My hubby and I used one of the rooms to freshen up while on a Havana tour from Varadero. The supper buffet was very small, not alot of selection and not very good, but oh well. The room had 2 beds in it, with a mishmash of unmatching furniture and old dingy comforters that were badly stained and no curtains. There was no hot water. And the doors didn't close!! You had to lift and slam the room door to close it, and the bathroom door just didn't close at all. Disgustingly enough, there was a mini-fridge in the room, that still had someone's old rotten takeout food in it (God only knows HOW long it had been there). I'm wondering if perhaps the crappy rooms are left for the people who only use them for the Cubanacam tours, and the good rooms are for official guests. Either way, I don't think I could bring myself to stay there again.

This hotel has been refurbished fairly recently and to a good standard. The rooms are spacious and ours had two king sized beds (probably queen size in US). The bathroom was also very spacious and had a combined bath/shower. Our room overlooked the National Aquarium - which is handy if you like watching seals. The breakfast was of the usual buffet style but very comprehensive. There was also a chef on hand to make omelettes to order. All the staff that we came into contact with were friendly and very helpful - especially when we found that we had left our souvenirs on a tour bus. The hotel is in the very attractive embassy district of Havana. There is a large (for Cuba) supermarket a short walk away - prices are in Cuban convertible pesos. I wouldn't quibble with the 4 star rating for this hotel, we had a comfortable stay and found only positives.

My husband and I stayed for three nights in this hotel mid June on a package incorporating Havana and a beach resort.

It overlooks the National Aquarium, and since nearly all of the rooms and balconies overlook this, it can be noisy when there is a show taking place. So saying, we were delighted to see performing seals almost opposite our balcony and across the road but would not want to stay for too long there.

The room was pleasant enough. There is a fridge which is locked, and you have to pay a deposit at reception for a key. You can then use it for your own drinks if you want, as well as what there is on offer to buy inside. Beware of the safety deposit box which is free in the room. Ours was quite difficult sometimes to open and one day we took all the belongings out of it, shut it to test it and it never opened again!!!

The other thing to beware of is the self-closing balcony from the outside. My husband joined me on the balcony and shut the door to keep it cool and we found ourselves locked out. I won't go into how we got back in again but it took some time!

There were no plugs in the bathroom for either the sink or the bath but if you ask at reception they will supply one which fits both.

The food was very average. For breakfast you could have cooked egg of your choice like omelette or fried egg but the rest was pretty boring. We also ate there for two of the evenings, simply because it was so hot and we could not be bothered to wander the streets trying to find something. The first night was fine as we were able to choose from a menu, but the second time they had a conference on at the hotel and had a buffet and it was very average and I ended up hungry for not finding something to my liking, and I am not fussy! The staff also speak hardly any English and we had the same problem at breakfast with them not understanding tea or hot water. They brought a cup to the table so you could not do it for yourself.

We went to the supermarket. We took a rucksack with us which was duly taken from us and held outside at a sort of left luggage office, where we were given a ticket to retrieve it. Also after paying for our goods, when we went to go to the exit we were stopped and we had to produce the receipt and they checked this against all our goods, such as they were. We were not amused at this and felt rather intimidated. However, we did go back a second time and it seemed to be the norm when we looked around so did not mind so much the next time.

If you are doing the same trip as us with a two-centre holiday, it is worth going to the supermarket to get some presents to take home like the rum, coffee and "foreign" biscuits etc as there was absolutely nothing at the beach resort and we were glad we had shopped in this way. With hindsight we would have preferred to go straight to the beach resort and done either a day trip or an overnight to Havana.

We took a taxi to Havana once. It is 10CUC one way which is roughly £5. We only went the once, as that was enough. We did not use the free shuttle service as the timing was not convenient either in the morning or evening.

We would not choose to stay in this hotel again if we came back to Havana as it was too far out of the main old city.

Have just returned from Cuba - stayed for four nights in the Chateau Miramar in Havana. Hotel is fine - big rooms with balconies and clean. Only had breakfast so couldn't comment on the food, but what we had was OK.

To the hotel's credit we asked to move rooms to get a bit of a sea view and they moved us with no problem.

The hotel is a 10 CUC taxi ride from the centre and previous reviewers comments about the shuttle bus are right - too early at 09:10 am.

There are places to eat in this area tho - try the Paladar Vistamar - a private eating place about ten mins walk away overlooking the sea fantastic fish, fried plantains, taro etc.. The supermarket is fine - if you need snacks - prices in convertible pasos - mostly frequented by foreigners.