Note: This review is limited in scope because we only visited the hotel one evening. We had accomodation elsewhere and did not stay overnight. Perhaps we were unlucky, but based on this limited experience we were not impressed.

We visited the Nacional after a day of sightseeing in Havana. Our plan was to have a couple of drinks in the bar and then have dinner in one of the restaurants. The bartender boasted that he makes the best mojito in Cuba, so my wife decided to try one. I was driving, so I requested just a cola.

The barman prepared and served the mojito (repeatedly boasting it's the best in Cuba!) and then just plonked an unopened can of cola next to it for me. He didn't even give me drinking straw. I rather timidly asked for a glass, because this was meant to be the best hotel in Havana (or one of the best) and I did not particularly want to swig from the can.

Without saying a word he then put a plastic cup down on the bar next to the unopened can. Any barman worth his salt would at least pour the drink, but this one obviously didn't consider pouring drinks to be be part of his job. I then asked if there was any chance of a glass, because glass is nicer to drink out of than plastic. He raised his eyebrows, sighed, and then again, without saying a word, produced a glass. I still had no ice or lemon, and had to pour the drink myself, but I'd had enough of this surly man by this point and gave up.

We presumed, rightly or wrongly, that if standards were so pathetically low in the bar, there may be problems in the restaurant too; and in any case we did not want to put it to the test. So we left and ate elsewhere.

On another note, prostitutes were soliciting in the hotel car park, near our car. This was taking place within the hotel's gates, on the hotel's land, not a public street. Security guards and a car park attendant were on duty and must have seen it. I think we can assume the management of The Hotel Nacional de Cuba are aware of the problem but have chosen to turn a blind eye. I have no idea if this is a regular occurance and I realise that some people will not care less. I'm just passing on what we saw, in case you are thinking of staying here and this would bother you.

I arrived at the Hotel Nacional a little leary after reading some of the reviews by other tripadvisor members. However, once at the hotel I soon realized that sometimes people are so selfish and blind to the world they cannot see the big picture. Yes the rooms vaguely smelled "old" but nothing a little travel candle couldn't fix. The furniture in my room was in very good condition and was actually quite beautiful. The view of the ocean and the Malecon was also great. The food in the restaraunts was fine. It was not the best I have ever had, but certainly not the worst either.

I was at the hotel for 5 nights with my husband and 2 children and would definetly go back.

People must remember that Nacional is NOT a resort and that 99% of the people who live in the country would die to stay a night in the hotel. In fact, i would feel guilty when locals would ask me where I was staying. You should have seen the look in their eyes when I would say The Nacional.

In my opinion, the readers who give bad reviews are spoiled, ungrateful, and should learn to appreciate the fact that they have the freedom and money to travel to a place where the average person will work an entire year and still not make the amount of money it cost to stay one night at the Nacional.

During our stay we discovered that two £50 notes were missing fom our safe - we did not think it was possible - however a chance meeting with an other couple of guests established that they too were missing one £50 note and two £10 notes from their safe - so it was possible. Management refused to accept that the safes were vulnerable and kept saying that it was not possible. This went as high as the Hotel President who eventually agreed to a one hundred pound refund" without" predjudice which incidentally we could not receive since it was the hotel policy not to pay out cash - incredible! What could not be denied was that several guests had had clothing stolen from their rooms and that my friend had had six one pound coins stolen from his jacket pocket. Management subtlely made us the victims by saying that we had no right to "bother" guests with allegations that we could not prove. The stress of these events has made us decide never to return to the Nacional again, although this had been our sixth visit in five years. You just cannot trust the hotels so-called security.

Stayed here for 2 nights in June 2005.

The outside of the hotel and the lobby areas are wonderful and were worth the visit, but the room itself was awful.

We were expecting a "plain" room from the reviews we had read, but were not ready for the pubic hairs in the bed, the dried snot on the shower curtain and the smell of sewarge churned out by the air conditioning unit in the room!

The "breakfast" was a little odd - I don't think I've ever had pizza for breakfast before in a hotel, and the staff were probably hand-picked from the hitler youth.

On check-out at 12pm, they wanted to charge us 60 CCP for a late check out until 3pm. They said they had no courtesy room and more or less told us to bugger off as we were no longer residents! We therefore spent five hours walking round the streets of Havana before our airport pick-up, and that was fantastic :-D

All in all, a miserable stay and I would not recommend anyone stay here.

If you get the chance, stay at he NH Parc Central instead and just take a visit to see the Nacional's lobby, use their toilet to leave them a present and then leave!