It is with regret to read about the dissatisfaction of these guests as our aim is always to ensure that all guests are well taken care of and that they have a wonderful time in Malta. Trying to think back to the day of these guests’ departure, just as they were leaving, both ladies said that they had had a lovely stay and thanked me for the hospitality, also shaking hands, and so their review comes as a real surprise.
Being in this line of business one has to accept criticism where it's due but the above comments have only now come to light, 6 months after the har grave's stay with us. Had there been issues which needed to be addressed, these should have been presented to us during their stay, and not when our memory of their stay is somewhat foggy and faded.
As we live in the same complex as Yellow, the guests cannot say that we were never around that they couldn’t come forward with their grievances. We manage a number of properties on the island and had we been made aware of the fact that the guests were not content, we would have offered something else, perhaps even an upgrade. If guests feel that the property is not what they had in mind, we would not hold it against them and probably cancel any pending balance that they may have towards the apartment. Infact, most guests, up to the time of their arrival, would have only paid a deposit of 30%, and not the full amount.
Guests stay in our apartments on back-to-back basis, and so maintenance is constant while we also respond to our guests’ requests on an immediate basis (one cannot deny that things may break), and so we find it quite disappointing that any disenchantments with the apartment were not delivered to us and so allow us the opportunity to rectify matters.
The apartment is, as the guests' indicated, a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, located down a flight of stairs (as shown in the pictures to the advert - there is nothing misleading in the description), adjacent to one of the garden areas. The guests were also aware that the spare bedroom had 2 single beds – their request to replace the 2 single beds with a double bed could not be delivered, simply because we do not keep a stock of extra mattresses of that size (admittedly, when putting 2 single beds together takes up more room space than a king size bed). There is also no mention in our advert that the 2 bathrooms are en suites - they are, as the guests indicate, past the lounge area, a mere 5m walk.
The mentioned dehumidifier is used during the winter months as this helps to reduce the humidity in the air in each and every home in Malta. The recorded weather during the guests’ stay averaged 75° (in the shade), hardly the type of weather to collect so much humidity (even if this were operated in the open, the dehumidifier itself is factory programmed for a limited amount of water collection per day and definitely not in the excessive amount described). This would have been like trying to work air conditioning to cool down a room with an open window and then complaining that this is not working well.
It is an absolute untruth that all the appliances are rusty; it comes to us as a very big surprise that the guests actually stayed in such a place if they saw so many shortcomings, also adversely commenting on ALL the furniture, beddings and sheets. It would be to our detriment to leave our apartments in such a state when summer bookings were just around the corner, when other reviews, both before and after these guests’ stay mention a totally different and positive picture.
The grounds are kept in perfect condition all year round, irrespective of whether we have guests staying with us or not (remember, we also live in the same complex, so it does not do us good to allow areas to remain unclean). One correction however, the dog is NOT allowed by the pool area, as indicated in the review, and this area is even locked away by a gate which runs over the koy fish pond bridge, so we cannot see how this could have had any dog droppings.
The sincerity of the contents of this review are unfortunately put to the test in their description of the outside area which they label ‘pleasant enough’ (few other properties offer the unique features of our garden with cascading ponds, bridges, landscaped gardens, specific lighting, 2 gazebos, 2 barbeques, and much more). Others, on home away property 402723, have instead, amongst many reviews, described this ‘garden is a little place from heaven’, ‘garden and pool area are fantastic’, ‘outside space was superb’, ‘garden is beautiful’, ‘garden and the swimming pool were excellent’, ‘magical gardens of the villa’, ‘the apartment, pool and grounds were immaculate’, ‘the property, grounds and pool are stunning’ and many more.
At the same time, here are also some other comments, this time about the apartment itself:- ‘descriptions and reviews promise a lot and you may wonder where the 'catch' is. Well, there isn't one’, ‘we are fussy about where we stay and loved the apartments’, ‘we couldn't recommend this highly enough’, ‘one of the best holiday experiences we have had’, ‘words fail me, as do the pictures on the webpage’, ‘the property well lived up to its description and more!’, ‘the pictures on my camera are ravishing and they do resemble those on the internet’, ‘most perfect place to stay on Malta’, etc.
While we do take umbrage to unjust and unfair criticism, we will look into any complaints to help make our product better. As some of our guests so generously wrote in their reviews, ‘the hosts not only opened their home but their hearts to us’, whereas another declared ‘overall the holiday was a 100% better than a faceless package tour’.
It is with regret that the situation with these guests has come to such a sad end as this is never our intention; a problem attacked at source has more of a chance of being resolved, practically defeating any advantages of such a late review. Still, it is the guests' prerogative to write what they feel (and seemingly when they feel).
In the meantime, we have also tried to contact the guests by phone to help iron out any differences in a diplomatic fashion but these seemingly were not in and never returned our call.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not TripAdvisor LLC.
