The Marina Hotel in Sliema has filed a counter protest to a claim that 56 Czech language students had complained about mouldy food and cockroaches in their rooms.

The European School of English Limited filed a judicial protest against the hotel on Monday saying it had to pay international operators €15,000 in compensation to the students after they had to stay in "horrible conditions".

In its reply the hotel said that in October, it reached an agreement with the school on the accommodation of foreign students and by August 20 last year the school owned the hotel €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 it was the students who had caused a considerable amount of damage, such as leaving water running in the bathrooms and breaking furniture.

The school, it said, made a number of payments leaving a €15,000 balance but they never said how they were going to tackle the students' claim and the hotel was never given the opportunity to defend itself.