I booked this hotel based on previous reviews and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. Although I was there through Hurricane Gustav, the hotel coped brilliantly! They set up TV communication at reception and the staff were on hand the whole time to help. I stayed here for 3 days and after hearing a number of other travellers experiences when I got to Varadero, I think we definitely stayed at the right hotel! I'd recommend it for the location and also the overall services provided in the hotel. The food was excellent! We had to eat most meals there due to the weather and there is a good choice available in the 2 restaurants and in the bar! Breakfast choices are amazing! Cold and hot buffet and they'll make you your eggs anyway you want!

The rooms are lovely. We had a great view across the square and the location was excellent! Bathrooms are well equiped with seperate shower and bath and there were lovely fluffy bathrobes hanging up!

We hired an open top car for a couple of hours, organised by the concierge within 5 minutes of asking. It was only 35 pesos and I have to say an experience not to be missed. The car was a bright pink Ford from 1957! The driver took us around all the sights and kept us entertained and well informed! The concierge helped us find some good salsa music in a nice hotel.

My only regret is that I didn't have long enough in Havana to explore and I'd have loved to have been able to take advantage of the other facilities in the hotel, such as the rooftop pool!

If you go to Havana, stay here!!!!

The hotel is very well located, right in front of the Central Park,
1 block from Floridita´s restaurant, 1 block from Capitolio, and National Theatre of Cuba.
It´s a 5 star hotel indeed, very clean and beautiful, with a lobby that looks like a scenary. There is a cozy room of cigars, where you can buy some, and the staff is very nice (mainly the computer´s technician Tomás and Mauricio, from the business center).
The brunch is complete, with all kinds of fruits, pastries, and some cuban beans and rice.
You can´t miss the sunset from the terrace while listening to some salsa musicians.

Stayed in the Parque Central for two nights on the 6th Aug and again for 1 night on our return to Havana on the 19th Aug 2008. Not a 5 star hotel on european standards. Despite having a nice pool and foyer, the rooms of this Hotel were a big disappointment. The main problem was the smell of stale smoke which was present in both rooms each time we stayed.

This is not the main reason I am writing however. A Reasonable Hotel experience was marred by having €300 stolen from the room safe. My advise is, before placing cash in the Hotel room safe, count it carefully, note the exact amount and once again count it on departure. Whoever was responsible for the light fingered incident was clever enough not to raise suspicion by taking all of our cash. Only €300 was removed from my passport out of €1000 so on quick inspection it appeared as if everything was ok.

I reported this theft to reception and had a meeting with hotel security and one of the managers. They assured me that it was not possible, that no-one except the head of security has the ability to open a password protected safe. In fact their lecture / explanation was quite patronising "This has never once happened before" "Are you sure you did not loose it , Change it etc" Being on the last day of an otherwise perfect Honeymoon I did not wish to get the police involved and I accepted my loss.

When I got home However, to my surprise I found that I was not the first person that this had happened to. See other Tripadvisor reviews!
I e-mailed NH hotels to find out who had card access to our room on those dates but as yet I have not got any response. The fact that this site is monitored regularly by the hotel groups marketing manager might not speed up their reply but at least it is a warning to those of you who use the room safes.
The rest of Cuba was amazing and the Casa's were generally of a better standard, better value for money and more secure than this hotel.

Stayed at the Parque Central for 3 nights in August. Check in was simple and painless. We had a lovely room on the 5th floor. Bathroom had a bath and shower which was great. Breakfast was fantastic with everything you can imagine, we also ate in the restaurant on our first night, which was really good with the waiters being very attentive. The pool area is great and food there is also very good. We also spent some time at the bar there watching the Olympics with the saff, which was fun.

The hotel is a perfect cool haven after a day out in the city. The only down side is the bank. You have to wait in line for ages. you have to go in by yourself and the teller is so slow. I think I waited about 3/4 hour and there was only 6 people in front of me - I will never moan about Barclay's again.

Havana is an amazing place and I miss it so much, although I could never live there. We hired a guide for 2 days - first day we walked for 8 hours around Old Havana, learning it's history and what it's like to live there. We sampled great Mojito's and coffee and had a lovely lunch. Only the second day we had a guide and driver to go further afied - well worth every penny or cuc!!!

Our guide also booked us some fantastic restaurants. We went to the cigar factory, rum museum,market, into someones home to look at his art and the Taller Fuster's studio which was gob smacking. We walked along the Malecon and just walked the streets soaking up the atmosphere.

We felt very safe, athough I had been anxious before we went. There are kids who ask for sweets and people who want to take you to ' a really good bar/restaurant' but there is no pressure, just be polite, smile and say no thanks.

I would go back next week if I could, the people are friendly, the architecture is supurb if sad and unloved and the old American cars are wonderful and I'm not even interested in cars.

If your thinking out going to Havana then go you will love it - i did and I will be back.