Maybe we arrived at this hotel with excessively high expectations as we had spent the first week of our honeymoon at Jibacoa, the Breezes' resort which was just perfect in every way. In stark contrast to this we found the Sevilla a disappointment.
It has to be said that it is a beautiful building and the lobby areas and bar areas are beautifully restored to their former glory. The hotel has a rich history which it is proud of and is in a great location for exploring Old Havana.
When we arrived we were given a room on the third floor. The whole floor smelled damp and musty and mouldy, the actual room was worse with a really horrible smell. It was small and cramped and dark, quite grubby and in bad repair. We felt downhearted but reasoned that we would be out exploring most of the time, therefore would not spend much time in the room. But as we began to settle in we both started to sneeze and feel quite wheezy. We went back down to reception and explained the problem of the smell and it's affect on our breathing. In fairness the receptionist was very helpful and immediately gave us an alternative room on the seventh floor. We had to move our own luggage up but were just glad to get a room that didn't smell too bad ( there was still a slight smell but nowhere near as bad as the first). It was still quite dirty and in bad repair - e.g. cracked tiles in bathroom.
The restaurant was OK, buffet style, staff not very helpful. They have a band on and dancers which were good but then come round asking for money as they are not paid by the hotel.
In our brochure it showed beautiful views from the top floor restaurant. We asked if we could book for there but when the receptionist supposedly phoned up there she found out that it wasn't opening that night. We were quite amused the next day when we sneaked up to see if we could just take a look out the windows at the views we had read about and we saw that the restaurant has obviously not been used for a while and is certainly in no state to be used any time soon. It is abandoned by the looks of it and there were puddles on the floor, broken furniture, tiles coming off the walls, etc! However if you do get the chance it's worth going up as the view really is magnificent.
I feel as though I've been very negative about this hotel, but it is really made out to be a luxurious hotel in the brochures and even mentioned in many Cuban guide books, so I feel it is important to let people know that it does not deserve this reputation.

We stayed for 2 nights in Aug 2004, one at either end of our holiday. I thought this hotel was great. Rooms were clean with lots of information about hotel services and although not enormous were spacious enough for somewhere to crash after exploring Havana. Rooms do seem to vary though as our first room was definitely better than the second. Staff were friendly and helpful and breakfast was good too. This hotel has lots of charm and is brilliantly placed for exploring Old Havana.