The new Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa, which will be the main venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government who will be in Malta for the high-profile meeting in November, will be welcoming its first guests on Thursday, The Malta Independent has learnt.

The Sunset Tower, in the inner part of the hotel, will be accepting its first guests next week. There are 87 rooms in this part of the hotel.

The Twilight Tower, which is the middle tower, will be ready to accommodate guests as from 15 September and the third and final tower will be ready by 1 October.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Island Hotels Group sales and operations director Winston J. Zahra Jnr shrugged off rumours that the hotel will not be ready in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November, saying this was just one of the usual rumours that become rife in Malta when a project is on schedule. He said that, on the contrary, guests will begin arriving at the hotel next week. He also said that the hotel will host its first wedding on 23 September and its first international conference on 4 October.

In all, the Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa will have 337 rooms forming part of five collections: two luxury presidential suites, four penthouses including a private pool belonging to the Heavenly Collection, 23 spacious 90 square metre suites forming the Double Dream Collection, 164 suites forming the Zenith Collection and finally 144 deluxe rooms encompassed in the Serene collection.

The rooms have all been designed to be extremely spacious and are, in fact, the largest five-star rooms on the island. Mr Zahra said the rooms are furnished to a very high standard and in-room facilities will include all the comforts associated with a five-star resort and will meet the refined tastes of leisure and business travellers alike.

At all stages of the resort’s development, great care has been taken to ensure full care of the environment. In fact, a four-pronged plan has been used to ensure numerous protection measures during the demolition of the old building, the design of the new resort, the construction stage of the resort and finally during the operation of the resort. These measures led to the resort receiving an accolade for its initiatives from the European Union a few weeks ago.

In addition, the resort has already employed just under 200 people who will form part of an eventual staff complement of 250. These members of staff have been undergoing training over the past few weeks in both technical aspects as well as in the concepts of Radisson SAS chain, including the “Yes I Can” customer service concept.