Santa Isabel Hotel, Havana City Cuba. 5 stars.

Excellent Michelaine

Unique
Probably Cuba's most elegant hotel is the Santa Isabel located on the best location in the middle of Old Havana (Habana Vieja)

Awfull Evan D

“Unpleasant staff and a rip off ethos”
First of all, would like to say that old town Havana is a beautiful place - it is almost like a living museum. It is so strange to see such beautiful (and crumbling) buildings still used as regular houses by regular people, who use the amenities and squares as they were meant to be used. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of hustlers and schemers who drag the place down, hassling and badgering tourists, trying to rip them off etc. This hotel is old town Havana in a nutshell. The building is beautiful - however, the ethos of this hotel and some of the staff seem to be to hustle and rip off tourists. I guarantee you they will not respond to this post, as i notice they haven't for all the other poor reviews. 1. We booked a terrace room (312), and paid a little extra for the terrace. Room was poor quality for even a 3 star. When we went out to the terrace there was no table or chairs, I went down to reception and asked if we could have some. "Oh no," was the response, "the terrace is closed due to maintenance." There was no sign anywhere stating this, and there was no building/ painting work etc that I could see anywhere! Other rooms had tables and chairs. 2. We went down to the bar and ordered two drinks (a gin and tonic and my partner a mohito). The barman tried to pawn Havana club on me saying a rum and tonic is a much better drink. Twice I had to politely tell him no, gin. He didn't take it too well. When waiting for the drinks, I read my keycard - when you check in you are entitled to two free cocktails at the bar.This was not mentioned by the hotel reception or the barman. When he came down with the drinks I asked him if they were free, and showed him the keycard. He argued with me, saying only the mohito is free (it says this nowhere on the keycard). He then charged me 8 CUC for the G & T!! Bear in mind, the average working wage for a cuban resident is 20 CUC per month. 3. That night, it got unbelievably hot in the room, the AC was terrible. We drank water during the night from the mini bar. We couldn't find a price list anywhere. Still we drank it, we were parched. 4. Next morning we asked for a late check out (check out is 12, we wanted to leave at 4). The lady at the desk said, ohh it's 50 CUC. It was as if she pulled the figure out of thin air (I'm being polite, seemed like she pulled it out of somewhere else). I agreed, and asked if i could convert you euro to peso to cover the cost. She gave an exhange rate of 1.20 to do this. Again, this was written no where and she seemed to pull it out of thin air. Every other hotel we had stayed in in Cuba gave a rate of 1.27 to 1.29 - obviously i declined and walked down to the nearest bank to change my money. When i got back to the checkout, fee had gone up to 52 CUC. 5. Whilst there, a nice Swiss family were checking out. They used the coffee machine, and the receptionist was trying to charge them. Again, there was no price list in their room, nothing to say this wasn't complimentary. They were being charged 6 CUC (again I stress, average cuban wage is 20 CUC per month!). I asked reception for a price list to see how much our water cost, we were also being charged 6 CUC. Crazy stuff. 6. Obviously I argued with them, saying you can't charge people extortionate prices and not highlight these prices in the room. Receptionist started blaming the maid for not putting price lists in the room, not her problem. With that, I walked into the bar, and asked to see a drinks menu - low and behold a G&T was 6 CUC, not 8 - ripped off again. I went back to reception, showed them the menu and told them i was overcharged (despite the fact that really the cocktail should have been free). All they did was give me the 2 CUC back. If you want to stay in a hotel with very unprofessional reception workers, a dodgy barman, and an ethos to rip off the customer, by all means stay here. Also, service at breakfast is painfully slow - we sat there for 30 minutes waiting for a ham and cheese sandwich when only three tables were occupied (despite there being 4 waiting staff). We also stayed in the hotel Saratoga in Havana - staff were all very professional, everything was up front, and it was a genuinely pleasant experience.