Malta’s first airport hotel is set to open next year

Malta is set to get its first airport hotel next year and SkyParks general manager expects it to be a hit with business travellers.

It will feature 98 rooms, indoor and rooftop swimming pools, spa facilities, a restaurant and meeting rooms across nine floors.

“This hotel is very exciting for me,” said Thomas Abela Gatt. “We never had an airport hotel in the past, so this is obviously something which is quite big for the country.”

Price will range between €110 and €200 per night depending on various factors and the four-star hotel is primarily geared towards the business community.

It will be operated by Claret Group under French hospitality company Accor’s Tribe brand.

SkyParks is prioritising the hotel development, which it intends to hand over to the operator in shell form in the final quarter of this year, before moving onto the construction of the two office blocks – together with the hotel named SkyParks 2 – afterwards. Like the hotel, the new offices are also slated to open during the last quarter of next year.

Describing the hotel chain as a “lifestyle brand” with an “affordable designer finish”, he said he expected the hotel to be a hit.

“I used to work in terminal operations and this would be a major issue; I would even have people sleeping in the airport,” he said.

Pointing to the hotel’s “unobstructed, 180-degree panoramic views” of the airport and the surrounding localities, as well as its rooftop pool and cocktail bar, Abela Gatt said the upcoming hotel would offer guests a fantastic experience.

“The target is the businessman; he’s going to find a quiet space to work, a very well-designed room… And, if he needs to relax, there are also the facilities within the building to help him out.”

The hotel is set to feature limited parking spaces, with Abela Gatt noting that most business travellers would likely rely on ride-hailing taxi services rather than hiring a car for their stay in Malta.

Office space

Larger provision of car parking to service the enhanced business functionality of the wider complex will be provided by an additional 500 underground parking spaces, however, to supplement the existing 200 spaces at SkyParks 1.

The two new office blocks are set to provide 20,000 square metres of new office space, catering for roughly 2,000 employees, Abela Gatt said.

In addition to offices, the buildings are slated to feature commercial outlets to complement similar offerings at the existing office block, SkyParks 1.

“We’re going to add what we don’t already have: a hairdresser, beautician, a grab-and-go market” in addition to more coffee shops and other new concepts for food and beverage offerings, he said.

SkyParks is also set to boost its co-working spaces, which Abela Gatt noted were increasingly popular across Europe, with 300 square metres of meeting rooms and working “pods”.

But with Malta having experienced an oversupply of office space and falling office rents in recent years, how confident is he that demand is there for an expanded business centre?

“We did market research and comparisons of rates across the island but we feel we are unique because we have certain benefits: we are close to the airport... we have a lot of resources and we are able to offer something holistic,” he said.

Abela Gatt pointed to childcare and gym facilities as two examples of ancillary services available at SkyParks.

“We already have a waiting list of eight tenants but we also have existing tenants from SkyParks 1 who want to make the move.”

While he hinted that SkyParks was open to shorter leases for tenants with a smaller footprint, the company is looking for a minimum lease contribution of five years, comprising three fixed years and two subject to a notice period of two years in the event of cancellation.

However, the general manager remains robust in his forecast.