Friends treated me to 3 nights at the Parque Central hotel in January 2012. Check-in was quick & easy - that is, once I'd been directed to the right building! The hotel is actually in 2 buildings - the older historic building fronting Parque Central, and a new building a block along, connected by an underground link (tip for any hotel management reading this: it would be helpful if when you received your booking confirmation you were told which building you would be in, as its a fair walk between the two). Both buildings have nicely-appointed common areas - the older building being particularly beautiful. The rooftop pool is spectacular (if a little chilly!), and the staff very helpful & friendly. My room was in the newer building and was huge, with a 'mini-suite' of bathroom facilities, and a nice view of the original Bacardi HQ building. Most of the staff were helpful and friendly, in particular the bellhops.

However there were a few little niggle. There was some trodden-in dirt on a small section of carpet which wasn't cleaned during my stay, despite me asking twice. Water pressure was a problem and the shower had to be run for 7-8 minutes before there was any hot water ( although to be fair to the hotel, this is an issue across Havana & the rest of Cuba due to the ageing infrastructure). A couple of the reception staff weren't always as helpful as they cou;d have been: one in particular told me brusquely to 'ask the bellboy' every time I asked a question. I also found that reception staff knew (or, at least, claimed to know) nothing about bookings made via a third-party - which was a pain as the rep from the company I made the booking through wasn't contactable when I had a problem and needed him. I'd suggest the hotel management develops a closer working relationship with their booking agents so hotel guests receive a seamless, consistently high-quality service - which is what a hotel of that price should deliver.

All in all I'd definitely recommend the hotel - the location and quality of physical product is very good. But the hotel has a few things still to work on on the 'human' side of their product offer, so visitors shouldn't expect the service to be the same as that found for a similar price elsewhere in the world.

Brilliant location -right in the centre of the action in Havana!!Our room was very spacious ,clean & comfortable with a good size safe.
We chose the hotel over the Nacional de Cuba as the Trip Advisor reviews were better.
We ate at the hotel on our first night -enjoyed a pizza & lovely bottle of red wine on the roof terrace which had great views over Havana.
The hotel had lots of different areas to sit in as well as a nice rooftop bar.The Rooftop bar also had a lovely pool which sadly we didn't get the time to use altho' we did sit and enjoy the fantastic views.
Breakfast was brilliant -lots of choice of good quality food-it was hard deciding what to eat!!There was even sparkling wine so you could make yourself a Bucks Fizz!!Only complaint would be that you had to ask for refills of coffee-it wasn't self service like the tea.
We would definately choose this hotel again if we went to Cuba and allow more time to take advantage of the Rooftop pool!

We arrived at this hotel after a long and arduos journey to be told (along with others) that they had no rooms available due to overbooking even though we had booked the room three months earlier.

We were told that we would be taken to another five star hotel which was " very close by". (What a liar she was)

In fact the hotel we were taken to was 8 miles away which completely ruined all of our sight seeing plans which were based on being in a central location.

Who wants to visit London and stay at Heathrow airport

So my advice is: IF YOU WANT TO ENSURE A ROOM IS AVAILABLE WHEN YOU ARRIVE BOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE

The debate about accommodation in Havana - do you stay in a deluxe 5 star hotel or do you seek something "authentic and Cuban" ? Being first timers to Cuba and having worked in Eastern bloc countries when they too were under communist regimes we elected to play safe and go down the 5 star route.(Too many memories of decaying hotels and lousy service).

The tripadvisor reviews certainly helped as well.

The Parque Central more than meet our needs. It is just so well located for the key Havana attractions. Most things are within a few minutes walk. Having booked an afternoon (orientation) tour of Havana, and gone on a tour of 10 other Havana hotels we were of the view that this was just so well located relative to most others. What they were like inside....

The hotel appears to be "colonial", but it isn't - it was build probably 10 or so years ago to look colonial. They did a good job. The rooms were large, comfortable and above all functional. The rooftop terrace has wonderful views - day and night. The restaurant food was very good - the breakfast buffet was the best we experienced in Cuba.

Hotel staff - they were obliging and particularly caring - our guide for a walking tour proved to be a "no show" and we received excellent service in the attempt to track down the missing guide. Post that incident, the conceirge staff went out of there way to assist on a number of other matters. (Sometimes you can attribute this attention to expectations of monetary reward, but we didn't receive those vibes - it was a genuine desire to help).

The reason my rating wasn't excellent largely can be attributed to minor niggles - some rooms have coffee makers - others don't - and if you want coffee the price is high.
We requested assistance in unlocking a safe that the previous room occupant left locked. it took 4 calls to get someone to the room. Service in the restaurants was erratic - generally great, but on a few occasions that "walk straight past" syndome, to be fair mainly at breakfast.

There is a little (state owned and operated) travel service in the foyer. The queues always seemed long and the 2 times that we joined the queue the staff at the end of the line gave the level of service you would expect from stressed and pressured people - gruff. Interestly in our whole week or more in Cuba this was our only exposure to this less than helpful attitude. However, I should note this has nothing to do with the hotel.

Anyway, would I recommend the Parque Central - yes I would - it worked and we were pleased with iur stay.