Park Hotel owners deny existence of rat infestation

The owners of the Park Hotel in Sliema have denied media reports suggesting the building was infested with rats.

The hotel was closed down by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) on Tuesday after the courts on Monday declared the hotel to “not even be worthy of one-star”.

In a statement sent through its legal advisors, the hotel’s management denied that the hotel “has a problem with rats and is infested”.

“The Park Hotel does not, and never had, a problem with rats or any other pest or vermin for that matter,” the management said, adding that it has always been regularly serviced “a leading pest control specialist who confirmed there has never been a rat infestation”.

“This has also been confirmed by the health authorities who have been invited to inspect the hotel by the owners, an inspection which was carried out yesterday.”  

The management argued that the part of the court’s judgment which mentions rates was “a reproduction of the reply filed by the MTA” in court.

“As you should know, in all civil judgments, before the court makes its considerations, it reproduces the plaintiff’s application and the defendant’s reply. This allegation did not result during the proceedings, so much so that the court, in its deliberations, did not even refer to it.”

While the hotel’s management has denied the existence of any sort of infestation, a number of reviews posted on popular travel websites like TripAdvisor, paint a different picture.

“Hotel was filthy and in very poor repair. We found a bug in the bath, and when we complained at the reception, we were told it was normal!

“It reeked of smoke, there were hairs under the sheets and on the floors and nothing was clean to any acceptable standard. Everywhere we looked was worse than the places we looked before,” read one review.

“There were so many other poor things about this hotel, staff not interested, grey towels, breakfast items not restocked. But my lasting and most painful memory of this visit is the 150+ bites I received. You have been warned!,” read another.

Hotel guests have been relocated to other hotels by the MTA which has taken over the front office in order to coordinate the relocation of arriving guests.

READ ALSO: Tourism authorities descend on Park Hotel in Sliema to close it dow