HOTEL REVIEW | InterContinental Malta

After a smooth flight on Lufthansa we were swiftly transferred from the airport to the hotel. Upon arrival our bags were handled by the hotel staff while we were brought straight up to the Club lounge (because we had booked a club room) where we would be checked in while having a drink. This probably was smoothest arrival experience I’ve had up to date, having a cup of tea at my hotel within an hour of landing in the country.

The hotel

The InterContinental Malta is located in Saint Julian’s (San Ġiljan), a coastal resort town not too far from Valletta. Unfortunately for such an upscale hotel the surrounding area was a bit of a let-down as it was not the nicest area of Malta, featuring a lot of places where mostly youth goes to party in the night which you wouldn’t expect at the doorstep of an Intercontinental hotel. The hotel itself can also be divided into two main parts, the majority of the building is a typical tourist hotel with lots of rooms around an interior garden and outdoor pool, while the top 3 floors where ‘Club InterContinental‘ where the slightly posher rooms where located which included the access to the club-lounge for snacks and drinks as well as a personalised ‘butler’ service.

The room

When we arrived at the hotel we learned that we got upgraded to a brand-new panoramic suite on of the newly opened two top floors of the hotel. It was the biggest hotel-room I’ve ever been into, at 90 m2 even bigger then my own apartment. The room was subdivided in a separate sitting and dining area, a bedroom with a huge bed and an even bigger bathroom with both a walk-in shower and a jacuzzi bath tub. Unfortunately when we wanted to try out the jacuzzi function in the evening it wasn’t working, we mentioned this to the hotel staff which did everything in their power to get the issue resolved. They first tried resetting the room (it had a lot of home automation, including automatic self-opening curtains), when that didn’t work they offered to prepare us another suite so we could have a bath as they couldn’t get the spare parts before the next day, excellent customer service!

There was also a balcony with some very comfortable sun loungers stretching the entire width of the room, the ideal place to enjoy a beautiful sunset while sipping on a glass of complimentary champagne and nibbling on some fruits from the huge fruit basket. As usual we also had complimentary water bottles and a tea and coffee maker in the room. The soaps and crèmes in the bathroom weren’t the usual Agraria ones you typically found in an Intercontinental hotel but instead they provided us with delicious smelling Acqua di Parma ones and even provided mini bottles of mouthwash.

The club-lounge

The Club Intercontinental lounge could be found on top of the original building, surrounded by a spacious terrace so you could choose between sitting inside or outside. The décor was in the typical Intercontinental style, providing different sections to choose from with proper dining tables on one side, some sofas and low tables at the other side, and a corner where you could enjoy some very exclusive whisky’s (to be paid extra). The lounge offered a magnificent spread of food in the morning, at afternoon tea and pre-dinner canapes while the rest of the day you could still enjoy some snacks and drinks. During the open-bar in the evening the lounge manager was present to help you choose between the wide range of drinks and mix some special cocktails for you.

Hotel facilities

As it was a big tourist hotel there were lots of facilities like several restaurants to choose from, full congress and meeting facilities, a spa and wellness centre, a big fitness centre and both an indoor and outdoor pool. In the centre of the hotel you could find a garden with a waterfall and down the road the hotel had its own private beach where hotel guests could relax in sun loungers or swim in the bay. There was supposed to be a rooftop infinity pool exclusively for Club Intercontinental guests too, yet this wasn’t opened yet when we were staying there.

All in all I very much enjoyed my stay in the InterContinental Malta, any glitch was immediately taken care of by the very friendly and professional staff and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. Thanks to the very well organised public transport you can easily make some daytrips around the island when you are based in this hotel.