Copacabana

The rooms were really clean, and the employees were very kind. The pool area gets a little crowded on weekends when local people arrive by bus just to use it. A taxi to the city center and Capitol building takes about 15 minutes and costs around 6-8 euros maximum. For the price they charge, the hotel needs renovation.

The stay was good, staff helpful and rooms clean. It's about a 3 1/2 star resort. Breakfast was included and good. Lunch and dinner weren't great, so I'd skip those meal packages. There are lots of little family restaurants nearby with good food at good prices.

The staff were very friendly, and the free Wi-Fi was a plus, though you had to log in on the website every few hours. My room had no towels when I arrived, and there was rubbish left in a drawer by the previous guest. For the first four days I was stuck with tiny, stained towels that weren't changed; the big towels only came on the final day. The whole hotel smelled strange, including the lobby, where the air conditioning was also painfully cold. Corridors felt spooky, and the pool area looked neglected and depressing. Bugs got in through the windows, which wouldn't close properly. Tiny flies bit like mosquitoes, and someone in our group had a cockroach in their room. There were bugs across the canteen floor too. We were in a room beside a staff or kitchen area, so we could hear loud talking and shouting, and the windows looked directly at other hotel rooms. The TV cable signal was very poor. I was very glad to check out. When I first saw the room, I thought I was going to cry. The hotel's basics and maintenance did not match a three-star rating. The rooms were outdated and extremely dirty, and the scale of the place seemed to call for more cleaning staff than the few maids they had. The air conditioner and vents were black with dirt and mold, and the room felt very damp. Dust and mold covered the boards behind the bed, and the mirrors and windows looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in ages. The floor was so filthy that even a moment walking barefoot left my feet black. The bathroom looked unfinished, used, and dirty, with limescale everywhere, rust and scale on the shower head, a loose sink tap, and a big gap between the sockets. There were no 220v outlets, only 110v, so my hair tool wouldn't work. The room smelled of old damp wood. The air conditioning only had one setting, extremely cold, and the wall thermostat didn't seem to work. Curtains were torn and dusty, and there were old cobwebs on the wall. The food was okay, but the all-inclusive plan didn't cover any drinks at evening dinner, which was laughable.

The balcony had an amazing view, and the swimming pool was beautiful. Breakfast was good, and the lobby bar had cheap drinks. I hadn't realized that payment was card-only, with no CUP or EUR accepted, as is the case in many places in Cuba. That was the only downside.