We stayed at the Sevilla for six nights end of June with our 3 year old son. We fancied going to Cuba but were a bit nervous especially because of some reviews we read (some just before we left).

But during our time at the Sevilla we felt like imposters in the poshest hotel in the world. And yet the staff treated us like we belonged there.

If you like beautiful surroundings, Cartoon network, friendly staff, magnificient views, and cheap beer at the corner shop this is the place for you. It even has a swimming pool in the middle of the city.

The breakfast buffet is served in a room only like something you've seen in a film. A good film. Somebody is standing by to cook eggs any way you want them. Loads of fruit and sausage and cereal. Also nice bread and juices and coffee.

We had a double room - in that we had two rooms. Both with tvs. The smaller room was like a "salon", with a tiny fridge. The bigger room had the bed and the bathroom off it. The bed was huge and the window looked out onto the swimming pool and a panorama of Havana, including the Capitolio and a tenement building with a cockerel who crowed every morning. Everything was very clean and the girl who cleaned our room made the towels into brilliant animal shapes for the benefit of our son.

It's in a brilliant spot with good corner shops to buy the basics (cheap beer, sandwiches, etc). It's right next to the Prado which is a big walkway where people just kill time and go about their business.

For us it was also good as our son wasn't well and the staff were very efficient about telling us to go straight to the onsite doctor who gave us advice and didn't charge.

We booked it through the Cuban tourist board (online). We talked to other people who seemed to pay a lot more than we did. One thing though, it's easier if you pay by cheque (due to the embargo). Everything is above board, but if you pay by credit card it can be a pain.

We think we couldn't have done better and would defintely go back.

Stayed at the Sevilla for 3 nights.
Me and my wife have travelled quite alot and been to many places, so this gives us quite a bit of experience when it comes to hotels. Plus my wife is in the tourism industry as well.

As to the hotel I would say the best thing about it is the building itself and it's location, since it's walking distance to many of Havanas sites and restaurantes. One of the restaurantes Nardos, a 10 minute walk up the sreet, is superb.

We had problems at the hotel from start when we arrived we were told there was no air conditioning in the rooms. So we would have to be transfered to another hotel, as we rejected the idea 20 minutes later we were given a room with air conditioning, still wondering what all that story was about ????

On the second day after we had left our dirty towls on the floor to be changed they were simply hanged up again, with the excuse that there were no clean towls in the hotel.

The worst was still to come, not the hotels fault but there lack of customer service when our transfer to Varadero was forgoten by out tour opearor Iberojet, and they did NOTHING to help us out. It took us 3 hours and a friendly lady at the toursit office in the hotel to get that sorted out. It's a pitty I don't remenber her name but she usually sits on the left as you walk into the office, she's great and will help you out with info and tours you may want to do.

Overall the hotel is bad having in mind it's a 4 star Sofitel hotel. Service is very bad and we personally don't believe in tipping to get good service, but tip when you do.

As to Havana a definitive MUST the city is great. Also go to Tropicana worth the money, it's restaurant is fancy and the food ok.

In case you are planning to donate things like we did there are two schools and a red cross very near the hotel.

Having read the rather mixed reviews we were a bit apprehensive about our stay at this hotel, 3 days at the start of a tour of Cuba.
However we needn't have worried. The room did smell a little musty, but it was very humid and the air con wasn't great, but everything else was fine.
Breakfast was served in the lovely ground floor dining room with great views of Old Havanna from the large open windows. The food was perfectly adequate, the buffet was kept well stocked when we were there and freshly made omlettes were available. We didn't eat dinner in the hotel but the views from the 9th floor restraunt were stunning. The coolest place in the hotel was the little open air lobby bar where a band often played
The big pluses of the hotel were it's location, right in the heart of Havanna, and the swimming pool which was wonderful after sightseeing

This really is a gem of a hotel. We stayed a couple of times during our trip to Cuba.

The lobby bar is excellent and has great atmosphere at any time of day or night, and we enjoyed the odd mojito or cuba libra on the top floor cocktail bar overlooking the city.

When we did have a problem in our room (no hot water) we were instantly upgraded to a wonderful large room. Rooms are spacious and exceptionally clean and modern but with character. I would definitely stay here again and recommend it.