I stayed 27th Oct -2nd Nov 2008.

On my way to my room on 5th floor (had to walk up, elevator took too long ...), I noticed there's water everywhere in the various corridors, as it probably had rained. Also, hardly any lights, and I actually slipped on a slippery patch in the dark.
Dangling wires and vinyl siding all over the place.

Opened my door, noticed there's water in the room near the window. Also noticed there's no electrical outlet in the bathroom for shaver, and only one plug behind the bed. The vinyl panels in the ceiling vibrated and made noise, apparently from the wind outside.

The next morning, I got up early and walked around. I noticed there's a lot of damage to the hotel, probably from the 2 hurricanes the months before. Much of the hotel was off limits due to damage. I noticed no sign of recent repair work though. Strange.

Went to breakfast ... thought right away this is really a budget hotel. The selection was minimal, and the only fruit was grapefruit and oranges. The waiters didn't even ask me if I wanted anything to drink ... also had to ask for a paper napkin.

Throughout the week, I noticed the food quality had actually deteriorated ... hardly any veggies (paper thin cucumber slices and shredded carrots, and string beans), and even these were recycled from the previous days .... the string beans became darker, thinner and drier with each day, go figure! I was vastly disappointed with the food overall.

A couple of days I actually didn't eat much because my stomach started acting up a bit. I also got grossed out a few times ... the chicken was so fatty, I actually couldn't find any meat to eat after picking away all the skin and fat and bone. Also, the fish ... a lot of times they didn't even know what the name of the fish was, and it looked gross, so had to pass.
Spaghetti 'meat' sauce is tomato sauce with pieces of 'fat' in it. Stay away from their spaghetti meat sauce!

The hotel is close to the beach and it's a fantastic beach. Loved it.

The shuttle service to and from Havana is great, took advantage of it most days.

Lots of prostitutes in the hotel. I'm not sure where they're coming from, but they're there and they're aggressive. I think old guys from Havana go to the Tropicoco and seem have a plethora of new 'girlfriends' every few hours. Pathetic.

Got disturbed one night by someone banging on my door. I wouldn't answer because I didn't know who it was, was some guy speaking Spanish. I called front desk to say someone was knocking on my door, and they asked why didn't I answer it! (There's no peephole, that's why! .... also, considering the amount of prostitutes in the place, maybe it was just one of their pimps wanting to know if I wanted to have some fun or whatnot).

On my 2nd to last night, it had been raining a lot. When I got back from Havana and went up to my room, I noticed water coming from the room under the door to the corridor. I thought did I leave the window open or something? Went inside, and no, window was closed, but the water had come in from the AC some how. Lots of water! I used the 4 towels in the room to soak up the water, and then called front desk to have them come up to clean up the rest.

Other things to note: power failures. The hotel has a generator, but most of the neighbourhood went black at night. This happened on a few nights actually.

The hotel does not have a money exchange. Nor do they have internet. These features were advertised.

The maids do no clean very well. The sink was not once washed down while I was there. And if it wasn't washed down while I was there, it probably wasn't washed down before I arrived either. Beware.

I seemed to have picked up a parasite while down in Cuba. Considering the only food I ate was from the Tropicoco (never ate elsewhere, or drank elsewhere ...), I can safely say that the hotel's low quality food was the source.

I'd never stay there again.

I'm a seasoned traveler and have stayed in low/no star hotels, etc, all over the world. The Tropicoco is supposed to be a 2 star hotel. It felt like a 0 star.

I would go to that beach again, though.

I'm angry at SunWIng ... their reps in Cuba didn't seem to know much about the hotel, i.e., no money exchange/internet on site, food quality, hurricane damage, etc.

We visited Cuba for the first time to get married, fortunately we chose a brilliant hotel " Melia Guillermo" however 10 days into the holiday my new wife had an accident and broke her ankle.

Our insurance was great and arranged for us to travel out some 2 days after the holiday, but from Havana, that’s when they arranged for us to stay at the Tropicoco..and my god what an eye opener it was!

The check in staff were rude and inconsiderate, the food was awful, the room was basic and full of lizards running around, sheets were dirty, and the bathroom was broken, oh yes we complained...but to no avail. Or insurance quickly moved us to the hotel Miramar when I told them there where at least 20 steps to get into the lobby.

Canadians... wonderful people came to our aid on more than one occasion......Walter..if you ever read this ..THANKYOU...

If you are going to visit this great country don't go to this hotel you will be disappointed, and it may mar you experience...1 day was enough for us...

I gladly recommend the hotel Melia in guillermo..lovley people, fantastic hotel, super clean beaches, great food, clean lizard free rooms.

Jim & Ann

We just returned from the Tropicoco experience with my wife. after reading the reviews I was expecting more or less a bad experience but prepared for it. Well it is not so bad as some put it. rooms are faily clean and well served, food is abundant and of good taste, staff are very friendly and helpful, tipping goes long way you know. if you do numbers you will see, food at least $ 30 a day by 7 $ 210, a room like that in Canada will cost you at least $60/nigth so it wil be $ 420, so you have it there $630 in cost. I paid $524 for the package so the flight and drinks are free, and if you are a drinker, do the maths. so yes, it is not the Sheraton, but for the price it is an excellent return for your money. of course if you are very picky, pay more and stay in a 5 star resort. aAh this is my third trip to Cuba, and if I go back for sure I will stay at the Tropicoco, add the free shutlle to Havana and there are another $ 30 per trip. A big bonus the beatiful beach of Santa Maria is just across the strees, and believe me is really nice. the Sunwing service is above expectations in this era of fliying. so I would recomend it if you are the average guy and budget minded traveller as i am.

Just return from Tropicoco Havana and my 7th trip from Cuba ...
Hotel is 2 star so keep that on mind always and if you get real good deal like I did ( all with taxes for $550) and like to do your own things , explore Havana city , defenitely go for it .... its a great base hotel and has a nice beach just acros the street ( very visited by local people during the weekend ) an only 20 min away from Havana city .... you can either take a hotel free shuttle thar runs 2 x daily or hop-on/off bus for 5CUC that you can catch just across the street as well approx every hour i would say .... do not expect fancy coctails in this hotel , it is mostly beer and rum based simple drinks ,coffee is good though , food is very similar every day , rice , potato , yam , pasta and always 3 kinds of meet - fish, chicken ,beef, but it is tasty enough so you won't really be hungry , i was in 3.5* in Cuba recently where the food was much worse and had no taste at all .but no one goes to Cuba for food ..it is their beautiful beaches , ocean sun , people ,cultural experience .... do have a nice meal in one of the havana numerous restaurants ....and try good mojito in one of many famous bars .....(El Floridita , La Bodegita , El Capuccino ....)
i had no troubel with clean sheets and towels, they were changed regularly , no bugs in the room , a/c was working properly till huricane happened , the only problem for some might be lack of hot water for shower, but i was just as fine with luke warm water , after hot day on the beach ,it was actually refreshing ...so, yah , it is not :horror" hotel like some people represent , stuff is quite friendly and helpful , tipping goes a long way ,like anywhere else in this business....Must complement Sunwing , great service,from food/service on the plane to shutle arrangement from Varadero to Havana was right on time ,and took us less then 2 hrs to get there.......no trouble at all ! If My roomdidn;t have hair drier ,so if you female and not used to dry hair naturaly ,do bring hairdrier ....it has same voltage system so no need to bring convertor , also phone and ipod could be recharged same way......