I recently arrived home from a stay in Havana, Cuba at the Tropicoco Hotel. Average facility yet not a great stay. We stayed in a group of 29 girls and 4 chaperons for a sports exchange trip. We had problems with front desk first of all; They were extremely rude to the entire group and refused to help individual girls needing assistance. The food was awful; no variety and the fruit was rotten. We experienced cockroaches in one of the rooms and stained/dirty sheets in another. Also, the entertainment lacked to say the least. Safety issues concerning the entertainment staff arose after a member of our group was forced into a back room by a male member of staff. I would not recommend the shows. Also, we had cameras and other items missing after one of the entertainment nights. On a positive note, the beach was beautiful, the pool was always very clean, the maids were extremely kind and helpful and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The location was nice but I would recommend looking for a different hotel. Hopefully this helps while booking your holiday

I stayed in the Tropicoco Hotel for a week, during March 2007, as a teacher accompanying a school group from Canada.

The service in the rooms was very good, as well as the food, and the hotel staff was always helpful and friendly.

Tropicoco is located on a wonderful section of the beach. There is an International Clinic (24 hours open, with great doctors and nurses, as well as a pharmacy) just 50 metres from the hotel, and a grocery store accross the street.

Overall, it is a very good hotel, with great staff.

I wandered into this hotel after trying my luck at a casa particular in guanabo (total nightmare), this hotel is pretty decent for the price.. defiantely not excellent by any means.

plusses:
free shuttle to havana city
fun to have hallways semi-outdoors
staff are nice
beach is nice

negatives:
_NO_ nightlife.. i hope you like sleeping or going to havana city.
food is NASTY.. if you are vegetarian you are totally done.. _SO_ nasty.. the other reviewers would probably happily eat spam.. not that many restaurants in the area either.. literally, the same type of food you'd get at prep school, but slightly worse.
i had ants in my room, and when i say ants, i mean like tonnes..
open bar = rum and rum and rum and nothing else

but other than that, the beach is great, great location with respect to havana city, but i wouldn't recommend going there alone as the nightlife is truly depressing.. if you do go, do yourself a favour, take some tours, or go rent a scooter and drive around havana.. super cheap. all in all decent price.. if you can handle the WHINING EUROPEANS.

Here is an update after my last comments in January. Interesting to note is the fact that this hotel was shut down for 3 months over the winter so that Venezuelan patients needing corrective eye surgery would have a place to recover after their Cuban surgeries - an interesting exchange for the government to receive Venezuelan oil ! A benefit for tourists - the place was spotless ! The hors d'oeuvres table was back on ! Such is life in Cuba- on again and off again - supply and demand is not a part of their economy. Still no internet. I went with a girlfriend and valued the secure environment , the closeness of the beach and the lack of pan-handlers and sellers. Walking on the 31 mile long beach to the town of GUANABO from the Tropicoco was a full day's enjoyable ramble - we found a restaurant with a full lobster - AMAZING for 13.00$ !! Visited a school , as well! What is enjoyable is the free shuttle to Havana ( booked at the front desk ) . Other trips to regions further afield can be arranged with a travel representative ! The friendly staff enjoy our efforts to speak with them and reward us with attention . Food was very much what I would call " home style " all ingredients are locally produced so it was nice to try real coconut dessert, fresh fruit, fresh fish dishes and plenty of veggies! I saw some familiar faces so I can't be the only one to enjoy the TROPICOCO. New wicker furniture in the lobby is spectacular! I am going back again - this time to use it as a pied-a-terre to venture beyond the north shore.