Those criticizing the hotel for its humble appearance miss a point; one does not go to Cuba for its luxury hotels, but to enjoy the sun, the playa, and visit not-so-far amazing Havana city, i.e. being outside most of the time.
Admittedly, its not flawless. Windows were not very clean, and service was pretty much hit-or-miss. On one instance the reception clerk didn't want to change our small $20 canadian bills for CUC, allegedly because they were "too clean", and thus "looked suspicious". No worry, we walked 100 m down the road to the next hotel where they changed them without problem.
In the dinner room, it was so-so on the service; one would have to rush a bit in order to have a sitting place and, more importantly, hot food; that was my main complaint about the food; the buffet was not anywhere hot, and providing microwave oven is admitting defeat. I guess the solution is as simple as the staff either putting covers on the pans or turning up the heat under them. Apart from that, usual precautions for tropical areas need apply (at leat for westerners ;) ; be cautious with raw and below safe temperature food. Otherwise, Cuban bread is great, and, although it was the same food from a day to the other, one would have a hard time not finding anything to his or her taste during his or her stay. By the way, as the hotel is litteraly an Italian hotel (even staff have sometime better knowledge of Italian than Enlish!), most of the food is Italian-inspired.
In our vacation plan, alcoholic beverages were free, and to be fair, excellent quality around the clock (no joke!). It pays to learn all the rum-based cocktails' name before coming!
Rooms were spacious and well cleaned, and the bathroom was in decent shape, but the mattresses.... AWFUL. As if two 300-pound person slept in them for the past ten year at night, and jumped on them at day. I'm pretty light, as is my partner, yet we found ourselves litteraly sinking. Springs were completely ruined, I guess. If that happens to you, be sure to let the reception know it, and get a replacement bed when possible. I did not asked about it, so your mileage may vary. On the other hand, as long as you leave a small tip, your room is always tidied up thoroughly in your absence.
Also, one recommendation for the hotel would be to tighten a bit the behavior rules for the guests; coming to lunch in surf shorts, without shirt, burping and yelling around is definitely NOT class, and other guest don't like it. Some parts of the hotel are in dire needs of renovations, starting by the games room.
Animation shown an effort from previous reports, but appeared a bit too much between caricatures like "Les bronzés" and that primary school-fest from the 80s. Consequently, many guest appeared uninterested in participating, although the girl animating was really kind. Internet access is purely symbolic, with two 10-year-old paying computers sharing a single 56K line; enough to check mails, but not more.
Location, on the other hand, is perfect when you want to enjoy the sun and the beach (although Varadero has more beautiful beaches), but it's about 15km from Havana. Granted, there are 3 free shuttle rides a day to Havana, and 2 from Havana; the last returning one is too early to enjoy the nightlife in Havana, so you will have to arrange to get an (official) taxi. On the other hand, the bus driver is very friendly, although didn't understood a single word of English (Granted, my Spanish is below poor).
Overall, the value is excellent for a Cuban hotel; there are upper scale hotels in Havana. but these are in a city which air is heavily polluted, and with prices above the clouds. If you plan to visit Havana, it makes more sense to stay in a modest but clean hotel and save cash to pay for taxi to wander around town and to pay for visits and the omnipresent tip requirement. Trust me on the one, it's extremely hard to visit Havana for a week spending less than $500. It doesn't seem so on the map, but Havana is extremely large when you have only a pair of feet to use. Don't count on public transportation; although dirt cheap (around 5 cents a ride), it's usually crowded, and locals aren't always friendly with non-Spanish speaking foreigners. Although I saw many busses, I never saw any bus stop sign!
I will definitely recommend this hotel to a friend when included in a low-price, all-included vacation.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
