Nachtleben, aber ruhige Gegend, modernes großes Haus, Blick auf die Bucht, Garten, Grill, Parkplatz

I had communicated with guests on several occasions during their stay, without them ever mentioning anything untoward. The messages I received were rather indicative of a great stay, letting me know about their day in jacuzzi and sunning it up; they asked for a late check out, also let me (enticingly) know that they would leave the place spotless. On check-out, they even let my assistants know that everything was ok with the property. I can understand when things go wrong but it is difficult to digest why these guests accepted to stay in a place they did not appreciate but only expressed themselves at the end of the stay. My policy is always to satisfy the guests, thus the very excellent ratings for my response and actions. I did reach out to the guests after receiving their review but these ignored me; in my messages, I informed them that I would have certainly taken immediate action, and if this were not to their satisfaction, either provided them with a free upgrade to another one of our properties or even refunded them for the stay if their claims were legitimate, thus ensuring that their holiday is not spoilt by accommodation they don't like. I waited to reply to this review to read what my next guests would stay about this same property, and I quote 'Excellent family stay! The place was very nice, with the little hot tub for relaxing evenings! Right in the heart of Paceville, yet no noise from the partying! Thanks to Paul for his friendliness and responsiveness'.

Whenever a review is left blank, and then given a 3 star rating, it is always confusing as to what went wrong, but now I see that there is one word (TOP) which to me means that everything went well, so this is more confusing. I recall the guests had contacted me after the first night into their stay stating that they had no hot water. The apartment is equipped with 2 large water boilers and so I asked the guest to allow me whatsapp video to see if I could assist this way. It was immediately evident that someone from within this group switched off the boilers, or else did not read my instructions re this subject, The following day I was again called around 4pm stating that there was no electricity in the apartment. The first thing I did was to check that the main switchgear was on, but when realizing that all the apartments had the same issue, it was evident that there was something serious. It transpired that the country had suddenly suffered a total blackout in the inter-connector coming from Europe and so it was not just the apartment, but everywhere else. Power was restored after one hour, but unfortunately this was beyond my control. Although check-out time is usually at 10am, I also allowed the guests to stay an extra hour as requested by them, and so while I appreciate the 'TOP' comment (provided it means what I believe it means), I still cannot understand why this is accompanied by just 3 stars.

IL FINTO VITTIMA Meno male che il cosidetto sig. non sappia ancora che il sito gli ha ritirato €400 per i danni causati, anche se questo non corrisponde neanche a meta del costo totale, altrimenti avrebbe inventato altre bugie. Il sig. ignora tante cose e pensavo che, dato che e’ il papa di uno dei ragazzi, sarebbe stato piu’ maturo, invece ha mostrato di essere peggio di loro, concludendo il nostro discorso con ‘Ognuno farà ciò che riterrà opportuno fare ed ognuno pagherà le conseguenze delle proprie azioni’. Gli avevo sempre dato del lei ma le sue intenzioni erano diverse, maliziose e minacciose, aggiungendo che fara’ non una, ma 300 recensioni. Infatti sto aspettando gli altri 299. Pensavo che il sig. sasson che opera un studio immobiliare - Jo&Sac, situato a Roma, avrebbe capito che I danni causati mi avrebbero dannegiato la mia immagine ed il valore della mia proprieta’ ma invece nega tutto. La prenotazione era per dei ragazzi, dove soltanto uno aveva appena compiuto I 18 anni, senza pre-avvisarmi di questo. Nonostante le regole ben chiare, questi avevano deciso di ignorarli tutte. Dopo la prima notte si e’ dovuto intervenire la Polizia per farli smettere di disturbare la gente quando altri facevano sonno. Peggio, hanno anche fumato in appartamento, bruciando degli armadii e tende con le loro sigarette, distruggendo hifi con gelato o crema sciolto sui pulsanti, buttando via nel giardino e distruggendo asciugamani da bagno, ed infine anche pisciando sul pavimento. Un vero disastro che richiedeva un intervento immediato e costoso. Quando lo presentavo il mio reclamo, dichiarava che ‘un po di extra pulizia avrebbe rimesso l’appartamento come prima’ – che faccia tosta. Questo ribadisce che l’indirizzo sul sito e’ sbagliato quando infatti nessun dei miei ospiti si e mai perso prima, ma questi ragazzi erano disorganizati e cosi’ puntano il dito contro chiunque. Avevano ben 3 numeri di telefono ma hanno deciso di non usarli. Come hanno fatto a trovare l’appartamento e’ ancora un mistero. Leggo anche che uno dei ragazzi si e’ ammalato, attribuendo che una delle vetrate non chiudeva bene e percio’ entrava l’aria. Perche’ non ha detto che il ragazzo si e’ ammalato NON per l’aria fresca ma era per il fatto che TUTTI quanti fumavano come una banda di turchi. Sands rimane molto popolare, sempre ricercato, e riceve delle ricensioni positive. Purtroppo quando uno vuole nascondersi dietro bugie per non pagare per I propri danni, usa anche delle malizie.

I'm sorry to witness a bad review for the apartment which normally receives much better reviews. The guests' stay dates back to August and I really cannot recall much about their stay over 2 months ago. I would have certainly been in a better position to reply to this, but Sands receives back to back guests, and, following covid, we have been allowing guests to self check-in rather than meeting them ourselves and so remembering a guest has become more difficult than ever before. I have however gone through my correspondence with them where I also provided 3 contact numbers plus the Abritel portal to contact me on in case of any requests or needs, but all I could find was a request for transport, first on arrival, and then later, during their stay, on departure. Other than that, nothing, and so it confuses me why this guest had to write a review so much later after his departure when during his stay he made no remarks for us to correct them, whatever they may have been. Next time, please let us know, we are always on hand, and even if you have to write a damaging review, then please do so immediately - all my answers to your requests for transport were answered promptly, and so I would have expected you, out of courtesy, to do the same.

Dear Vincent and friends, It was a pleasure having you as our guests and we're glad to read that you had a great time in Malta. Stay safe and should you return to Malta, it would once again be an honour to have you as our guests once again. Regards Paul

It is never a pleasure to read a bad review but we always listen to our guests’ comments and follow-up on improving the apartment. I wish to thank these guests for having acknowledged the apartment’s potential and location, and so feel the review should have awarded a higher rating. It is true, the shower door was broken following an incident during a previous rental, however this is already on order and should be replaced shortly. The one time that the guests called us up for assistance, we were there in a few minutes; the Jacuzzi was uncovered and this could have led to the water becoming dirty. I showed them how to remove the water and then to replenish it with fresh (the water is removed from the Jacuzzi after every departure so that the new arrivals will ensure that the water is clean and never been used by others before them). I also showed them that because the water level had not reached the skimmer, it was impossible for this to be filtered. During this visit, I was also told that the TV was not working and again showed them this works. I do not recall that there was a leak in the second bathroom as I am sure we would have been informed about this. The fridge is only a few months old and for some reason the door was not closing properly, but showed the girl how to eliminate the noise without the use of a chair. There are actually 6 chairs in the dining area and 6 garden chairs. I was also sure that there were enough plates, infact in the next rental of 12 guests just after these, there was no mention of any shortages during their stay or in their review. When I visited there were 2 burnt bulbs in the garden, not broken light fittings. We always follow up on our guests’ requests and try to visit them immediately to deal with problems. What the guests fail to mention in their review is that on arrival, we immediately provided them with a refund for their friends’ absence. The guests were also involved in an incident when one of the group decided to urinate on the property wall; the security immediately called us at 1:30am and instead of being fined, we convinced the security that this would be cleaned the following morning as the guests were too drunk to do anything about it then. We felt at odds writing a review about these guests mainly because the person who booked the holiday had to cancel his trip and then delegated one of his friends to take over instead and so did not wish for him to take the blame for his friends’ misbehaviour.