Habana 612

“Horryfyingly authentic experience with a cockroach, no water etc.”

While at a glance this hotel looks fantastic and the location is excellent too, it did have its authentic quirks during our visit. First there was no water and I found a small cockroach on the bed. Then after I found the valves to turn on the water, the toilet did not flush. Not a biggie, fixed it … more

While at a glance this hotel looks fantastic and the location is excellent too, it did have its authentic quirks during our visit. First there was no water and I found a small cockroach on the bed. Then after I found the valves to turn on the water, the toilet did not flush. Not a biggie, fixed it myself in a snap. As for the cockroach, we were explained that "this is a tropical country", which is fair, I guess (although none of other hotels, including home stays had this extra in our bed). Then the doors could not be closed with the key. Excessive force was necessary to do this. In the 3rd day, the key broke and I was charged 15 euro equivalent, for the damage although even the staff members were struggling to close the door of our room. Not fair in my book. Lastly, sewage was flowing from the ceiling sometimes during the breakfast. That said, the location was great, we felt safe in this hotel, breakfast was ok and staff was mostly friendly. Now in a retrospect, I am happy we had this hotel for a few days, as it did have that authentic feel of Cuba, just maybe not in the best way, but we will surely remember it much more than any 5* hotel we visited.

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“Great Location for exploring old Havana”

We were provided a direct taxi transfer from the airport to this hotel which is located bang in the middle of old Havana. On arrival at about 7:30 PM the person at the desk asked for our voucher. We did not have one as it was not provided by The Holiday Place! We showed him the document that THP pr… more

We were provided a direct taxi transfer from the airport to this hotel which is located bang in the middle of old Havana. On arrival at about 7:30 PM the person at the desk asked for our voucher. We did not have one as it was not provided by The Holiday Place! We showed him the document that THP provided and he wanted to cut out the bit that confirmed our stay in this hotel. This was quite unnerving and I pointed out that we were due to come back for one more night on 13th May when they can keep that page of the document. He accepted this. However, I took this up on the following days when Manuel was at the desk. He apologised for this and advised that it was unnecessary After booking us in, we were given the key to our room which was on the second floor. We had to lug two 18KG bags by ourselves to get to the room up the flight of stairs. So beware, if you are old or disabled! The room was clean and had everything we needed. We were so pleased that the AC worked and was also very quiet. We had to pay 3.65 CUC for 1.5l bottle of water from the fridge bar. Rather extortionate when we could buy for less than 2 CUC from Mercado supermarket across the road. We stayed in Room no 9 even though it was on the second floor we could hear all the noise from outside with cars and music blaring away. The hotel is in a rather old, run down, part of Havana but in just the right location to walk to all the key areas of the town. We took a three wheeled cycle which stopped at various locations to enable us to stroll around. We paid 40 CUC for 2hrs 15min although I had negotiated a rate of 15 CUCs per hour. On the return to Havana for the 13th night of hour Holiday, the following day before catching the plane back to London, we took the tourist bus trip T1 which took about 2hrs . This enabled us to see areas like Miramar and the long coastal road (Malecon) which would have been difficult to do by walking. Note there is only T1 and T3 routes now. T2 does not operate anymore. We did the coastal/beach route T3 during the first part of our stay. Note, the T3 is an air conditioned single decker coach with tinted windows, operated by Transtur and not same as the red double decker Hop on/off bus.

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“Still not sure what to make of it”

On the one hand I loved the big doors you needed to bang to get in in the evening and the general grandeur of the hotel. On the other-hand, it was all a little average. The rooms were a little bland and too big to feel comfortable in, a little bare. The staff were good generally, arranging a taxi f… more

On the one hand I loved the big doors you needed to bang to get in in the evening and the general grandeur of the hotel. On the other-hand, it was all a little average. The rooms were a little bland and too big to feel comfortable in, a little bare. The staff were good generally, arranging a taxi for us to Trinidad. Having said that, it seemed like we were overcharged for the internet cards which was a little annoying. The location worked for us. The breakfast was alright, nothing special, but definitely consumable and the folk who served it were lovely. So all in all, just ok from me.

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