Looking for owners of timeshare at the Riviera resort and spa in malta

Scubanut4 · Dec 17, 2017

I am trying to find other timeshare owners who are having problems with the above resort after recent refurbishment. Effectively, all the apartments have been turned into single or interconnected hotel rooms with no kitchens. This clearly breaches the original contracts. The hotel owners seem very reluctant to come up with a solution. I would like to know if anyone else is experiencing problems or has been offered a solution.

ALMOND8 · Jan 18, 2018

Hi Scubanut4
We are in the same boat. We turned up in October, to find the old apartment had vanished. We got full board [like everyone else there] and, as I am a coeliac, were told to eat in the Trattoria at a quiet time in the evening, to minimize the risk of the food being contaminated. Not very satisfactory. We don't like being constrained to hotel meal times and like to cook our own food or eat at trusted places. And the linked rooms and balcony are much inferior to the old apartment. We've still had no letter, setting out our options, despite mithering the manager repeatedly while we were there. Have just received the invoice for timeshare maintenance.

Scubanut4 · Jan 23, 2018

Hi almond8
Looks like you have even more reason to be upset with what they have done than us. We did get out in September 2017 and knew beforehand that our apartment had been destroyed and replaced with two hotel rooms with much smaller balconies. We were given two hotel rooms since we had two other family members with us and all were on all inclusive. For us that was fine.
While we were there we were promised that a letter from API , the hotel owners, setting out options for new contracts would be available before we left but of course it never materialised and Joe Fenech,the manager who we know quite well, cancelled a promised meeting quite abruptly. Since then, despite numerous e-mails, we have still had no correspondence from either Meeting Point who lease and run the hotel or API the hotel owners despite there being a clear breach of contract.
We have had considerable trouble confirming reservations for 2018 but have finally got our 2 weeks. However, we are still trying to find what board status they will offer. Given the substantial increase in maintenance fees for an apartment which no longer exists I want some clarity on what we will get for our money and some progress on contract options.
We are in contact with 3 other timeshare owners who are in the same position and we are keeping each other up to date with any new information. I know that at least one person has contacted Hutchinson, the original trustees, who apparently have some on going responsibility to ensure we can enjoy our apartment as stated in the contract but they seem reluctant to become involved.
I have accumulated quite a lot of contact emails for Meeting Point which might be of some use to you but I am reluctant to post them on a public forum. I would be prepared to exchange email addresses if you would like the Meeting Point contacts and would like to share information on any progress. Let me know what you think.
All in all, this a total mess and it is not made any easier because we have to work through Meeting Point as an intermediary rather than direct with the owners, API.

GT94 · Mar 16, 2018

Scubanut4 said:
Hi almond8
Looks like you have even more reason to be upset with what they have done than us. We did get out in September 2017 and knew beforehand that our apartment had been destroyed and replaced with two hotel rooms with much smaller balconies. We were given two hotel rooms since we had two other family members with us and all were on all inclusive. For us that was fine.
While we were there we were promised that a letter from API , the hotel owners, setting out options for new contracts would be available before we left but of course it never materialised and Joe Fenech,the manager who we know quite well, cancelled a promised meeting quite abruptly. Since then, despite numerous e-mails, we have still had no correspondence from either Meeting Point who lease and run the hotel or API the hotel owners despite there being a clear breach of contract.
We have had considerable trouble confirming reservations for 2018 but have finally got our 2 weeks. However, we are still trying to find what board status they will offer. Given the substantial increase in maintenance fees for an apartment which no longer exists I want some clarity on what we will get for our money and some progress on contract options.
We are in contact with 3 other timeshare owners who are in the same position and we are keeping each other up to date with any new information. I know that at least one person has contacted Hutchinson, the original trustees, who apparently have some on going responsibility to ensure we can enjoy our apartment as stated in the contract but they seem reluctant to become involved.
I have accumulated quite a lot of contact emails for Meeting Point which might be of some use to you but I am reluctant to post them on a public forum. I would be prepared to exchange email addresses if you would like the Meeting Point contacts and would like to share information on any progress. Let me know what you think.
All in all, this a total mess and it is not made any easier because we have to work through Meeting Point as an intermediary rather than direct with the owners, API.

Hi Scubanut4
I have just received a letter from API advising they have replaced kitchenette & offering full board instead. I guessed this meant they had split the appartment & it looks from your post that this is correct. We are not happy as the space, facilities & location of this apartment was the reason for purchase.
Have you got anywhere regarding the legalities of this?

Scubanut4 · Mar 16, 2018

Hi GT94,
Yes ,you are right. All of the apartments have been modified to become hotel rooms. Some are bigger than others and some are interconnected but none have any kitchen left at all. As to the legalities,they are obviously in breach of contract but since jurisdiction would be with the maltese courts I suspect that taking them to court would be a costly and difficult exercise.
We were out last year on all inclusive and have been offered the same deal this year though they made us jump through hoops to get a reservation and board status.
As you probably know there has also been a substantial increase in maintenance fees for this year.
As to the offer from API, the offer of full board is pretty much what we expected. If we can get a suitable combination of rooms written into any new contract together with confirmation of our current 2 weeks in September, we will probably go ahead and accept this since we love going to malta and do not really want to get out of the contract which has about 14 years to run. At least one of the other couples we know of is taking the same attitude as us and to be fair, if you can get the right combination of rooms the full board offer is quite good value at the current maintenance fees . Try working out how much this would cost you on one of the booking sites!
I think your only other option would be to go through the trustees as mentioned on one of my other posts or one of the timeshare companies dealing with mis-selling, but I understand this can be a bit of a minefield .
I would be interested to hear what you decide to do and whether you come up with any other options .

GT94 · Mar 16, 2018

Thanks for the info. I will see what they will offer room wise. Our previous room was on the top floor looking out over the front of the hotel. My Mum & I spend quite a bit of time in the apartment which is why we want more than just a bedroom. I am hoping that the rooms still have enough space for a sofa & the balconies are big enough for loungers. If they could offer interconnecting sea view rooms with the above, plus tea making & a mini fridge, along with a guarantee of the same rooms for the same period in April each year then we would probably accept.
If you have any recommendations they would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks again.

Scubanut4 · Mar 17, 2018

We did have a room on the 4th floor last year which was designated as a premium room and had a king size and a double sofa bed however the balcony was quite small and there were no loungers. All the rooms seem to have a mini fridge and a kettle. I Don't think a premium room will really suit you.
I would suggest you look at one of the interconnecting rooms on the 5th floor which appear to have been made out of the penthouse apartment. These have two rooms one with a fixed bed which I think can be made as two singles or a double and the other room has a sofa bed. So, you can effectively use it as a one bedroomed apartment. Both rooms have an en suite shower. The balcony is quite large and looks over comino and has sunbeds . I believe that there are two of these double room suites but I'm not sure of the room numbers.
The letter we received from API didn't go into much detail. Like you we would require a two room option with a decent sized balcony for a specified period each year with full board up to the contracted number of people. If we can get that we will be happy to accept their offer although there are,of course,no guarantees about unacceptable increases in the maintenance fees.
Let me know if you get anything sorted with API . What one gets should apply to all of us.

Darren Graham · Sep 25, 2018

Scubanut4 said:
We did have a room on the 4th floor last year which was designated as a premium room and had a king size and a double sofa bed however the balcony was quite small and there were no loungers. All the rooms seem to have a mini fridge and a kettle. I Don't think a premium room will really suit you.
I would suggest you look at one of the interconnecting rooms on the 5th floor which appear to have been made out of the penthouse apartment. These have two rooms one with a fixed bed which I think can be made as two singles or a double and the other room has a sofa bed. So, you can effectively use it as a one bedroomed apartment. Both rooms have an en suite shower. The balcony is quite large and looks over comino and has sunbeds . I believe that there are two of these double room suites but I'm not sure of the room numbers.
The letter we received from API didn't go into much detail. Like you we would require a two room option with a decent sized balcony for a specified period each year with full board up to the contracted number of people. If we can get that we will be happy to accept their offer although there are,of course,no guarantees about unacceptable increases in the maintenance fees.
Let me know if you get anything sorted with API . What one gets should apply to all of us.

We did have the one bedroom Room 404 in August and we haven't been back since the refurbishment. I'd be interested to know how much the Maintenance Fees have gone up by as our last one in Dec 17 was the same amount. Also how much do they charge to be All Inclusive?
Also you mention the 5th Floor. The last time we were there I'm sure the 4th floor was the top, so have they added another floor.