After close to two weeks travelling through Cuba we went to Varadero
for three
nights to end our trip and fly home. When we first got to the hotel it was
fine; clean, staff were pleasant, nice beach, for the price and location buffet was as expected.
We expected the same for our three days there.
We headed to the buffet for a late lunch and not bad, carving station with roast
pork and hamburgers, pasta, fruit, salad, the usual. The dinner was a completely
different affair, no carving station and left over food from lunch. I am not
sure they even changed anything just topped up what was left over and removed
the carving station attendant.
After a few drinks at the bar chatting with the others staying we headed to
bed. Decent enough beds, again for the price this is a cheap hotel, but in the middle of the night the
SMELL. We were both woken up at about 3:00AM due to the smell. It was so bad
at first I thought it must be a gas leak in the room but it was worse outside.
This lasted for a couple of hours before we could get back to sleep with
headaches. The next morning we had to open both the sliding door to the balcony
and the entrance door to try and air the room out.
Day two we only had a small breakfast which was okay, then a nice relaxing day
at the beach and a walk to the market. Did not eat lunch or dinner at Club
Tropical as there was nothing appetizing and no fresh food or carving station to be
had. We asked about a massage appointment at the Front Desk and the women just
looked at us like we were stupid with one questioning word "massage?". I guess
the sign and information brochure was incorrect but were made to feel like this was our fault for
reading their offerings. That night sitting outside with other guests the smell
of gas came back, this time around 10:00PM. When we first asked what it was the
bar staff advised they couldn't smell anything and advised it was just someones
lighter... The women at the Front Desk was much more honest and this is when we
found out it was the oil refinery 20 km's away. She advised it was worse for the
locals who lived closer to the refinery year round. The smell lasted about an
hour this night.
We were up early to go on a boat trip on day three, which was great. When we
returned to Club Tropical the staff jumped all over us and very loudly advising
we were to check out immediately as we only paid for two nights. They were
incredibly rude, which for us was quite embarrassing due to the way they were
speaking to us in front of the other guests. When they realized the error was
theirs we did not receive any apology, all we wanted was sorry our mistake you
have paid for three nights. When we spoke to the manager on duty advising we
paid for three nights he was just as rude. At least this night there was no gas
smell
I did not expect much due to the price, just a clean room, beach access and
service. Due to the service of the staff I cannot recommend this hotel along
with the gas smell. Stay somewhere else, there is better for the same price
range in Varadero.
- Tropical Hotel Varadero
