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Reviews of Gillieru Harbour Hotel

3 out of 5
Gillieru Harbour Hotel
Church Square, St. Paul's Bay

Reviews

7.6

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 26 out of 116 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 48 out of 116 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 29 out of 116 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 8 out of 116 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 5 out of 116 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

8.0/10

Staff & service

8.2/10

Amenities

7.0/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

6/10 Okay

Richard

Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This hotel has some good things and bad things, good is the location and not noisy ( except one night with load birthday party lasting till midnight). But the rooms are not great and charging 3 euros a night for safe and it’s tiny not attached to a wall, when most don’t charge now. Also spent most of holiday with poor cold showers with low water pressure. Took 4 complaints to get someone to respond. They need to sort water problems and better customer service. Also standard of painting in rooms is poor and basic furniture.
Stayed 6 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Patricia

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Position right on the sea front
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2023
Response from Matthew S on 10 Jul 2023
Thank you for your kind review and we are so happy to hear that you had a great stay with us!

8/10 Good

Kody

Stayed 3 nights in May 2022
Response from Matthew Spiteri on 1 Jun 2022
thank you for your kind review kody

10/10 Excellent

Taher

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
( s)Very nice hotel. Staff very polite and restaurant very good food. Nice spacious room, clean toilets. Nice, quite area. You can ,almost’ jump to the sea from your balcony!! But don’t try it 😄. (-)The restaurant is a bit on the expensive side, especially orange juice which was a whopping €4 😳😲
Stayed 3 nights in May 2022

10/10 Excellent

Tony

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
My Review
Very enjoyable stay. Friendly staff throughout. Continental breakfast included full English. Hotel spotlessly clean throughout. Nice medium sized pool. Only downside was tea coffee facilities in room was not being replenished daily. Also had cream pots and not milk no good with tea. Location was excellent base for the night life but a peaceful 15 minute walk away. I would have no hesitation going back.
Stayed 7 nights in May 2022

10/10 Excellent

vincent

Travelled with family
All great.
Excellent reception.rooms very good,ihad a huge balcony.with the best views of at Paul's bay.breakfastwas good. Value for money.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2021
Response from Matt Spiteri on 20 Jan 2022
Dear Vincent, Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing the Gillieru Harbour Hotel for your stay with us. We are pleased to read that it was a pleasant one. We look forward to your next stay!

8/10 Good

PHEI

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2021

10/10 Excellent

HENRY

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2020
Response from GM on 19 Aug 2020
Dear Henry, Thank you for your review. We are very pleased that you enjoyed your accommodation with us. Hope to be able to host you again in the near future.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Pros - Ok location, with free parking. Reception staff pleasant. Cons - Hotel is currently a building site, swimming pool is empty. Can hear drilling from early morning. Balcony doors screwed shut so can’t get any fresh air if you wanted! We have been subjected to abuse from a small thin man with glasses on for the entirety of our trip! On arrival our room was incorrect - 2 beds in a room for a family of 4. This was quickly corrected. We went out for the day, came back to being abused for leaving our room. We had absolutely no idea what had happened whilst being out, and was treat appallingly with young children present! After finding factual information regarding the self-isolation which clearly stated ‘persons arriving after 13:00CET into Malta must self quarantine for 14 days’ it was apparent this wasn’t us - we were in Malta prior to this yet the man in question would not listen or look at what we had to show. Each and every time we have left the hotel we have been abused, the man has screamed at us across the hotel telling us to return to our room etc. Again each time we have offered to show our arrival time into Malta - each time this was disregarded. The room we were told to ‘live’ in was not adequate to spend a day in, never mind 14 days. You were complete bullies, and thought you could demand fees for a 14 night stay including food. No! Me nor any of my family will ever step foot in Malta again! You ruined our trip out of greed!
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2020

8/10 Good

Miss Julie

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Christmas break
The Gillieru hotel was very clean and spacious rooms. The breakfast was plentiful and very good but could have been organised a bit better. The reception staff Goran was fantastic and couldn't do enough to help. Always there with a pleasant smile and professional attitude. The cafe and reception area very cosy.
Stayed 11 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent location and view - close to sea, town and bus stops
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This is a lovely hotel that is very clean, good beds, great balcony views and central location. There are good choices at breakfast. The only complaint is that the restaurant karaoki should finish earlier for people needing to sleep to get up early for flights. Sadly some people think that they have a good voice.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Andrii

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cool stay in wonderful place
Just great rest. Clean, calm, lovely with very good breakfast and unbelievable seaview. Additional thank you to the administration for high-level service and priceless advice.
Stayed 2 nights in May 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Nice older hotel. Very clean, nice breakfast. Cold pool and pool bar wasn't open when we were there. Not much in the area but 2 very good restaurants close by. Hotel restaurant is good too. But no shops or bars within close vicinity you have to walk 20 mins. Hotel is close to boat tours and hop on bus
Stayed 7 nights in May 2019
Response from Max Gatt on 3 Jul 2019
Thank you for your review, we really appreciate your feedback

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great view over bay, clean and comfy. Fridge but no minibar.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
every thing was lovely especially Maryrose who was exceptional
Stayed 7 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great place eccellent staff view at breakfast supurb
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Dainius

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Good price
Good price
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Colin, Upminster

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Great little hotel, good location, helpful staff, rooms basic but clean and in good condition
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018
Response from Max G on 23 Dec 2018
Dear Colin, I thank you for your review and hope to hosting you again in the near future.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lovely hotel and close to the bay.
Would have been better if we had tea and coffee facilities in our room. The staff are amazing and the new restaurant and bar is great. Some of the rooms need an upgrade but the hotel itself is great
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2018
Response from Max G on 17 Oct 2018
Dear Guest, Thank you for your review we really appreciate it. Tea and coffee facilities are being delivered and we are hoping to start renovations in Jan 2019 Regards

8/10 Good

Ray, Sheffield

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
In harbour very good pasition
Lovely hotel situated in a good area close to hub of town
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2017
Response from Gillieru on 28 Nov 2017
Thank you for your feedback. We hope to welcome you again to our hotel in the near future.

10/10 Excellent

jo, Hastings, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Perfect for my requirements.
I wanted a quiet, very clean hotel in a lovely area and the Gillieru Hotel was perfect for my requirements. The staff offer excellent and friendly service and are always ready to answer one's general enquiries re: buses, etc. My privacy was respected e.g. I needed only to place the 'do not disturb' sign on my door when I wanted just to rest and relax in my room. I was on bed and breakfast basis and the breakfast provided was very good. I would definately stay at this hotel again. On one occassion I lunched at the Gillieru Fish Restuarant which was excellent.
Stayed 5 nights in Oct 2017
Response from Gillieru on 28 Nov 2017
Thank you for your positive feedback. We look forward to welcoming you back to our hotel in the near future.

4/10 Poor

James, London

Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Not too bad hotel
The hotel itself is fine, the staff were friendly enough however one of the night staff were fairly lazy and unhelpful. The room stank of cigarette smoke, after a few days of opening the windows whenever possible it improved, but still wasn't great. Additionally there was no shower curtain in the room so the water went everywhere whenever the shower was used. Lastly, the hair dryer would only work for about 30 seconds of continual use before it over heated. It was also tied into one of the desk drawers which meant it couldn't be used away from there and the only plug it would reach was the one the fridge was using. A bit of rearrangement of plugs sorted the issue, but it was something I wouldn't expect to be dealing with.

6/10 Okay

bubbles, united kingdom

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
our trip to malta
the hotel was clean tidy and the staff were very nice and friendly,the beds were reasonably comfortable and the shower and toilet facilities were clean and fresh.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
Good location near main square over looking the sea located on bus routes

6/10 Okay

Sylvie, UK

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
lovely location
lovely to be right next to the sea in a quiet part of town

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Good value, no complaints.
This is an adequate hotel with good facilities although it is a bit dated. The sea views are it's selling point and it is set in a quiet area while being a pleasant stroll away from the busy town centre. Breakfast had an ample selection of hot and old items. The staff we met were all very friendly and helpful. We got great value for money.

6/10 Okay

Aidan, London

Liked: Cleanliness
Cheap but okay
For the price, this hotel is perfectly adequate. Linen and towels are quite rough, breakfast was buffet style but very low quality. Staff are cheerful and polite.

6/10 Okay

Helen, Wales

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Reception matters
Welcome on arrival excellent (receptionist John), less happy with subsequent staff on reception. Fridge/cooler wouldnt keep milk fresh for more than 24 hours. Breakfast drinks awful, tea & coffee horrid. Very off opening hours for pool bar. All in all however, good value for money.

10/10 Excellent

laura, essex uk.

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lovely hotel with very friendly & helpful staff
Clean rooms, nice pool area/bar, close to main square, tours can be booked via reception, Easy access to buses. Would reccomend

8/10 Good

William, South England

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice Hotel , Shame about the Breakfast
A bit of a let down about half board being changed to b/b and only finding out about it when we were booking in! However, we enjoyed the evening walks for our dinner in the end. Local buses very good and not expensive so we were able to do a couple of visits independently. The Hotel is in a good position as we could either walk towards Bugibba, the lively area or towards Xemxija which was quieter and we enjoyed walking the Heritage Trail here.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice hotel right on the harbour
A. Good hotel right on the harbour and next to the St Paul & the Shipwreck Church. Good pool facilities- saltwater so you can't sink great as a confidence boost & young children. Good basic continental breakfast & buffet hotbreakfast( slightly strange one morning when fish shapes on offer). The room was good &I enjoyed the wet room bathroom & it was. Kept very clean. The only major defect was that there was only one small working lift that had a mind of its own. It could only take 2 people with luggage at a time & the lift always had floor 5 lit so it would always go up before coming down. This made checking out at breakfast difficult. The staff were excellant & very helpful. There are 2 restaurants across the road & another attached to the hotel but the promenade is only 5 minutes walk away with plenty of eateries. The bus stop for Buggibba is next to the hotel. I would recommend the hotel but it is more a 3 star room with 4 star staff & pool.

6/10 Okay

Keith, Kent UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Room comfort
A good basic hotel in very good seafront position
Stayed at The Gillieru with 2 other couples and elderly friend for whom it was chosen for its position and accessibility. Check in was very quick and straight forward and hotel foyer and communal areas appeared attractive and clean. The sea view rooms were basic, old fashioned but clean with tiled wet room style shower only bathrooms. Pool and deck areas are well kept but loungers need updating and access to pool towels should be easier. Over all a reasonable basic hotel with very helpful staff except for the breakfasts which are simply appalling and are unworthy even of this class of hotel. The choice is minimal, the quality of food very poor and the juices, coffee, preserves must be the cheapest possible. The hot buffet terrines are unmarked but must be served by a waitress so begins the pantomime of lifting every lid to see the contents of each for every customer causing a queue preventing anyone else getting to the coffee or the archaic toast machine. The management, whom we never saw, should try having breakfast in the hotel one morning they would soon see that it is simply not good enough. We were all agreed that given the Gillieru's outstanding position it deserves to be so much better and with a little updating and a total rethink of its breakfasts it could justify the 4 stars.

10/10 Excellent

Joseph, Castle Hill NSW Australia.

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great little Hotel
Great little hotel. A1 position in St Paul's Bay with fabulous views to St Paul's Island. Quite and good value. Staff are excellent with Maryrose at reception its standout, nothing too much trouble and very knowledgeable with regard to the town and the whole islands. Sea view room gives you the majestic panorama. Lifts are a little quirky but overlooked when everything considered.

6/10 Okay

TD, London

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
A great view of the harbour from hotel room.
I have had far better experiences of other hotels in Malta

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Reunion
Nice quiet hotel on the sea front. Pool excellent with salt water and restraunts in the area are generally very good. Nice walking distance to Bugibba

6/10 Okay

Pierre, Malta

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Worth it
Good Hotel and very worth it for the price. Recommended

8/10 Good

Doreen/John, Hinckley

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very Pleasant
lovely little boutique hotel recently renovated to a good standard, lovely surroundings and worth paying a little extra for a sea view room

8/10 Good

JAY, BOLTON

Disliked: Cleanliness
GREAT LOCATION
STAFF VERY GOOD ,BATHROOMS GREAT IMPROVEMENT BUT FOUND THE BEDDING NOT VERY GOOD BAD FIT ON DOUBLE BEDS AND SOME DAYS THE CLEANERS DIDNT DO A GOOD JOB THE FLOORS DIDNT GET SWEPT VERY OFTEN AND TOP OF TOILET HAD SHOWER GELL ON IT FOR THE WHOLE 9 DAYS WE WERE THERE IT WAS NEVER CLEANED OFF AND THAT GOES FOR THE MIRRORS THEY WERE NEVER CLEANED

6/10 Okay

Kim, Birmingham, UK

Great location
This hotel seems typical of Maltese Hotels...no air-con. Yes there is a unit in the room, but like every single trip to Malta it just doesn't work. The hotel itself is neat and fairly tidy. The view from the sea view rooms is worth the extra money and is a short walk from St Pauls Bay which is a great spot. I would stay here again, just please get the air con sorted!!

8/10 Good

Andre, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good hotel very good location! Maryrose is GREAT !
This hotel is very good located within walking distance of a few good restaurants and shops just around the corner! The biggest plus for this hotel is Maryrose, the Receptionist! She went out of her way to book tours for me. Advice on what to see and what to do. She worked out a full program for me for all the time I was there. And every time I walk past reception there is always a smile on her face! Nothing is ever too much for Maryrose!

6/10 Okay

gordon, london

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Great Location
Great Location but the hotel was built in the 80s and it shows, is in need of of renovation and does not justify the 4 stars above the door. Large amounts of mastic was used in the bathroom to prevent leaks from old fittings, air con just blew the air around and did not cool. There was fitting on the wall for flat screen TV but no TV and old CRT one was there to replace it which had the front panel taken off to enable you to access the controls (exposed circuit board & wires) as there was no remote. When you did get it working the picture was vary poor like viewing through a snow storm. The hotel was charging top dollar compared to similar hotels and the staff told me it was due for a refurb in Nov 2013 so be aware, but it is in a great location with friendly staff.

6/10 Okay

John, Manchester UK

Liked: Staff & service
3-star Hotel / 5-star view / 5-star staff
We have stayed at the Gillieru on every visit to Malta since 1995 [~8 times]. It has always been a cozy, clean, small 2/3 star Hotel with a 5-star view, and this stay was much the same as before, but this time the Hotel was just a little "tired". The food was OK, sometimes a little bland, but no real complaints; the breakfast buffet now includes a hot option [sausage, eggs, etc]. Main complaint was the towels - although replaced daily, some of them were of a quality I would not use to dry my car! The sun-loungers were either newly re-covered [~half] or badly needing same! The owner died last January, and the Hotel is due to close from November to March for refurbishment and probable sale. We await the 2014 brochure!

6/10 Okay

Blackish

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Keith birch review
Quite good values for money. Clean and comfortable. Rusty water at arrival in taps. TV not working. Poor breakfast. Overall ok if you not spending much time in the hotel

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Needs a refurbishment
Everything at the Gillieru is a bit rundown, but that seemed pretty average for Malta. There are so many little things they could do to make this place a better place to stay. The linens all need replacing, they need to actually clean the rooms, i.e. sweep or vacuum and dust more regularly, not just remake the bed and call it a day. On my third day there they must have actually cleaned under the bed a little because they found a dirty sock from a previous guest and helpfully left it on top of my 'clean' bed. The room doors and balcony doors are broken and none of the locks seems to work. Oh and those show heads, eek. However, Nino at the bar and the lady at the front desk are lovely.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hotel was not as expected, it was very dated, bathroom was dirty, leaking toilet, electric sockets did not work in room apart from one. The sheets were clean but top covers had stains on them. We changed our hotel after one night of staying there.

4/10 Poor

Mike, Braacknell

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Not really four star quality.
Although it has many good points the Gillieru cannot really call itself a 4* hotel. Yes the location is good, overlooking the picturesque St Pauls Bay and the staff are all very friendly, but the facilities are starting to look 'tired'. There is nothing majorly wrong but a few niggles lead to a less than perfect experience. The room air conditioning was very noisy and not very effective, leaving us to turn it off and sleep with the windows open, which lead to a lot of traffic noise late at night and early in the mornings. The quality of the linen varied widely, some days excellent some much less so. The shower outlet was very low, I am only 1.7m tall and it was below my head. The bathroom basin had several chips in it. Anyone staying here with a car, do not go out in it on Saturday night as it is next to impossible to find a parking space within a mile when you return.

4/10 Poor

Polly, fiftyish, N Wales UK

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Room comfort
Great views and location but air con. is a big con
The hotel has fantastic views and is in a quiet location within easy reach of the hustle and bustle of Buggiba if needed (5 mins. walk) The food is lovely and the hotel has character. However the air conditioning in our 5th floor room was totally inadequate. It's normal practice for the hotel to turn the air con. on and off at set times e.g on at 11.00 p.m for few hours and then again at 7.00 a.m. This meant the temperature was never lower than 25 deg C.in our room. After pointing this out several times over 4 or 5 days air was removed from the system and our room was cool for the last 2 nights out of 10! The hairdryer provided kept cutting out but thankfully a replacement was provided swiftly. Some towels provided were grubby and old.

4/10 Poor

Richard, Wakefield

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Too hot in the rooms!
Air conditioning doesn't work in the rooms! Not acceptable in a mediterranean summer, especially as the rooms are advertised as air conditioned. This spoilt an otherwise pleasant stay.

8/10 Good

Karen, from San Franscicso

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
very nice at a reasonable price
Mary Rose at the front desk is wonderful. The hotel really looks just like the pictures. Pool is salt water, but very nice and clean. The breakfasts have great service but the food is somewhat mediocre, Canned beans, hot dogs and poor coffee, boxed juice. Choices of fresh fruit you can take along. On the route of the Northern bus tour.