we were told the venus has air conditioned rooms, is this right

We was in room 210 and yes it had aircon that YOU controlled unlike Qwara palace the hotel controlled it here and took a lot of complaits (ie not very good) The day we left the Venus they had just started to install a unit into the dinning area.We went in May and to be honest the dinning area was boiling due to the heaters keeping the food hot so this should now be installed and a great help at meal times.

Thanks for the info Saturn 6. You have now stayed at both. Which do you prefer bearing in mind what you have said about the aircon?

Thats easy Qwara Palace.The coffe/cake shop is a regular evening call for the locals and the food rooms and the place istself is in a much higher class than the Venus.If you want cheap and cheerful (you pays what you gets) then go to the Venus but if you want a much better class then go for the Qwara.Which ever you go for have a walk to the other they are less than 10 minutes walk apart.

Thanks, but you were wrong about difference in cost, its £526 extra for 2 weeeks for 2 of us, so it'll be the venus i'm afraid.

All I could go on is when I went and price quoted.We paid £384 thats half board for the both of us from Manchester 4 weeks ago.At first we where put in the Palm Court then I read up on it on this site so I rang them back they said "Would I like to go to the Venus a hotel thats due to open on the !st of May or would I like to pay a few pounds more and go into the Qwara Palace.Me like a fool thinks the Venus is a new hotel plus the fact I had stayed before at the Qwara went for the Venus.It was not till we arrived due to the fact nobody new anything about the Venus did I find out after talking to rep that the Venus was the Rubens and had some work on it .Sorry for any confussion.

MaltaBargains and the Venus Apartments are budget category and that is exactly what you get. The apartments are habitable, the food is edible (though nowhere near restaurant quality) but that is all. However, in the duration of one week, the lift broke down (there are six floors) and the hot water boiler died. Beware though, anyone with a delicate back; the mattresses are old and can cause all sorts of problems.

For the couple intending to honeymoon here; think again!
Not sure if this applies to all the apartments but the beds in ours were single beds. OK, they can be pushed together but it still leaves an uncomfortable gap between the two, plus the obvious the danger of disappearing between them! Not the best way to spend a honeymoon.
Don't know how many honeymoons you are intending to have but a little more money for a hotel in St.Julian's would be much better. St.Julians is ideal for a honeymoon (or Sliema even). Malta obviously is great once you get away from Bugibba/Qawra.

Thankyou again for your advice on tthe Venus. We are aware that it may not be the best hotel in the world, but we are on a budget. We have heard so many different things and appreciate your advice.
P.S( Pendar) to the remark about how many honeymoons we are going to have-we are having one!We are going to enjoy it too!!

Well, I hope it turns out well for you and you have a great time. At least you have the better of the two places (Venus/Palm Court Hotel).

We stayed at The Venus Apart-Hotel in August 05 for a week, and after reading such reviews about the hotel and it's infamous sister hotel : The Palm Court, I was worried to say the least. We paid £260 that included flights, accommodation, dinner and breakfast so I was just hoping that the room was clean.
We got there ok with British Jet, the flight was slightly delayed, the reps were well organised at the airport and the transfer was swift which was a relief as it was now past 3am local time.
The room was all that we could have asked for given the price we paid, the room and bathroom was clean, both fans worked, the sheets were hole-less and without stains so we were quite relieved.
We didn't spend much time at the hotel but we ate there every day for breakfast and dinner and while it was basic it was perfectly edible and enough for us to have more Cisk beer money! Catering wise there were a couple of things that were slightly not right (tea spoons were quite dirty, carvery sometimes was a bit cold).
The pool area was fine, there were not many sun beds always available and the sunshine only tend to go cover half of the area. The pool and surrounding area was clean which more than can be said to the pools of the Palm Court when we had a look over there (you couldn't see the bottom it was so dirty!).
We did not go to any "entertainment" evenings at the Palm Court as there was more than enough to discover in the areas of Buggiba.
All in all at £260.00 per person, DBB + flights in August, it was an absolutely bargain, you pay for what you get but it's clean and we weren't sick!

I am visiting venus hotel in malta this week and was wondering if anyone know if the rooms have hairdryers???