I have to agree with various previous reviews which praise this hotel which is undoubtedly an excellent centrally-located haven of luxury in the middle of a city which has sadly deteriorated over the past 45 years. I shall not repeat the positive aspects of the hotel which have been adequately described by others, but offer instead the following general advice which may be of assistance to "new" visitors to Habana :

1) The Convertible Cuban Peso (CCP) is now the currency of choice for tourists and should be used for all purchases, tipping, etc. rather than the U.S. dollar which was devalued by 10% by the Cuban Government on November 15, 2004. On the one occasion we dined in the Parque Central Restaurant the maitre-de was quite insulting when we left a generous tip in U.S. dollars....of course his comment received short shrift and we refrained from using the hotel restaurant during the remainder of our visit, nevertheless this appears to be indicative of the prevailing attitude in Cuba regarding U.S. dollars.

2) Limited quantities of CCP's are usually available at the front desk of the Parque Central Hotel in exchange for Canadian or U.S. dollars, GBP's, etc., however on a number of occasions we had to wait a couple of hours until their supply was delivered from some 'mysterious source'!!

3) CCP's may be obtained using VISA or Mastercard and a passport from the Sevilla Hotel (5 minutes walk from the Parque Central) or from various banks including the Scotiabank (10 minutes from the Parque Central).

4) If you wish to obtain CCP's from an ATM (there are a few available including one at the Scotiabank) make sure that you have a current useable password!!

One final word....judging from my brief visits to various other hotels in Habana, none are comparable to the Parque Central (the insulting maitre-de excluded of course!!) including the Hotel Nacional!!