GOZO: FROM €180,000SO, YOU WAKE UP in the comfort of your own home one morning and decide that you don't feel like preparing breakfast. It's time to call room service. You could eat it on your balcony, overlooking the pool.
Afterwards, you call down to the spa for an invigorating body wrap. And why not ring the concierge to see if he can arrange some opera tickets for that evening?
Enjoying the luxury of a five-star hotel in your own home is a concept which is being busily put to good use by the Kempinski hotel chain. It is now selling 60 apartments and penthouses in a private wing of the Kempinski Hotel and Spa on the Maltese island of Gozo.
The 67km island is a 25-minute ferry ride from Malta, which is serviced by Ryanair. The unspoilt and laid-back island is not a well-known holiday destination in Ireland, but the luxurious Kempinski development has already attracted several Irish buyers. Norwegians account for most buyers followed by a mix of Swiss, British, Irish, Italians and Czechs.
The 60 residences include six one-bedroom apartments, with prices starting at €180,000. There are 36 two-beds, starting from €352,500, while the 12 three-bed apartments start at €470,000.
Prices for the six penthouses are available on request - which presumably means that if you have to ask the price, you can't afford them. There is also a community service fee to cover maintenance and use of the hotel's facilities. It varies from under €1,000 to more than €5,000, depending on the residence you buy.
This charge covers the residence card, which gives you access to the three outdoor pools, (including a kids' pool), the indoor pool, tennis and squash courts, gym, hot tub, steam baths and towel service. The residence card also gives a 15 per cent discount on the hotel's restaurants and bars - but sadly not room service - and on the spa treatments and laundry services. Other high-end benefits include private boat hire, chauffeured limousine service, and the chartering of helicopters but all, of course, at extra cost.
Water, electricity and heating bills are not included in the community service fee and are charged quarterly, with a 15 per cent administration fee.
All residences have balconies, terraces or verandas overlooking the pool, the countryside, or both. They have CCTV surveillance in all corridors, 24-hour security, an on-call doctor, house and garden maintenance, concierge services, childcare and babysitting.
The apartments come with telephone and television points, underfloor heating, hydro-massage baths, walk-in showers, double basins and hardwood doors.
There are no restrictions on foreign citizens buying property on the Maltese islands. Malta joined the EU in 2004 with nine other states and it adopted the euro in January. English is the second language on the islands, which makes life very easy indeed.
There is no annual property tax in Malta but the Inland Revenue charges a 1 per cent tax on property purchases, deductible from the 5 per cent stamp duty, to be paid when the sale is complete.
See www.kempinski-gozo.com for details of the hotel, or e-mail residences@sanlawrenz.com for information about the properties.
