We spent the last 3 days of our trip to Cuba at the Parque Central after being recommended by a good friend and when we were there it also coincided with my birthday so I was looking forward to a special few days.

When we arrived it looked exactly what we were after central location, great design though perhaps a little sterile inside as I had hoped internally it would have had a more Cuban classic feel but really it could be any 4/5 star business orientated hotel in the world.

However right from my first engagement with the staff I was let down and disappointed, as it was my Birthday I asked to upgrade and was told no as the hotel was full only to hear the lady next to me being offered an upgrade. We used the hotel as a hub for our Havana adventure so would often pop back for a coffee in the lobby or Mojito by the pool and generally found the service pretty slow often being told that there were things we couldn’t have and staff not very polite.
The exception was the concierge service which we used a number of times to help us with some specialist requests, regarding restaurants, specialist trips, airline ticket, queries, etc, and they were very polite and great at helping us get the most of what we wanted out of our time in Havana.

There was a bit of a service meltdown on my birthday. My partner ordered breakfast in our room and it arrived late, cold and not what we ordered, they tried to rectify the problem to the point that I asked them to bring a complete warm breakfast when they returned with what they told us previously they could not deliver. I did complain and they gave us the breakfast gratis, however did insist they took the service charge and we gave a tip on the initial delivery which we wish we didn’t.

I also asked the front desk to fix one of the TV’s in my room which did not work and the front desk said they reported the problem, 36 hours later I had a look myself and found the aerial wire had broken I fixed it myself in 2 minutes.

Generally the service is poor, i.e. unwelcoming, unpolite, slow and not courteous. There were 2 or 3 staff members I did feel did a good job however the majority of the service was pretty poor.

Generally though the hotel was lovely, clean and all the services you would expect in a hotel of this class but let down by the service proved.

We stayed at NH Parque Central in Havana and, if we were to return, we would stay there again!

The hotel is gorgeous, clean and centrally located! It is in walking distance of everything in Old Havana and there is never a problem getting a taxi should you want to venture further. The door staff were lovely gentlemen and more then helpful to recommend restaurants to visit and even call them up to book you into it.

The rooms are nice and big and, much to my excitment, they provide ROBES! There is a stocked mini-bar, but of course, they have the mini bar price tag. The supermarket which is 2 minutes walk away also have very cheap alcohol should you want a few drinks in your room.

The breakfast there was great, a huge variety from your bacon and eggs and sausages to omlites, fruits, cereal, cheeses, cakes, juices, coffes, teas and even … wait for it … champagne!!!

We didn't eat dinner there because it was quiet expensive on our budget and there is a lot of places nearby to eat that are cheaper! I would also recommend drinking out as it's double the price at the hotel's bar.

I would recommend though having a drink at the rooftop bar, it has unbelievable views of ALL of Havana.

The hotel is also right around the corner from the famous Floridita, birth place of the daquiri and where Ernest Hemmingway frequented.

my husband and I stayed at the Parque Central in early June for 7 nights after 13 nights in Breezes Jibacoa on our honeymoon.

Our experience was all good from start to finish, not long after we checked in and got settled a bottle of ANEJO RESERVA Havana Club was delivered compliments of the hotel, being a rum lover I was very impressed!

We also had a room overlooking the Capitolio buiding which was fantastic - I don't know if that was because they knew we were on honeymoon or just pot luck!

Our room was very spacious, nice and cool and with a comfy big bed! Mini bar was well stocked although the soft drinks were a bit overpriced for Cuba. Cristal or Buccanero was the local beers, I personally found the Cristal nicest although both were refreshing.

The food in the hotel lobby was lovely, we also had a lovely meal in the restaurant one evening. I'm vegetarian which is not a concept many Cuban restaurants have grasped yet but there was always something nice I could have around the hotel. The food in the pool bar also very good. The buffet breakfast though took 1st prize, the range of food was incredible!

There's a lovely Italian restaurant opposite the hotel too if you fancy getting out and about for food. As you exit the hotel door, turn right and walk straight ahead, the restaurant will be facing you.

The view from the rooftop pool was something else - beautiful views of the city! You also see the poor side of the city which is as much a part of the experience as the beautifully restored buildings. The jacuzzi unfortunately was not working while we were there, but it was on the corner in a prime location for sipping your mojito and overlooking the gorgeous Havana!

Everything is in walking distance from the hotel, the Capitolio building was just across the street. Behind the Capitolio building there is a cigar factory which was definitely worth a visit, they make Cohibo, Romeo and Juliet, etc... The revelutionary museum was great too though it gets very hot so take water and a fan if possible. A visit to the fortress is fantastic too, you get a view from across the water of Havana. You can get a taxi over and ask them to wait for you. At 9pm every night there are cannons fired from
the fortress, everyone watches it from the Malecon.

TIP - do most of your sight seeing in the morning time, it gets seriously hot in the afternoons - then you can enjoy the pool area to cool off!

We had a horse and cart tour of the city, make sure you ask for a good english speaking tour guide, defintely worth while. We took a bike to the Hotel Nacional (hotel built by the mafia in the 1930's which has a hall of fame of the people who have visited over the years). The bicycle taxi was a bit ropey but good to see where the locals live. The COCO taxis are a must for short journeys from sight seeing place to place.

The Havana Club museum was a bit disappointing, it was very dark and the guide's english was a bit hard to understand. There is a shop in the museum area where you can buy litre bottles of rum which is great
for our duty free! Most places only sell the 70cl bottles. The 7 year
rum is absolutely beautiful, the nicest we tasted in Cuba. It's only around £8 per bottle to buy in Cuba but very expensive and hard to find here in UK.

There's a great bar in cathedral square where a cuban band plays outside, they make a great mojito - I'd say the nicest in Cuba!

For any Pina Colada lovers: there's a bar at the side of the tallest bridge in Cuba (i think it's on the border of Matanzas and Havana states) which is solely for making Pina Coladas - proper ones made from real coconut and fresh pineapples! They make them up and leave you the bottle of rum to add as much or as little as you like.

I think it would be a big mistake to visit Havana and not go to see the Tropicana show - we had the best nights entertainment there! We paid 90CUC (around £50) for front row are tickets and we weren't disappointed. We didn't have a meal out there but we heard it wasn't good anyway so wouldn't recommend it. The dancers are spectacular and
the costumes are very 1930's America style. We hired a pink convertible from the hotel to Tropicana and that was probably the highlight of our night! 20CUC each way to Tropicana, worth every cent!

Be sure to tip small and often as the locals don't earn much, they rely on tips to buy basic items.

If you can possibly squeeze a box of pens in your case bring them out, the kids ask for them for school.

P.S. there was a guy Leonardo outside the hotel selling taxis, he will try to take you to a bar claiming it was something to do with a film Hot Chocolate!

He will take you to a wee bar full of locals where he sits with you as your friend and you have to buy his drink. We were charged 6CUC per drink, more expensive than our strawberry Daiquiris in Floridita!
We tried hard not to be taken in by any 'Jinetero' but this guy definitely got us!

If your heading to Havana soon, have a great time - you will anyway!

We stayed at the Parque Central from June 28th to July 1st 2007. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there for many reasons. Firstly the location is absolutely brilliant as it is in the heart of Havana. The hotel is really lovely and of a very high standard. Our room 734 was clean, comfortable and well maintained. The restaurants and lobby bar food was terrific. With plenty of variety and high quality. We were very pleasantly surprised after all we had read about food in Cuba.The roof top pool is gorgeous with great views of the city.The one thing that made our stay at the Parque so good was the quality of service and the friendliness of the staff. From the bell boy ,door staff ,reception ,waiters and maids everyone was polite, attentive and helpful. Never too busy to chat to us and answer our questions about Havana or life in Cuba. The door/reception staff were particularly helpful in getting taxis or giving us directions and advice and helping us with phonecalls.We changed our euros in the hotel regularly. There was no charge and we got 1.21 cucs to the euro. Overall we were very impressed by the professionalism and the friendly helpfulness of the staff.