Hotel cleanliness poor in rooms, when I arrived there were no pillows on bed and the floor was black and not cleaned once during my stay.

Hotel food average, staff in restaurant rude.

Hotel location ok once you knew where you were going otherwise a bit hard to navigate.

Hotel staff some ok but were mostly rude and unhelpful.

Theres a lot of bad reports about this hotel on here, I would just like to say, simply put, find a better hotel for the same price and I'll be surprised.

No, its not the Hilton. The staff aren't exactly the most friendly, probably because we (I) pay a pittance for the accommodation and so they get such little pay!

If you're after luxury or fussy, don't go, pay twice or three times as much and go somewhere else. If you're willing to put up with a few bits and bobs for a very cheap holiday then book it straight away.

I got one week all inclusive, plus flights etc for just over

I was very concerned prior to arrival at this hotel due to the derogatory comments I had read on these forums. However I was perfectly happy with the cleanliness of my room and was happy that the room was cleaned every day of our stay with fresh towels also provided daily.

The food was good and varied though, if I were to be ultra picky, I would have liked to have had a choice of cold meats and fruit at breakfast.

It would have been helpful if a small street map had been supplied with the location of the hotel as it took quite a while to find your way around. Good job I have homing pigeon instincts!!

We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful though other people who were slagging them off need to look to their own manners before having a go at the staff.

The pool was a tad on the small side though this was made up for by the child free zone up on the roof. A large jacuzzi was also located on the roof for a refreshing dip between bouts of roof roasting.

The complex of 4 hotels put on varied entertainment though the resort centre was also well catered for.

I would definately visit this hotel again. Although nowhere near the best it is equally nowhere near the worst I have stayed in. It offered excellent value for money.
We spoke to a lot of others staying here and they were as mystified as us as to why this hotel gets so many bad write ups.

Well what can I say??? This hotel is atrocious!!

Me and my parents went at the end of July for a week. The family who was next to us in the hotel booked the hotel for two weeks and ended up paying

Being on half board meant we could eat at the hotel but we only breakfast twice and dinner most nights. The restaurant manager was pleasant and most of the restaurant staff were too but quickly cleaned away the plates as soon as your knife and fork were put down. The choice of food was ok if you liked most of the stuff on the menu but as Mary has problems with her stomach she stuck to the salads.

Our room could have done with more cleaning and the sheets changed more than twice on our stay but we appreciated the cleaners had a busy time of it.

The reception area was clean which made up for it.

The location was ok once you found your way around but there wasn

Stay clear of this "HELL HOLE" if at all possible.

HOTEL:looks lovely when you arrive but the bedrooms are drab,shabby & dirty,it needs a total overhaul.I was glad of the ceiling fan but was scared that while I was sleeping I would be decapitated as it was so old & rickety!Some of the other holiday makers were alarmed to find one night that cockroaches had taken residency in their bedrooms,the hotel staff were helpful NOT

STAFF:Some people in these reviews comment on holiday makers not using manners or being polite & hence this is maybe the reason for the rudeness of the staff in this hotel.RUBBISH,I am a very pleasant,polite woman & it got me nowhere.The staff were bloody rude,the drinks waiter looked down his nose at you,the serving staff hardly spoke or smiled & cleared your table while you were still eating,leaning over grabbing whatever they could. The reception girls were ignorant & sour faced. The guys who show you to your table however were brill.

FOOD:The food was good,lots of selection.The only downside was the salad bar which was interesting - the flies loved it.....

DRINKS:An absolute nightmare,you have to queue twice for ages,especially in an evening.The system they use is appauling,the staff cant be bothered & are also sour.

ENTERTAINMENT:Oh dear this really was the pits,one night there was an ancient duo playing,one was singing,the other was playing the organ!!!! Frightening
Old entertainers singing old songs badly every night,you cant even have a few too many pints to make them sound better because it takes so long to get served you cant be bothered. Maybe thats the hotels plan. Molly Malones pub & The Steeples are also shabby & lack any atmosphere the staff here are also very unhappy in their chosen career.

Hooray,I've just thought of a good point..........
The flight home was wonderful

The Santa Maria is a very basic hotel, but even still the standard of cleanliness could be improved. Our sheets were not changed during one week which I thought was quite poor, I was going to complain and asked for the sheets to be changed but by that point we only had a few more nights and so I thought, what's the point.

Having stayed in several hotels with buffet style service I thought the food was quite good, considering it isn't a la carte. There was a roast meat every day which was always nice and there was quite a range of hot dishes. There were 3-4 choices of desserts which weren't bad especially the ice cream. At lunch there was only 2 or 3 hot dishes to choose from, so if you are half board you will get more choice if you have the evening meal. I found that the San Anton restaurant was a lot quieter than the Santa Maria, as it is bigger and I think they serve the same food every night so otherwise no real difference. The breakfast was a full cooked English, cereal and bread rolls, but not fruit or yogurt which was a bit limiting.

The hotel is about 5-10 minutes from the centre of Bugibba, the shops and bars there and of course the sea. The location is not good if you like to go out clubbing as it is a long way from where all the clubs are in Saint Paul's Bay, and taxis in the early hours are extremely expensive. I would recommend going on an organised bar crawl if you do want to go out.

I found that only one member of the restaurant staff was friendly the others were all rude and clearly didn't want to be there. Unfortunately I found the same with the reception staff. The housekeeping staff were quite cheery and always said Good Morning.

I didn't really get involved in any of the entertainment, but the bingo was supposed to be quite good and there was quite a lot of stuff put on throughout the day and evenings.

I would go back because it was very cheap so good value as the hotel was just somewhere to stay and eat.

If you want 4* luxury, look elsewhere. If you want comfortable accommodation, good food and excellent value for money, the Santa Maria fits the bill.

The hotel could do with re-furbishment as fittings are past their best - but then it might cost more!

Good location from which to explore the islands.

The pool is surrounded by tall buildings and sun is therefore limited.

The hotel is in the town but 5 mins from the promenade.

The restaurant staff were very warm and helpful. The reception staff were not always of sunny disposition but OK overall.

Entertainment not our taste but if you are into Bingo, you are well provided for. Some good evenings though, in fairness.

We had an excellent holiday at a bargain price.

we stayed 1 week all inclusive, and were glad we did not book 2 weeks !

The food was abismal, CHIPS WERE ROCK-HARD, POTATOES EVEN HARDER, breakfast was same every day,NEVER ANY FRUIT AT ANY MEALS- apart from some unappetising slices of yellow melon on a couple of occasions only !. I started eating bread rolls with cheese and ham for every meal, until i found an unspecified brush bristle/hair type of object baked into the bottom of a roll.

The only decent edible meat was "gammon",salty and possibly pre-formed meat, which the chef dealt out in microscope slide thinness, which was served 3 nights out of seven.

It took me days for me to get my appetite back

We reported the ceiling fan was wobbling and that we were scared it may fall on us, to be told it would be fixed if deemed dangerous. I believe that most room fans are the same, spoke to someone who had been there 2 years before and they had the same problem.Fan was never fixed.

For the last two and a half days of the holiday, the cold water kept going off for hours at a time without any sorry or explanation. Great when you have been to the loo and it wont flush, especially since there is no ventilation in the bathroom.

Someone had either by mistake or deliberately left a sink plug in and left the tap open, since on one occasion,water was running down a wall and along the corridor, ENTERTAINMENT at last. If the walls were studied, it could be seen that leaks like this must be common.

The disco on weekend nights was great though. Wife and myself had it all to ourselves, and the young bar lad even fetched his cd collection in for me to pick music.

Most of the staff were pretty friendly, but some of it wore thin when some behind the bar recognised us as all inclusive/no cash tips, and then they would get the drinks orders wrong half the time and not bother with eye contact.

Dining tables so uncomfortably close together
that you had to apologise every time you moved out of your seat, so you did get to know everyone intimately!.We tried eating as a group of 4, but it was too squashed up

The hotel rooms were a bit drab but were cleaned each day and we had clean towels daily. The fittings & furnishings were a bit on the worn side, as was the decor, but it was only somewhere to sleep and we did have a nice view of the pool.
The hotel food was excellent with plenty of variety and good portions.
The hotel location was good, only a short walk into the centre of town and there were lots of bus stops just a stroll away, so you can enjoy the malta bus experience. It's fab and cheap.
All the hotel staff are hard working and friendly. You only have to ask and if you are polite to them they are always polite in return. It's called "manners", which some holiday makers leave at home when on holiday.
One look at the hotel entertainment board and you can see its geared up for the older guest. That's ok though, because there is plenty to do and see for the younger generation, as we found out, like the spaghetti junction bar across the road, where we watched the football and had a laugh with the staff.