Las Americas

TLDR: BEDBUGS, STEALING money, staff drinking from my drinks, discrimination, being accused of stealing single ply toilet paper of all things because I ran out of it, ridiculous behaviour over plastic disposable cups, discrepancies in pricing depending on who you talk to. I had BEDBUGS in my room. Currently am covered in bites, had to argue for three hours to get my room changed. An employee happens to know my mother so they called her instead of speaking with me, the adult guest whose name was on the reservation and was actually staying there. Reception ended up deciding that it was not bedbugs and would not move me from that room. I told them that if they wouldn’t move me from that room then they need to give me my money back and I will contact the agency I made the reservation through. Suddenly a room was available. The new room was disgusting, unclean, dead bugs smeared on the tile. Also no light at all in the bathroom (there wasn’t even a light switch) and no electric plugs except for one in the bathroom and a 220 volt plug in the main room. Over 100 USD was stolen from my room during my stay. They actually went into the closet, looked in my UNDERWEAR and stole from my wallet multiple days. I also had a bottle of vodka in the room that had been opened on the first day and started to notice that despite not drinking from it again, there kept on being less and less in the bottle until the last day when there was about a quarter of the bottle left. I only drank from it on the second day with a relative and we left well over three quarters of the litre bottle. I had two shots. After the first night I ran out of toilet paper. I was accidentally served tap water in the restaurant and was sick the whole night/morning. Room service cleaned my room and did not give me more. When I went to the front desk to ask for more the lady told me that there was no way I could have run out that fast and that she couldn’t give me more just because I wanted it to take home. When I tried to explain that I genuinely ran out and could bring her the empty tube, she was unmoved. I had to tell her that I am Canadian and the water made me sick. Only then did she give me a new roll. Up until this point she had assumed I was Cuban and was stealing the toilet paper. At the bar, I bought a 2 litre bottle of soda for my baby cousins and niece who were at the pool with me (they were guests) as well as meals for each of them. When I noticed that we received our meals and the soda (sit down service) but did not receive cups I asked if I could have some cups as six small children including four toddlers can’t drink directly from a 2 litre bottle. I was informed that the plastic disposable cups were only for if you bought a drink. I told her I’d bought the bottle and she told me that it was only for beer. I asked if I could buy six beers, she told me that they were out of beer. I asked her if I could have the cups then and she said no, she had exactly six left and couldn’t give them to me. At this point I became frustrated and told her I’d just bought 8 meals and a bottle of soda, the children need at least one cup to drink out of, they can share. She rolled her eyes but gave me the remaining plastic disposable cups. In the restaurant I had to return a glass as the water had foam at the top and white matter floating in it. No replacement despite paying for the water. I asked about the pricing of virgin piña coladas to get the kids each a drink and was told 250 pesos. At that moment we decided to get them later and when we came back another worker was there. He charged us 200 pesos. My family is Cuban so please know that I do not enjoy writing a review that can negatively impact tourism where they live but this is unacceptable.

This hotel is perfectly located! The hotel staff are really nice, the rooms were okay just wished they had a mini bar and an iron. I arrived super late at around 1am and the receptionist was super nice and the room was prepared well, the water isnt very hot just warm and the AC is a little old fashioned but it works just as fine also having English channels was a plus. The breakfast buffet was okay. If you are a tea lover, coffee is the only warm thing available but the kitchen staff are very nice. I checked out late and even so they were very accommodating. Overall the experience was a good one and I would recommend to anyone doing a short trip!

Update to a previous review..|In the space of just over a year they have made significant efforts to improve the hotel. To summarize:|- There was a fridge in the room|- power cuts were less frequent|- improved selection of food||There were still some issues with the water supply and the wifi but nevertheless they have earned an improved rating.|Hopefully they will continue to improve

Hospitality 3 out of 5||The staff who clean the rooms are very polite and helpful however the reception and bar staff not so much.||An additional problem here is that if you have a question and ask 3 different receptionists you will get 3 different answers|| ||Electricity 2 out of 5||The electricity was turned off almost every night and sometimes during the days,||Granted it’s a tough time for all of Cuba but they have their own generator so I don’t quite understand|| ||Security 1 out of 5||The rooms have no safe and none are available for rent like all other hotels and resorts despite being advertised as such|| ||Location 4 out of 5||It’s a pretty good/central location|| ||Facilities 2 out of 5||There’s a small pool, 2 bars, a tiny empty gift shop and a dining hall.  ||The rooms are very basic which is fine (make sure you bring your own toiletries though) but the least they should provide is a small fridge freezer especially as the rooms are advertised as having them. The heat in July is no joke so it really is essential   || ||Representative 0 out of 5||Our holiday representative from Hola Sun was nowhere to be found – they could have been staying at a different hotel for all I know. So you were on you own figuring things out such as checkout time and where you need to be to get your transport back to the airport|| ||Food 2 out of 5||The main meal was bread, butter, slices of pork, tortilla mango juice guava juice||The Desert was fruit based ||For some reason flies were everywhere||The inclusive meal was more or less the same every day and I understand the current food insecurities in Cuba||That being said we found a wonderful restaurant call los Naranjo about 8 minutes walks from the hotel which was absolutely delightful - amazing flavours and value for money so if they can make an effort I don’t understand why the hotel can’t  ||I did buy a meal in the hotel the first night I was there as I was starving which cost me close to $50 which was a slice of meat about the size of my palm (pork I think) rice and plantain.|| ||Beverages 2 out of 5||The price of your drinks changed by a factor of 2 depending on if you bought it in the reception or by the pool||You would see 1 litre bottles of water in various locations throughout the hotel, none of which were available to buy. However, those same bottles would disappear then reappear just at the front of the hotel for Sale by a merchant who seemed to be friends with certain staff members for a massive price increase. The merchant never seemed to run out of water except for one day. || ||WIFI 0 out of 5||WIFI is available at 25 Cuban pesos (about 1 USD according the Cuban bank) for 1 hour BUT as a foreigner you were forced to buy it at a conversion rate set by the hotel which was 25 Cuban pesos equal to 25 USD. This is not a typing mistake  || ||Value from money 1 out of 5||We have stayed at Brisas Guardalavaca and Club Amigo Carisol Los Corales with an all inclusive option in March and last year respectively and the price still worked out to be about $400 cheaper.|| ||Conclusion||There are much better hotels available providing a better service with the same limited facilities and resources because they are making an effort to utilize what they have to the best of their ability. Whereas here I felt it was more of a mission to exploit the customer as much as possible – a good example of this was bottled water situation or prices changing depending on who you asked (pricing is not written down anywhere so you only realize the price fluctuations when you ask a different member of staff.|| ||I really wanted to avoid writing this summary because I’ve always enjoyed going to Cuba mainly because of the people (regardless getting bitten by fire ants, stomach upset due to un-bottle water, etc) but this was the first time I couldn’t wait to go home.    ||I’d like to put this trip down to a one-off and I’m sure when I visit in the future, I’ll return with the fond memories I usually have - but I doubt it will be Las Americas or via Hola Sun (who couldn’t be bothered to ensure that they have a representative available)

I like this hotel. It;s cozy, clean and the A/C and room fridges work. The cable TV works. The staff is friendly and efficient. The pool is pleasant and lively. The location is excellent. There are stores nearby to buy bottled water, rum, and soft drinks. There are a few good Cuban restaurants nearby too.

I revisited Las Americas to use it as a base for a trip to Baracoa, so stayed there just three nights. Not much changed; it is still good budget place to stay in Santiago. Close to all facilities and restaurants, short hike or taxi trip to the center (3-7 cuc). Rooms are clean, service was good. It has a pool (which could be used by locals on weekends). If you need good western-style food or shops, there is Melia across the street with all western stuff; but you save on room price. Safe box price was included (it is handy).||A few things that I found curious and why I give it 4 stars, not five (in its price-range). The conditioners were working good, but they are so dated. All other places already use splits. Second, it is hard to get real reception service (like buy internet cards) at night. It should be noted that at night the lobby is fully staffed, and coffee is great. But you should exchange money or buy cards at daytime. Now, it looks like they (and this is a common practice now in Cuba) only sell cards that are good for the hotel. So you cannot use these cards elsewhere for the internet. I should note it was hard to but those etecsa cards in Santiago and Baracoa. Shortage of them. But you are good at the hotel. Finally, I found they have a day limit on currency exhange - 200 bucks. So do not rely to change all your $500 at once there. On the other hand, I found that at Melia across, the course was worse. That could be an explanation. ||So, again, a good place for a budget stay.

1st Receptionist (old lady) when we got there was very rude, argued about our reservation.. WiFi has to be paid separately (not included) you'll have to pay 25 cup per hour if you want to use it. Security guard, and service personnel were courteous. Location is very accesible is directly in Las Americas avenue near the park, lots of small restaurants nearby which is good Breakfast is just bread with ham, scrambled eggs with coffee, a juice & fruit they bring you, there's nothing else to choose. Room had a window A/A which if you leave turned on will create a massive ice on the evaporator. Water was cold most of the time and came out brownish, doors are locked with physical metal key instead of an access card, walls are so thin you may hear your neighbor and if they're loud, you may not be able to sleep. No outlet available near beds to charge up your devices, you'll have to use the bathroom's outlet for that..bring your universal outlet converter. Overall not so good experience, recommended if you do not want to pay much, but my advise pay more, it is worth it.

I have got this hotel as a part of holasun package. I was going to book the Casa Granda, but was too late. So this was the second-best choice to have a base in the city. And it was a very solid stay. ||There are many people who rather recommend twice cheaper casa particulares. That is very true. But, personally, I prefer hotels (with frontdesks, where all is structured) to casas. Especially, as it was a part of a package deal.||I got a room on the first floor, it was very quiet and convenient. The room was clean (the room shows that the hotel is dated, but it was clean), hot water and air conditioner worked good. The simple electronic safe was a bonus (sometimes, they charge you additional cuc for the code). ||The breakfast was basic, but good (there was no many fruit, but it was caused by recent hurricane, so most of tourist industry suffered this fall). There is a small pool beside the restaurant (there was no time to use it). The internet is very simplified these times in Cuba. You buy an ETECSa card (they have it at reception), a cuc an hour, and can use everywhere where there are wi-fi (did not work in the room, but worked in lobby - but you can use these cards everywhere, even in the central plaza). If you do not have your own device, there were two computer stations in the lobby.||The central plaza is close, technically, you can reach it in 30-40 minutes walk. Or it is 3 cuc taxi. The hotel is located at the most important crossroads, so there are a lot of other transportation, if you know how to use it. So there are a lot of restaurant, bars, ATM and Panamericana supermarkets down the street. ||the staff was very helpful; for example, they did a few calls for me free of charge (but they have to charge you if calls are to a ground line phone). One drawback, they do not have an exchange. But, there is Melia hotel across the road, there is an exchange and BTW many other restaurants, etc., services. (Melia is a modern hotel, but twice more expensive.)