My husband and I stopped at this hotel overnight in order to go to the Tropicana club, which we booked through First Choice, back in our hotel in Varadero.

To honest I was glad we were only staying there for one night! We were on the 18th floor and the view was excellent, but the hotel was very dated and the food was terrible. I lived off bread rolls for 2 days!

If you are thinking about stopping at this hotel as part of a twin centre then dont bother. The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is alot better (we ate there)

At first glance this hotel is extremely impressive, the never quite made it Hilton is huge and clearly visible in the Havana skyline. Supposedly somewhat of a tourist landmark, Fidel at one point governed from here and there's also a small art gallery on the 2nd floor lobby. Although if I hadn't stayed here I wouldn't have come out of my way to see it.

After the initial impressions you will start to notice that although this hotel has most modern conveniences and the rooms are enormous, everything is just a little bit grimy and too old. Cleanliness is not brilliant, and the staff do not speak English as well as they do in other parts of Cuba, if you know a little Spanish then you should use it. Ordering room service was a mission.

I had most problems with a member of staff in the telephone centre, who once I had told I was entitled to a free call due to a flight delay told me I had to pay (despite showing her the letter from my rep who had paid for the call already) and then proceeded to tell me to go away. I was too tired to argue but I think you have to be very firm to get anywhere with the staff here.

If you're not a fan of lifts I wouldn't recommend staying here, not unless you're very fit and fancy climbing up to 25 floors. At one point the lifts broke down and it took me a good while to walk down the stairs from floor 12 to the lobby - some parts of the staircase were in complete darkness. Other guests told me they had been in the lifts in darkness. I guess like most parts of this hotel the lifts could do with being replaced - hang on to your stomachs when you get into these beasts - I can easily say they're the worst ones I've ever been in!!!

We stayed here b&b basis and the breakfast buffet was vast, the staff were generally very busy and often too preoccupied chatting amongst each other to be particularly efficient. We had dinner in the Italian style restaurant - the service here was a welcome change and the food was good. At completely the other end of the spectrum is the 24-hour cafe - bring the fly swatters, expect to wait hours to be served, have half your order forgotten & then to have your plate taken away mid-chew.

The view from our balcony was excellent, the hotel is on a hill so you get to see a lot of Havana, it was a very small balcony and I wouldn't advise leaning on the railings as they looked as if they could crumble off at any moment.

Having spoken about all my little niggles I would stay here again, despite all my little 'adventures', its value for money and you can imagine in its heyday that this was a spectacular place to stay.

Stayed at the Habana Libre on an overnight trip from Varadero organised through our rep. On entrance to the hotel it looks quite impressive, but go further and you will be disappointed.

The lifts are terrible and I did not feel safe, the rooms do not look like they have been decorated since this was a Hilton in 1958, and the buffet restaurant is horrible (we all had upset stomachs by the time we arrived back in varadero).

This hotel was ok for what we needed it for, but I would not have chosen to stay here myself, especially not at the asking rate!

June 14th 2007

This hotel was booked on our behalf via our rep as part of a package to include a day in Havana and the Tropicana Show.
First impressions when walking into the hotel were OK, that being a normal central location Hotel. We checked in and was shown to our room, which was not made up (bed unmade, towels on the floor, rubbish on the worktops etc). After a 20 minute wait we finally received another room on the 4th floor. It would seem that the 4th floor was unfinished as maintenance men were working everywhere, the floors were dirty and the plaster on the walls hanging off. We were shown to our room which had no toilet seat (fitted whilst we waited), no toilet rolls, bins had not been cleared and general poor level of cleanliness.
I went back to reception for a second time and this time joint a queue of around 5 people complaining about similar issues. The reception staff looked stress at this point and were rude. I was provided a 3rd room which this time was made, had a toilet seat though was still was not cleaned to any standard. It took nearly 2 hours from arriving in the hotel and settling into a room.

The food was a buffet service. The restaurant was busy and the service quick. However the food was of poor standard and was cold.

I am a seasoned traveller and would normally not complain unless I felt there was absolutely cause to. In the case of Habana Libre the hotel is well located in Havana which is in my opinion the one and only reason anyone would want to stay here.