Students 'damaged hotel'

The Marina Hotel in Sliema has filed a counter protest against The European School of English Ltd in a dispute which stems from complaints made by 56 Czech language students about the hotel.

The school had claimed it had to pay international operators €15,000 in compensation to the students after they had to stay in "horrible conditions", which included being served mouldy food and having cockroaches in their rooms.

In its reply, the hotel said that it had reached an agreement with the school on the accommodation of foreign students and by August 20 of last year the school owed it €29,117.17. The last students moved out in September and the balance due at that point was of €29,499.97.

The hotel claimed that the students had caused a considerable amount of damage, such as leaving water running in the bathrooms and breaking furniture.

The school made a number of payments leaving a €15,000 balance but the Marina was never given the opportunity to defend itself or say how it was going to tackle the students' claims, the hotel said.