(Adds MFA statement, Torino statement)
Le Meridien St Julian’s is objecting to claims that it has given the Catania team ‘scandalous’ treatment and said it had acted completely in accordance to the agreement it had with the team’s agent Media Sport Event.
Pietro Lo Monaco, the team’s director general, this morning told a news conference that his team, in Malta for a training camp, was leaving this evening instead of on Thursday because of the treatment it had been given by the hotel.
"They are not equipped to host a football club... We are very sorry this has happened... It has been a very bad experience."
But hotel general manager Franco Vella insisted that the hotel delivered on all the instructions given by the agents.
Catania, he said, was not the first football team hosted by the hotel. Le Meridien St Julian’s had also hosted Juventus, Parma, Portugal, Switzerland, Latvia, Georgia, the English Ladies Seniors, Larnaca, Malta and Valletta.
Juventus had been so impressed that they invited the hotel chef to go and cook for them in Italy. That chef was still employed at the hotel.
Moreover, Parma’s stay had been through the same agents.
Mr Vella said that the problem with Catania was not the service they received from the hotel. It seemed they had a misunderstanding with the agent and the hotel had ended up being the scapegoat.
Mr Lo Monaco said this morning that another reason the team was leaving early was the weather, which did not permit them to do the work they had in mind.
Torino thanks Malta
In a statement on their website, Torino thanked the Malta Football Association, the Malta Tourism Authority, the Grand Hotel Excelsior and Communication & Marketing Ltd. Messina "for their hospitality and the organisation" during their training camp.
Lo Monaco's observations were strictly personal - MFA
The MFA disassociated itself from Mr Lo Monaco’s comments about the hotel and said that his observations were strictly personal.
It said it did not agree that the hotel was not equipped to host a football club as it had hosted several in recent years.
The MFA said it classified Le Meridien St Julian’s as one of the best five star hotels in Malta and one of its most preferred.