Remember everything

Written: 26 september 2012
Travel time: 18 — 19 november 2011
Your rating of this hotel:
3.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 3.0
Service: 1.0
Cleanliness: 2.0
Food: 3.0
Amenities: 3.0
Cuba, Havana, hotel TRYP HABANA LIBRE was the beginning of our trip, which included visits to Cuba and Mexico, and the beginning must be said not very successful.
Reception. Upon arrival at the hotel, there was a small queue at the reception (about 5 couples), but we stood in this queue for an hour. I immediately remembered Soviet times and constant queues for everything. Further events more and more clearly resembled a "scoop". For those who are especially nostalgic for those times - welcome to this hotel. The registration process itself takes about 15 minutes. There are two administrators at the reception, but only one takes care of all the questions, who settles and changes the currency and answers all other questions. The second administrator only periodically distracts the first from his work with some questions and the need to search for some papers. The procedure for registering at the hotel is so irrational that it cannot even be described. A small touch.
The questionnaire, which must be filled out upon check-in at the hotel, can only be obtained by reaching the administrator (no way before), so time is wasted filling out this questionnaire directly at the reception desk, which at that time is watching how you fill it out. 80% of the questionnaire data of the passport, which is then copied (why two pieces of paper with almost the same data? ) and so on. etc. But as it turns out, this is just the beginning. After going through all the circles of hell, we finally got the coveted key and went up to the room. What was our surprise when, having opened the room, we saw in it a couple who stood in front of us in line at the reception. We all had to go downstairs to the reception and explain to the administrator the fact that we did not want to live in the same room. After another 15 minutes, they changed the keys to us (fortunately, they did not force us to rewrite the questionnaire). Do you think they apologized to us? But it wasn't there! What for?

They just shrugged their shoulders but didn't say anything. Finally we settled in. I really wanted to eat, but bearing in mind our experience, we had to wait 25 minutes, and suddenly we would have unexpected neighbors. It's gone.
Number. Wretched. Everything is shabby, not fresh. The shower was barely switched on and water poured out of it in all directions, but not where it was needed. The full feeling of "deja vu" seems to have returned to the 80s, 90s of the last century. Towels are gray (from birth were white), stained. The only plus is the view from the room (panorama of Havana and view of the bay). Impressive. The corridors in the hotel are all streaked.
Breakfast. Buffet. And then a surprise awaited us in the form of a queue to enter the restaurant hall (although the language does not turn out to be called a restaurant - a canteen). And just like in the "scoop" this queue for some is not a queue at all, these some were let into the hall just like that, and the rest - in the number in which people left the hall.
In general, in an attempt to get to breakfast, we lost about 20 minutes. In the hall of this institution there are wicker chairs that suggest a pillow for a soft spot, but the number of pillows categorically does not match the number of chairs (it is very difficult to sit on a chair without a pillow, it’s better to stand) . Therefore, once in the hall, it is necessary to start hunting for a pillow, and then reverently protect it from the attempts of the same hunters. The food is like food on a buffet, but for some reason the feeling of some kind of dirt did not leave. The queue for scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs, made in front of you with the addition of ingredients of your choice (standard breakfast service in all resorts) is simply incredible (time spent about 30 minutes). But most of all I was struck by frankly crappy (sorry, but there is no other way to call it) coffee. But this is Cuba!
In the future, on excursions and in Olgino, we drank great coffee, but at the hotel this swill has no name (the cry of the soul of a coffee lover).

Afterword. You should not draw conclusions about the whole of Cuba from this hotel and service! She is very strange, but this is also beautiful! In Holguin, we saw a completely different level of service and quality of the hotel. And he impressed! Although it was quite boring in Olgino, even for me with my love of tranquility, but this place is just great for acclimatization and transition to another time zone (I went to bed at 21-00 and you know for sure that you didn’t miss anything). And in Havana it is better to look for another hotel.

Have a good rest and unforgettable impressions!
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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