I booked this hotel after reading reviews on Tripadvisor and also after reading the description of the hotel in Lonely Planet. Let me start at the outset by saying that I am not too sure when the Lonely Planet journalist stayed at the hotel, or indeed which part of the hotel they stayed in, but having now stayed at the Conde de Villanueva, their review has left me somewhat confused. For example, their description of this hotel as 'luxury' is laughable. Beautiful - yes. Colonial style - yes. Luxury - err, no.

I stayed at Conde de Villanueva for 5 nights during early February. I arrived on my first evening to be greeted by a lady on reception who quite frankly, looked like she would rather be anywhere else. It then became apparent to me that all was not what it should be and I was thereafter given the story that there was a problem with my room owing to a plumbing fault and that I would not be able to stay at the hotel that night. Having read all about this 'strategy' by Havana hotels prior to my arrival, I was fully aware that there was no fault and that the hotel had simply overbooked. This is a real problem in Havana. So, I pointed out that there was no fault and that I would like to see the Manager. Just when I thought the receptionist could not be any ruder, her reaction to my question was to sniff and snort at me a couple of times and to frankly, treat me with absolute disdain. It became apparent that I was going to get nowhere with my quest to stay at the hotel that night and so agreed to their proposed alternative. They said they would taxi me to the Saratoga, put me up there one night and then taxi me back the next morning. I agreed although after a long flight, would far rather have just stayed where I was.

I was escorted to the main road (taxis can't stop outside the hotel so you need to walk to the main road) by the hotel porter who immediately seemed to be by new best friend and set about giving me his number and also inviting me to go out 'wiith him and his friends' to Casa de la Musica, a well known nightspot in Havana. Unfortunately for the porter, I had also read fairly extensively about this ruse too - invite your new tourist mate out for the night, only for your new tourist mate to pick up the tab for anyone and everyone at the end of the night. Anyway, some half an hour after standing by the side of the road waiting for the complimentary taxi to take me to my 'new' accomodation, the car turned up and dropped me off at the Saratoga.

Next morning on checkout, I was advised a taxi would come and pick me up and take me back to Conde de Villanueva. I waited an hour for this to turn up before deciding I wanted to waste no more time hanging around with my baggage and so paid for my own cab to take me back. I was dropped at the main road and made my way back to Conde de Villanueva. On checking-in, I was told I could not reclaim the cost of this cab as I hadn't waited for the free cab. On the plus side, I was checked into one of the upstairs rooms with a balcony and the lady who checked me in was significantly more welcoming than I had experienced the previous evening.

Rooms were basic but beautiful. Very high ceilings, old wooden doors opening to a small balcony and an old wooden desk and large, seperate bathroom area. Very nice, just the sort of colonial feel I was looking for, and for which I had paid a lot of money for! The atrium in the middle of the hotel was lovely and was the perfect place to sit and enjoy a mojito and a cigar, bought fresh from the on-site cigar shop. I had no rewal problems with the room at all, although the shower did collapse the first night I touched it so spent the rest of my time at the hotel having to shower by holding the headset. I soon realised complaining about things in Cuba, or at least trying to have them fixed, is a largely pointless experience so I didn't bother following up on the broken shower holder. Some fixtures in the room were broken or damaged and the plaster was crumbling from the walls. However, this wasn't an issue for me and I quite enjoyed the true Cuban feel.

The rest of the week passed without any real incident, I was quite happy with the accomodation but was continually hassled by the hotel porter pretty much every time I saw him. Whether he was trying to sell me things, ranging from women to cigars to taxis, or whether he was trying to get me to take him out, it all became a bit tiresome. I was a single traveller and you have to be prepared for this in Cuba - from morning until night, you will be hassled, hustled and generally have people trying to benefit economically from you. However, given the poverty, this is understandable on the street but when I returned to the hotel, it was usually as I was looking for some relaxation, not a repeat performance of what I experienced from street hustlers.

When it came to me checking out, I had booked a taxi for 5.30am to take me to the airport. The porter arranged this for me for 25 CUC. When I went to check out, around 5.15, the porter said I owed the hotel 29 CUC for mini-bar usage. In the time I stayed at the hotel, I had 4 small bottles of water and 1 larger bottle. There was no prices on the mini-bar but by any reckoning, my usage could not possibly have come to such an amount. I questioned this and asked to see the bill. I was shown a piece of paper with some biro scribble on it, no prices anywhere to be seen. No actual bill was forthcoming. I argued the point that I could not possibly have spent this amount on 5 bottles of water and refused to pay. At this point, the hotel security guard presented himself and it was quite clear that i was not going to be allowed to leave until I paid the porter 29 CUC. I still refsued to pay without seeing a bill and the costs of what I had apparently spent but given my taxi to the airport was waiting and there was no hotel management around to take the matter up with, there was only going to be one winner in this stand-off. So, in the end, I coughed up the money requested knowing full well I was being ripped off but conscious I needed to leave to catch my flight. I put this rather sour experience down to the fact that throughout my entire stay, the porter had attempted to gain financially from me. As he had failed and despite my tipping him throughout the stay for his services when I used them, it seemed to me that he had resorted to simply taking money from me using the mini-bar 'method'.

My summary of this hotel would be that it is a very interesting place to stay. I certainly have not stayed anywhere like it before and would recommend it for anyone wantin to stay somewhere with a genuine colonial feel. However, do not expect 'luxury' as the Lonely Planet suggests and also be aware of the possible pitfalls in terms of service, being sent elsewhere on your first night and be cautious of staff trying to sell you anything or have you accompany them on a night out or similar. Also, given my experience with the mini-bar, I would suggest clarifying prices prior to usage and certainly before coming to pay at check-out, especially if you are leaving at a time where the hotel management isn't available.