The taxi transfer went smoothly but we had a 20 minute wait outside the apartment for the owners to arrive.
The owners showed us around the large recently renovated 2 bedroom apartment
Which we believed was sparsely furnished. ( only 3 lounge seats for 4 people)
Mark also showed us his book of house rules which guests were warned against using too much water ( emphasis placed on if you do we will bill you or turn water off!) Warned about using too much electricity and where the fans were but to make sure not to have them on for more than 20 minutes,
We found though everything looked great but nothing seemed to be finished off properly, doors did not close, no locks on the bathroom doors and one bedroom window which leaked water during a storm.
The biggest disappointment was the balcony, we chose the apartment because we thought we would be able to sit and enjoy the view over the harbour, We were not able to do this because there is no balcony furniture only a bare unsafe feeling plywood floor, The owner also pointed out not to touch the windows as they could fall out, Indeed 2 window panes were missing and had fallen on the street below and had not been replaced. The view of the harbour is obscured by the boat yard !
On our first evening there we understood why the previous guest had tried opening windows, the apartment was unbearably hot and this was late October, We tried opening doors and putting fans on but we were all bitten by mosquitoes so this was not an option,
We were shown bug spray because Mark said they got bugs in the ensuite. He wasn't wrong! Had to spray and shower away before the shower could be used. Also had the unpleasant experience of seeing a cockroaches in the bedroom.
We tried staying in a few nights watching the tv but needed to open windows because of the heat but could not then hear the tv due to the traffic noise,
We had no change of bed linen. This was less than ideal as due to the heat of the apartment it was needed. Also each guest was provided with 1 large towel and a small cloth no bigger than a tea towel.
The view from our bedroom window was of the roof of the bar bellow there was discarded chairs and other paraphernalia.
Warning to future guests on the Saturday evening the music from the bar below went on until the early hours of the morning this left us feeling very tired the next day.
Despite a specific request to Mark from our initial enquiry to telling him we would need to leave our cases somewhere as we had a late 9pm flight on our departure, which he had replied to our enquiry something could be worked out. The day before our departure after some discussion with the owner he did not seem too pleased about our request! He reluctantly agreed that we could leave our cases in the apartment until 6pm on the day of our departure. The next guests in the apartment were not arriving until 1pm the following day
There was no way Mark was going to let us have use of the apartment after 10:00 am despite us cleaning the full apartment to the same standard as when we arrived and the rainy weather.
When we came back at 6:00pm for the cases one of our party needed too quickly use the bathroom and Mark just point blank said NO as we had only paid for the use of the apartment until 10;00 am! when the second member of our party also wanted to use the bathroom Mark went into full on Basil Fawlty routine of pulling faces and wringing his hands saying he had paid a cleaner to clean! We felt this was a small request with an absolutely outrageous response from the owner! Which left one of our guests distressed.
Mark and his wife had arrived at 10am that morning with lots of cleaning materials obviously they clean their own apartment!
We left with a very poor taste and the experience cast a shadow over our memories of Malta.
Despite all of the above. If the apartment is finished off to a good standard. Much needed repairs to the balcony carried out.Aircon installed and Sufficient bed linen and Towels provided. Toning down of the rules and treating guests with civility And clarifying of guests requests before booking it would enable a more enjoyable stay.