Ten per cent of formal complaints submitted to the Malta Tourism Authority last year concerned the Serena Hotel in Xlendi - the vast majority filed by tourists claiming their credit card had been used without authorisation or that they were unwittingly charged for services.

When contacted, MTA Quality Assurance director Frank Farrugia told The Sunday Times: "The complaints were very similar to each other and all related to some form of alleged fraud or payments which they felt were unfair."

The complaints - around 50 in total - have been forwarded to the police's Economic Crimes Unit or the Consumer and Competition Division or both, Mr Farrugia explained. Serena's owner and manager, Joe Vella, strenuously denies any wrongdoing and maintains guests were aware of the charges he debited.

Several tourists recounted their experience to The Sunday Times, claiming Mr Vella charged them hundreds, in many cases thousands, of euros in various incidents dating back to 2003. Guests said they made formal reports to the police and the MTA but have not been refunded or compensated.

Their stories are almost identical: A cheap holiday is offered to them by an online bargain tour operator like Bonus Week Breaks or The Gift Company - on condition that they attend a two-hour promotional talk on timeshare.

Then, they claim, Mr Vella contacts them and offers them free transport from the airport to the hotel. On arrival, he asks guests to sign a registration form and to hand over a credit card for "security reasons", assuring them that no charges would be made.

After that, they allege, he charges their account without their permission. The tourists allege that when they complain, Mr Vella produces a document which had either been given to them when they checked in or at that particular moment. This states that guests have paid on a 'room only' basis and that it is "compulsory" to pay - on arrival - for breakfast, dinner and utility fees. This amounts to an additional €490 per person a week.

On the popular travel website tripadvisor.com, 28 of the 35 reviews about the hotel speak of exorbitant "added" charges and a hotel manager to "beware" of. The negative reviews began in 2004 but have continued to appear persistently throughout 2007 and this year.

Mr Vella has on several occasions been questioned by police but has never been charged with an offence related to the allegations - the reason being that the case relates more to unfair tactics than to fraud or other illegal behaviour.

Mr Vella, who is from Malta, was fined by the authorities in 2003, but over a different matter when he advertised his two-star hotel as a five-star property. He felt it was unfair that the high quality Serena has such a lowly classification.

When contacted, Mr Vella offered three different versions as to why the reviews were on the tripadvisor website: first, that they were written by a person who bears a grudge against him; second, that various Gozitan hotel and restaurant owners were behind them because they disliked him; and third, that there was a particular travel agency which had given rise to a misunderstanding.

"I challenge you to write something. I have all the documentation to prove my case. If you write something I will ruin you, in every way," Mr Vella said.

Many of the former guests contacted by The Sunday Times said they want to get their money back and put Mr Vella out of business. They indicated a willingness to travel to Malta to testify in court - though they admit that this could be an expensive and therefore counter-productive exercise.

Edward Humphrey, a British tourist who stayed at the hotel in June, said: "Mr Vella told us that we could not stay there if we do not supply a credit card, so we had to concede. Thankfully, a taxi driver warned us that Mr Vella had a reputation."

So Mr Humphrey went to an ATM immediately to withdraw enough cash for the rest of his holiday and cancelled his credit cards. When he contacted his bank at home, however, he was told that the Serena Hotel had already taken £1,600 from the account.

This happened on the third day of his two-week holiday, which consisted of going back and forth from the police station and the hotel.

Mr Vella told police who questioned him at the hotel that there had been a mistake and that Mr Humphrey would be refunded accordingly.

But one night Mr Humphrey and his wife came back to the hotel to find they were locked out of their room. Mr Vella told them that he wanted them out because they were "troublemakers". The 'troublemaking' included speaking to other guests about their experience and encouraging everyone to check their accounts.

"Everyone else who checked their accounts found that Mr Vella had taken a similar amount of money from them. Even a couple of pensioners!" he said.

However, Mr Vella said that Mr Humphrey had only paid the commission to the travel agent who booked the accommodation, and that he knew full well that on arrival he had to pay for food and hotel utilities. When asked to specify which travel agent he was referring to, the hotel manager said he could not remember the name.

The Serena Hotel is one of a handful of hotels around Malta and Gozo that is promoted in package deals by Internet-based bargain tour operators. Mr Vella claimed that these companies offered holidays based on flights and accommodation only, and tourists were told beforehand that they would have to pay for breakfast, dinner and hotel utilities.

However, their booking form, seen by The Sunday Times, states only that "all resorts require a small (returnable) inventory deposit and some resorts may require a small utility charge payable at reception on arrival".

No complaints have been filed in relation to the other hotels that form part of these package deals - although their reviews on tripadvisor.com are not always positive.

Mr Humphrey's account is similar to that of John Craig, who in 2003 alleged that Mr Vella debited €568 from his credit card without permission.

The matter went to court - though the hotel manager told The Sunday Times he could not recall the incident - and Mr Vella was acquitted because of insufficient evidence.

In another incident, Susan Spencer and Michael Rees, who stayed at the hotel during the first two weeks of July, returned home and discovered that Mr Vella had debited €3,000 from their account.

Mr Vella insists that he was owed the sum for breakfast and dinner during their two-week stay, together with the three other adults they were travelling with.

Mr Farrugia said that, to his knowledge, the type of complaint levelled against the Serena Hotel had not been made about any other establishment in Malta or Gozo.

He also confirmed that the number of complaints was excessive in relation to those received about other hotels, though he stressed that this did not necessarily mean they were genuine.

Mr Farrugia also explained that in many cases, sales are made by tour operators directly to the customer - so misrepresentation may be taking place at that stage. In fact, in some cases, tourists were compensated for their experience at the Serena Hotel by their tour operators.

Mr Farrugia told The Sunday Times that the police, the Consumer and Competition Division and the MTA were working hard at trying to verify the number of complaints they received in the past months about the hotel.

Yesterday, The Sunday Times received another letter on behalf of 20 tourists currently staying at the hotel.

"We have got together as a group and have registered a crime of credit card abuse with the police in Victoria... We intend to make as much fuss as possible. This man... shouldn't be getting away with this," the letter stated.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com