A year after its original planned launch date, the new Hilton Malta will open in March when it hosts a conference group from the Scandinavian division of computer giant IBM.
Sales and marketing director Mario de Celis said: “We started marketing the hotel two years ago with the intention of opening last March but the work has taken longer than expected.
“But we’re on course to open for the first weekend in March. Our main target markets are leisure and meetings/ incentives and we’re already very well contracted for summer 2000.”
According to de Celis, the UK will be a major market, along with Germany and Italy. Other leading suppliers will include Switzerland, Belgium and Scandinavia.
“People have been waiting for the opening since the original Hilton was demolished four years ago,” said de Celis. “The hotel bears little resemblance to its predecessor.”
The first Hilton – characterised by its spacious lobby – opened in 1966, one of a wave of late ’60s/early ’70s hotel openings that included the Corinthia Palace, Dragonara, Coastline and Dolmen.
All bar the Dragonara survive in modified form. The Dragonara, a close St Julian’s neighbour of the Hilton, was rebuilt and opened in 1997 as the Westin Dragonara Resort.
The former 200-room Hilton, in 30 acres of landscaped grounds, was acquired by the Maltese Easysell Group (now Tumas Group) in the early 1990s with the aim of redeveloping the site.
The redevelopment has been on a grand scale. The completed £90m Portomaso project includes a newly constructed three-basin marina for 110 yachts, a 23-storey commercial tower and 300 apartments.
With 280 rooms and 14 suites – including an executive floor and a presidential suite – the new Hilton will be almost 50% bigger than the original. All rooms are sea or marina facing, and two have facilities for disabled people.
In-house conference facilities include a meeting room for up to 600 people and six smaller rooms.
A purpose-built conference centre, seating more than 1,500 theatre style, is due to open in 2001.
“There will be co-operation with other five-star hotels in the area, enabling us to handle the largest conference and incentive groups,” said de Celis.
The Hilton will have a leisure and fitness centre with gymnasium, squash courts, indoor pool, sauna and steam bath. Water sports will be available from the hotel’s private beach.
Restaurants include The Blue Elephant, a franchised Thai outlet.
The hotel, to be featured by eight UK operators, including Belleair and Cadogan, will be managed by Ken McLaren, former general manager of Hilton hotels in Abuja, Nigeria and Dubai.
San Lawrenz Leisure Resort
GOZO’S leading rural hotels face their first full summer of competition from the San Lawrenz Leisure Resort, the first leisure development on the west side of the island.
The five-star newcomer, which opened last summer, is tapping broadly the same higher-spending market as Ta’ Cenc, the island’s first five-star property, and the four-star Cornucopia.
But it hopes to pick up added business through strong promotion of its marine cure centre, offering treatments ranging from a micronised marine algae bodywrap to a hydrojet bed.
Sales and marketing manager Rosemarie Stagno Navarra said: “The marine cure centre is a big investment. We’re relying on people feeling a need to relax and rejuvenate themselves.”
The target market for the 106-room resort, situated just outside San Lawrenz village, is couples aged 35-plus seeking a country retreat with all the facilities of a modern five-star hotel.
The concept of an upmarket resort in western Gozo was first aired a decade ago, with the Maltese government seeking to develop the island’s tourism while preserving its upmarket status.
Two private developers, Joe Baldacchino and Joe Cachia, acquired the land and work started in mid-1997 – but they quickly ran up against the green lobby.
“It was said the hotel would spoil the environment – there was a lot of controversy at first,” said Stagno Navarra. “But if anything, the resort’s pleasing design has enhanced the environment.”
In the resort’s first winter, the hotel is relying on domestic weekend traffic. “It’s lucrative business as the Maltese spend a lot of time in the resort,” said Stagno Navarra.
Marketing for summer is being concentrated on Malta’s major markets – especially the UK, where the resort is being featured by Belleair, Cadogan, Holiday Travel Club, Prestige and Sunspot.