deal, but the owners did not send someone to check this out on the day they said they would, so I got up early to accommodate their schedule for no reason. 7.

Good location near to the coast and bars and restaurant’s

The spiral staircase that led to the bedroom and lounge was narrow and steep but that is the style of the houses. Heritage site so they should be preserved.

Location.

I’m pretty disappointed with the rental to be honest. I’ll start with the positive - the location was excellent. But that’s about where it ends. There were so many things wrong with the property that it all added up to a point of dissatisfaction that couldn’t be ignored. The first thing we noticed was that the wrong size bedding was on the duvet and a king/superking were stuffed into and hanging out of a double cover. Only 2 thin pillows were provided and the towels were threadbare and smelt fusty. The ceiling was damp and dropped flaking paint/plaster on us in bed at night and the flat had not been cleaned properly (we were picking up dust and hair on our feet). There were two fridges - one didn’t work at all but was still on and making noise all night and the other froze the fruit we had bought. The bathroom door didn’t close, and there was a water leak from the ceiling above the shower from the morning after we arrived that had clearly been there for some time as there was limescale build up on the tiles where the water dripped (previously botch fixed I assume?) - this meant everything was a little damp/fusty plus we had to listen to the dripping all night as the door didn’t close. Nowhere to dry towels effectively didn’t help. The plugs were dangerous - UK style plugs that had been broken by forcing European plugs into them. Plus a window out onto the main courtyard of the building with no curtain so when residents arrived home at all hours of the morning bright lights shone into the bedroom along side being able to hear everything as though they were in the room with us. I appreciate and want to make clear that we didn’t expect the flat to be perfect - we knew it was an old building and the price was slightly less than some of the alternatives, but to be honest, I strongly challenge the “3 star” booking.com rating. This is budget at best We loved Valletta - but this would not be somewhere I’d recommend to others looking for comfort!