What is scandalous is not the kind of service offered by Le Meridien Hotel, but the way Catania football club cut short its stay in Malta earlier this week.

Last Tuesday, the Sicilian club, on a training camp in Malta during the Italian league’s Christmas break, announced it was leaving Malta earlier than anticipated because of the “scandalous” way it was treated by the hotel. It did not give any details or say what it meant by “scandalous”.

Its director general, Pietro Lo Monaco, not new to uncalled for outbursts that harm his own reputation and that of his club, said that Calcio Catania were leaving partly because of the weather conditions but mostly because they did not get the treatment they expected from the hotel they were staying in.

Perhaps Lo Monaco thought that in Malta it never rains in January, but he should know better seeing that Catania is not that far away from here. Winter may be mild in Malta and Sicily when compared to northern Europe, but it does pour down sometimes. Perhaps he forgot his raincoat back home. What happens when it rains in Catania – do they call off their training session?

But what hurt most – not only Le Meridien, but the football community at large and the country as a whole – were the disparaging comments that Lo Monaco made about the hotel and, by default, the tourism industry in general.

Perhaps he did not know that, prior to Calcio Catania, the hotel had given excellent service that was praised openly by the Portuguese national team and another Italian club, Juventus. The national teams of Switzerland, Latvia and Georgia also stayed at the hotel with no problems at all.

Perhaps he expected to be treated like royalty, or have a red carpet waiting for him when he turned up. Or maybe he found a pea under his mattress.

It is clear however that the comments about the hotel were just an excuse for Calcio Catania to leave the island prematurely just because it was raining. Maybe they were afraid of catching a cold, who knows.

But it is a pity that Lo Monaco’s comments could cause so much harm to the local tourism industry, and perhaps stop other football clubs from coming over for their training camps.

Over many years, several clubs and national sides have come over to Malta, both for official matches as well as for training camps, and none of them complained of the service they were given in our hotels.

What Lo Monaco said should not stop others from experiencing the excellent service that is offered to its visitors – be they footballers or just tourists.