A couple who saw business at their luxury boutique hotel nosedive due to badly mismanaged roadworks has accused the town’s mayor of arrogance.
Chris and Carmen Spiteri Cremona said Mosta's mayor had brushed aside their complaints about the impact the works were having on their business, Julina Boutique Living, allegedly telling them they should “shut down for the time being”.
The Spiteri Cremona couple made that claim in a judicial protest they filed against the Mosta local council, Infrastructure Malta, Transport Malta, and Carmel Vella Ltd, the company responsible for the roadworks.
Chris Spiteri Cremona met the mayor on Tuesday to complain about the months-long works and to note that the inconvenience was causing multiple cancellations by foreign lecturers, who specifically chose the boutique hotel for some quiet time in Malta.
Yet the only solution the mayor could come up with was “don’t get any people to study here". As for the negative impact on the hotel rating, the mayor is alleged to have suggested “you’d better shut down for the time being.”
In their judicial protest, the hotel owners stated that they had invested all their savings to buy the premises, renovate it and finish it to high standards to target upmarket guests from the US, the Middle East and Europe.
The hotel achieved a “reputation of excellency”, they said, with coverage on various international travel sites including travel website TripAdvisor.
That all changed in the past months, when heavy machinery was moved to a stretch of Main Street outside the hotel, digging the road up twice over due to “gross negligence” by all those involved.
Apart from machinery noises well above legally permissible levels from early in the morning, hotel guests had to contend with loud, foul-mouthed exchanges between the workmen, the owner said.
Among those guests were foreign lecturers who travelled to Malta for a peaceful vacation, only to have their online lecturing schedule disrupted by the shoddy roadworks.
As works dragged on, many bookings were cancelled and other guests moved out to alternative accommodation just one day after settling in at the boutique hotel, unable to put up with the noise, dirt and havoc.
The owners said they were losing hundreds of euro every day, with many of the outer-facing rooms unoccupied for weeks and owners paying thousands of euro to relocate disgruntled guests to alternative 5-star accommodation, in line with agreements struck with international tourist agencies. The hotel’s reputation has also faced “irreparable harm”, they alleged.
Moreover, the premises suffered damage when blocked water culverts in the road caused muddy rainwater to seep into the hotel, flooding the lower quarters where the walls are still damp.
The outer façade and doors also need to be repainted as a result of the damage suffered due to the roadworks, they said.
In light of all this, the couple has filed legal action and called on parties to make good the damages suffered whilst ensuring that the property suffered no further structural damages.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta signed the judicial protest.