Cubanacan Comodoro

“Nice hotel, excellent staff”

Very good hotel,Bungalows, very comfortable, comfortable apartments, comfortable first floors, with access to the pool. friendly, helpful service. I want to highlight Hakson Sarduy The person is very good, kind, efficient, always ready to help, makes sure there is enough shampoo, shower gel, to... more

Very good hotel,Bungalows, very comfortable, comfortable apartments, comfortable first floors, with access to the pool. friendly, helpful service. I want to highlight Hakson Sarduy The person is very good, kind, efficient, always ready to help, makes sure there is enough shampoo, shower gel, toilet paper. cleans the apartment. My husband and I are very pleased with the service Hakson Sarduy!

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“My life changed”

In November it will be 25 years since I stayed at this hotel. I met my wife of 20 years in the hotel bar. We now have a 21 year old child so my time in Havana was simply the best. A big thanks to the hotel for making this possible. We were both travelling alone and have spent the next 25 years to... more

In November it will be 25 years since I stayed at this hotel. I met my wife of 20 years in the hotel bar. We now have a 21 year old child so my time in Havana was simply the best. A big thanks to the hotel for making this possible. We were both travelling alone and have spent the next 25 years together

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“Good place for the CUban quarantine period”

My wife and I spent 6 days/5 nights without being able to leave the room due to the Covid19 restrictions in Cuba. Still, we found the staff very friendly and very cooperative. My wife is diabetic and the staff of the Comodoro was very accommodating to her special diet. When I told the kitchen tha... more

My wife and I spent 6 days/5 nights without being able to leave the room due to the Covid19 restrictions in Cuba. Still, we found the staff very friendly and very cooperative. My wife is diabetic and the staff of the Comodoro was very accommodating to her special diet. When I told the kitchen that she liked Cuban tomatoes, they made sure that she had a plate of tomatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner. Our room was very clean and spacious. If you have to go to Cuba during the quarantine period, I suggest you bring a flash drive with plenty of movies or audiobooks.

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“Comodoro - Bad Management”

I stayed at the Comodoro on January 10th, 2021 for a week during the height of the pandemic. Unessential travel had been discouraged so I was extra cautious keeping my distance and wearing my mask. When I arrived at the Trudeau airport at 4 AM I was surprised by the lack of people flying. The ai... more

I stayed at the Comodoro on January 10th, 2021 for a week during the height of the pandemic. Unessential travel had been discouraged so I was extra cautious keeping my distance and wearing my mask. When I arrived at the Trudeau airport at 4 AM I was surprised by the lack of people flying. The airport was almost deserted. No problem there as I was able to keep my distance. The aircraft with 75 people certainly was not full. I sat in row 1 with no one on each side and a completely empty row in the back of me. After some de-icing the flight took off about 30 minutes late. Upon arrival in Varadero I witnessed another near empty airport. I went for a COVID test then got my luggage - all in record time. The bus carrying me and others to Havana left on time. I was fortunate to be amongst travellers who had taken it upon themselves to get a COVID test 3 days before so I felt relatively safe. Masks were required for everyone on the shuttle. I checked in to Hotel Comodoro, gave the front desk clerk a $5.00 US tip and asked for the best available room with safe and mini-fridge. She made a phone call then switched the assigned room to another. I was not disappointed by my newish renovated room. It was more an apartment than a room. Two balconies, kitchen with stove and mini-fridge, bedroom, small living room and a washroom with abundant hot water. It was appreciated as I was obligated by Cuban law to stay in the room until my test results came back negative. Unfortunately not everything would remain so smooth. I had expected to stay in my room until the results of my COVID test were obtained. Room service was available to me. The problem was there was no menu. I phoned the receptionist who transferred me to room service and when I inquired what was available I was told fish, beef or pork. I asked for a sandwich but the room service waitress spoke no English or French, only Spanish so she hung up on me. I ended up eating an energy bar for supper that night. The next day I called my Sunwing rep Lázaro and he quickly solved the problem. From then on someone from room service would phone me before each meal during my quarantine. While I appreciate Lázaro acting quickly I must take issue with him. I was the first from my plane to get the COVID test. Two days later and still unable to leave the room I asked him to follow up with the clinic regarding my test. Lázaro told me not to worry and that everyone else on the bus from Varadero to Havana had their results the day before except for me. This indeed was reason to worry although he didn’t seem to look at it this way. I politely insisted something be done immediately. He didn’t know what to do and suggested I contact his boss. I explained this was not for me to do this and suggested he had his boss contact Sunwing head office and they in turn contact the clinic. Apparently this was done as the next morning my negative result was obtained and Lázaro confirmed such to me. On Thursday morning I followed Lázaro’s instructions for my second test - the one needed to get back into Canada. Upon arriving at the Siboney International Clinic there were large signs indicating that the results would take 72 hours to obtain. This was a problem as my flight left from Varadero in 72 hours and I was in Havana. I spoke with 3 nurses at the Siboney Clinic explaining that I needed these results within 48 hours or that I would miss my flight. While they appeared concerned they said the chances were 50/50% that I would get my test results on time. I got my test done and went back to the hotel and contacted Lázaro at Sunwing. I was told “don’t worry” and had the feeling that my call was an annoyance to him. I asked him to look into this immediately and to call me back. He agreed but he never followed up. I never heard from Lázaro again. Sensing I had been abandoned by Lázaro and without another contact at Sunwing I had to come up quickly with a solution. I approached the doctor and nurse at the first aid office of the Comodoro Hotel. Fortunately, they had good contacts with the Siboney Clinic and made some phone calls. I was told to call a special number the day after, on Friday, two days before my departure. I did this and there was no answer despite repeated calls. I called the regular clinic phone number and spoke with a nurse who didn’t really understand English. Back I went to the hotel doctor and nurse and after three phone calls they made arrangements for me to pick up my results on that Friday night. Had they not intervened I may not have had my results in time and would have been denied boarding. This would have meant booking and paying for another flight as well as lodging costs while I waited for the next flight. The problem with the test results and my running around to remedy the situation made my time in Havana very stressful. The Sunwing rep was clearly not doing his job by showing lack of empathy or sense of urgency. The hotel had it’s faults. There were only about 25 guests at the hotel (according to the front desk) in a large multi-complex that could easily hold several hundred. Not once did the manager approach me after I had the restaurant waitress hang up on me. In fact, I never saw or met the hotel manager. On one occasion I went for breakfast and asked for one egg sunny side up. The waitress did not understand what I wanted. Quickly, there were 4 restaurant staff trying to figure out what ‘sunny side” meant as none spoke any English or French. You would expect that some common breakfast terms like ‘sunny side’, ‘eggs over easy’ etc would be part of their restaurant vocabulary even if they didn’t speak the language. A good manager would have ensured at least one staff member had some knowledge of English. Even with 25 guests the staff outnumbered the guests, in my approximation, by two to one. The maid, for example, spoke perfect English so why wasn’t she assigned to restaurant duty where she would have been of better use? This is something only hotel management could answer. It took me 4 days to get a balcony chair. Keep in mind that I had to spend from Sunday afternoon until early Wednesday morning in my room. It would have been nice to sit on the balcony. I asked different people at front desk for the chair. Same for the safe. It wasn’t working. It took 5 days before it was fixed. The bungalow had a new, top of the line, electric stove. But, there were no pots or pans or utensils. What’s up with this? The first evening, Sunday night, room service were delivering meals to the guests. I had not requested anything yet but I was pleased they were offering food. There is a new currency system in Cuba. No more CUC. Only CUP. I was asked to pay the equivalent of $27. US for a plate containing a few cubes of beef, rice and carrots. Even for a hotel $27.was too high for such a meal. I had them recalculate. They then told me it was $24. I refused. This went on a few more times until they calculated the price to be $14. US. The Cubans have been using CUP for years so this was an extortion attempt on their part. (I relived similar experiences throughout the trip as locals tried to overcharge on all goods and services. In all cases I was able to reduce the prices). Depending on who was serving at the bar a coffee would either be $3.00 or $2.00. Again, calculated rip offs. There were no price lists anywhere and the staff took advantage. The blame must be directed to the hotel management. I know they will use the COVID-19 and change of currency to defend themselves but these should have had no bearing on the lack of organization this hotel showed. Clearly, it is time for the manager to be re-trained or replaced. I would not totally write off this hotel but I would not go back. If you speak Spanish you will stand a better chance of getting better service. I have been to Havana 32 times and stayed at around 20 different hotels - most 2 or 2.5 stars. This was a 3.5 star. I never had problems like this before. Here is a breakdown on how I rate the hotel by category: Cleanliness: 5/5 Spotless and disinfected due to the pandemic. Maid Service: 5/5 Food: 3/5 Acceptable but not great. Room: 3.9/5.0 Almost 4 stars for the room I was in although I would rate the hotel generally as 2.5/5 Reception: 4/5 Their follow-up skills could be improved. Restaurant Staff: 3/5. Need more English/French speaking staff. Management: 1/5 Unorganized. Lack of leadership. Follow-up skills need improvement. Summary: Due to the new monetary situation as well as COVID-19 Havana should be avoided. Varadero is a better option during this period as there are many Canadian tourists. As they say ‘safety in numbers’. The Comodoro needs better management who can lead and supervise their staff better. Until then avoid it.

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