Malpas Hotel Review - 66 of 154 Reviews

This was the our first visit to North Cyprus having been to the South of the island previously. We wanted to stay in a good Hotel and opted for the Malpas Hotel and Casino which was rated as a five star. We booked this independently and not through an agent. After finding it with a bit of difficulty, as we found it hard to get any driving directions on the web, our first impressions were good and what a fine location. We were given a room in a seperate block 200 metres from the main hotel set in some attractive gardens. The block had two floors with a lift which worked for the first day only. The lift remained out of action for the next ten days, although various fitters came to look at it but couldn't repair it. The lift was manufactured by Schindler, and I would have thought ,that such a reputable make would be easy to obtain parts for it's repair. I have a slight dissability that causes a lot of pain when climbing stairs, and there was a couple given a room in the same block who both had major problems and walked with sticks, fotunately they were transfered to the main hotel after a couple of days.

The main entrance to the block was having a canopy fitted and there were fitters working overhead with no form of safety barriers or warning signs in place. There was welding overhead and if you wanted to enter the block they would stop to let you pass. There was a serious lack of any health and safety procedures. This leads on to the problems around the pool area. The pools are nice and spacious but have many problems. There is decking all around the pools where the sun beds are placed, this is quite old and split in places and lots of splinters and very dirty between the slats with cigarette ends etc. Then there are the tiles which are definitely not non-slip as I found out when I slipped on leaving the pool, and many others did during our stay. The drainage grids around the pool are in a bad state and are quite hazardous, some with complete sections missing where you could easily trap a bare foot.

The pool water looked clean and we used it daily but did not see any cleaning or tests carried out over the ten days of our stay.

The hotel food was served buffet style and lacked imagination, mainly based around Turkish style food with very overcooked vegetables and very bland fish. It became boring after a couple of days, although the salads were good but then they don't have to be cooked and there was always fruit. All the five star hotels that we've stayed in around the world ,provided either fruit juice, soft drinks and various types of water with dinner, the Malpas doesn't.Breakfast was the best with good breads and various cereals and the usual fried/grilled items, but the coffee and tea should be served by waiters not get it yourself as is the case here. The hotel boasts an al-a-carte restaurant where you can go for an evening meal, this was never open during our stay and would mean a trip into town if you wanted a different choice. The evenings entertainment was very limited with an Elvis impersonater who was ok and a black jazz/soul type singer guitarist who was very good but didn't play for very long as he fitted in two gigs a night the other at another hotel, there was a pianist/singer who we only saw once and that was it.

On the plus side, the rooms were comfortable, although the extractor in the bathroom never worked the whole time we were there and we were all misted up after a shower. I reported this to Sharron the hotel's English representative, twice, but nothing happened.

The location is good with nice views and off the main road so not noisy, unless there is a wedding going on and there were two of them whilst we were there, but good luck to them.

In our opinion this Hotel is certainly not 5 star by any standards, but then it's not that expensive.

It requires some thought from the owner as to what improvements can be made to rate this as an "International Hotel" and not just for the Turkish. We liked North Cyprus and will return one day.

Liked — Weather, location, people
Disliked — In the review

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