MTA inspects hotel singled out by German tabloid Bild for 'shoddy bathroom'

The pictorial carried pictures showing a room within a three star hotel in the Sliema area having a bathroom in a very shoddy state.  “Although the hotel was not mentioned by name, two of the images led the MTA’s Enforcement department to hone in on one particular establishment, the identity of which was subsequently confirmed by members of the hotel’s management,” MTA spokesperson Kevin Drake said.

Today the MTA enforcement department carried out an extensive inspection of all the 106 rooms within the hotel.  But after the inspections were carried out, it transpired that the photographs in question were probably taken last year, “since, in the meantime the hotel underwent a 5-month refurbishment between November 2009 and April 2010, wherein all the bathrooms in the guest rooms were refurbished and newly installed, with the rooms themselves undergoing a full maintenance programme, amongst others.”

All the bathrooms in the hotel were found to be newly installed, after the refurbishment was carried out following a number of warnings issued by the MTA.

“The Malta Tourism Authority plans to be in contact with the Bild publication in order to clarify a number of issues. The MTA has long been stressing the importance for three star category hotels to upgrade their overall product and service. To this end, the government launched a €10 million fund to co-finance 50% of sustainable tourism projects, and a 3% subsidy on interest rates on loans taken out to refurbish hotels,” Drake said.