Having recently spent 3 nights at the Sevilla, and falling in love with Havana, I have to say to all the people on here who have spent time moaning about the food & accommodation in Cuba - why don't you just stay home for your holidays??? The hotel was perfectly acceptable, in a great location, I agree that the rooms did have a slight musty smell - but hey who goes to Havana to stay in their hotel room? How anyone can travel to Cuba without understanding anything of the political situation is beyond me. Thanks to the "good old US of A" and their attempts to strangle Cuba via embargos, of course there won't be a huge varity of foodstuffs, the upside being the pleasure of not seeing one single Mc D's. The breakfasts at the hotel consists of a selection of fruits, breads, meats, eggs, yoghurt - what more do people want??? We found some excellent places to eat, had amazing lobster & shrimp, the rice and black beans were very tasty, and yes most of the salads consisted of raw cabbage rather than lettuce, but so what? The music is fantastic. Oh and take a trip in a Coco taxi - they are a blast!

Havana is prefectly safe, we wandered around late at night something I wouldn't consider doing in most of the UK. As for being hassled - sure a few people tried to sell us Cigars, CD's etc., but we found that a polite "Non Gracias" worked wonders (some people just don't try)....in the main the Cubans just wanted to talk, they are a proud, interesting, cultural and politically astute nation, if you are not prepared to engage or learn anything from your trip - then you might as well visit any of the many carribean islands and stay in your all inclusive resort afterall it will be your loss - not theirs!!

We stayed for 3 nights in at Hotel Sevilla, and then went on to Cayo Guillermo. The 3rd of those three nights was during the August Hurricane.
The service very good - remember tip as an incentive not just as a reward.
Room was beauiful, but slightly musty (the building is in amazing condition when you compare it to it's neighbours!), which didn't bother us, but may have done if we had young children with us.
The live music in the hotel was absolutely fantastic, and as a musician and music teacher, I really appreciated this! The more the audience listened, the better the musicians played.
There was more than enough to eat for breakfast, with a wide range of choice. When eating in Cuba, you have to remember that they are on a ration system and have very few products like eggs and chicken regularly, so to be able to have as many eggs as you like for breakfast puts any grumbles into perspective.
We had an amazing time in the Sevilla Hotel, and met lots of fascinating and charming Cubans. The Hotel (and City) were very organised when the Hurricane came, which reassured us. I would definitely stay at the Sevilla again, if I'm lucky enough to go back to Cuba.

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.