Barceló Fortina Malta

Absolute poor show of hotel..you need to book 24 hours in advance to use sun loungers at pool..staff are extremely rude.for the money you pay for this hotel.i have stayed all over the world and never heard of this before.i would certainly not recommend the barcelo..i am in in room 745.

5 star prices but definitely not 5 star treatment. Where do I start… The staff were terrible, in particular the reception staff were not helpful at all. Anything that was asked seemed to be a great deal of inconvenience. The Italian reception girl was rude and customer service was poor. This definitely didn’t wasn’t the experience we were looking for and would not return. We had the do not disturb sign on the door and staff entered in the evening time even though the house keeping had already cleaned the room earlier that day. The room was dull and no sun on the balcony. One positive was the bed was comfortable. The fire alarm went off 3 separate occasions in our room. Also a building site next block with a lot of noise. The pool was a joke. It was across the street, it’s not actually part of the hotel. The staff in the beach club/pool are rude too. The pool had to be booked the night before and u have to pick either an a.m or p.m slot or u were not guaranteed a sun lounger. It was hugely inconvenient. Even after booking some of the sun beds were in complete shade and others didnt have an umbrella and was fully exposed to the sun in a heat wave, no happy medium… The indoor pool was closed. The spa dressing rooms had mould on them and paint peeling off the walls badly in need to be updated. The gym area had no water machines. The area itself was filthy with rubbish everywhere including outside the beach club/ pool. Breakfast was nice but staff let it down. In particular a lady supervisor giving out to her staff infront of the customers this happened more than one occasion during our stay

We stayed at this well located hotel for 5 nights to celebrate our 56th wedding anniversary. It was a memorable visit thanks to the hotel facilities, wonderful/helpful staff, perfect room and great views across the water of Valletta. Overall an excellent clean hotel, good breakfast selection and excellent service throughout.

Njoyed our 2 week stay here. A luvly warm friendly welcome from Beverly at reception also met Francesco and Nora (the wee GEM) were also friendly and helpful. We were early for checking in due to our flight, so left our luggage in house and went for a walk about, we were later called to say room early, so a easy checkin from the luvly reception ladies. Given our room 0946, with a fantastic balcony with a hot tub, dining table, sun loungers, and a comfy sofa. We had a coastal view, watched all the boats, yachts and cruisers race out to get to Gozo first. Our room was large, bright and spacious spacious. Our room cleaned daily to a very high standard, with a turndown service in the evening. Breakfast was fantastic, with the usual Barcelo items on offer, and the luvly Italian Chef who did my poached eggs perfectly every day, Grazie to him :) along with his omelette's scrambled eggs and fried, also the usual cereals, fruit juice, cheeses, pastries etc. and hot food. Floor staff also friendly and hardworking, no dishes left on tables for long ,they were always on the ball. We visited both restaurants across the road, we used the lift / stairs one evening, passing by the Spa, gym, treatment rooms enroute. In the Manta we got a table by the sea with great views, also Tora Asian Restaurant again a great location overlooking the sea. We only did b & b, as we like to support local restaurants, cafés, and bars. Only downside was the small sunbed area across the road,for Barcelo guests use (it's within the restaurant area) which was away from pool area, and to visit you had to give 24 hour notice to use, which is also not ideal, we didn't visit the area. Hotel is in a great quiet area, away from the busy ferry area, a great shopping centre The Point Mall, a few minutes walk away, with stairs and lift available or walk past car park for ground floor entry. A EuroSpar and a M&S small food hall, ideal for water, wine etc. also various designer shops and cafes, worth a visit. Sliema is a luvly area, has fantastic restaurants to visit, also offers lots of boat/ferry/taxis to visit Valletta, again worth visiting. Also walk to St Julian's, a very much busier area than Sliema, but we preferred our area. Again we thoroughly enjoyed our Barceló stay, a first time visit to Malta for me. We always stay in a Barcelo whenever we can, when we travel, as always guaranteed a great stay. Staff were always engaging when passing reception daily, also the concierge outside said hola. Gracias to you all. :) :) :)

We had a lovely stay overall, but I think future guests should be aware of the restrictions at the lido and pool, as these weren’t clear to us before booking. Although complimentary access to the lido is included, sunbeds cannot simply be used on a first-come, first-served basis. They have to be reserved in advance access is limited to allocated time slots, 9am-2pm or 2pm to 6pm. They come around and ask you to leave after your time slot is over even if sunloungers are available elsewhere. Those ones are for other paying guests not for hotel guests. We also found that bottled water and other drinks purchased outside the lido are not allowed in the pool area, which came as a surprise. You have to buy water there which included a service charge and worked out at over €5 for each bottle. In the heat you can imagine how much water you will need. These rules significantly affected our experience because we expected to be able to use the facilities more freely. If we’d known about these restrictions before booking, we would have taken them into account and booked a different hotel. The hotel itself was enjoyable, but I hope this information helps other guests know what to expect before they travel.