We did have a problem on check in but once it was sorted it was fine.We stayed for four nights and it was great because it is so central for exploring Havana. Large comfortable room, decent breakfast and OK staff.

Booked hotel for 2 nights through Venere.com and paid by credit card. Turned up at hotel mid-morning with supporting e-mail confirmation. They acknowldged my booking but said that they had problems with rooms and that they would have to move me to another hotel for 1 night.
Having already read about the Havana scam of overbooking on the internet I stood my ground. Originally I asked what the problem was and was told due to air conditioning and plumbing. I asked to see one of the rooms in question but they refused. Asked them to bump others and they refused. Asked to see the hotel's PR manager and she changed the excuse and explained that they "operate like an airline company and always overbook, expecting cancellations". I counter argued that when airlines did this they bumped the people up rather than out.
While arguing my case others arrived at the hotel and they had been turned away the previous day, had spent hours waiting for the hotel taxi and it turend into a nightmare.
Eventually accepted a room at the Santa Isobel, which is allegedly 5 star but feel cheated, conned and annoyed.
Take my advice and steer well clear.

WE LIKED:

* the size of our room - it was spacious with high ceilings and filled with natural light.

* the location of the hotel, which is perfect for exploring La Habana Veija.

Major sights such as the Capitolio and the wonderful Museo de Bellas Artes (a recently refurbished art gallery showcasing Cuban and international art) are minutes away by foot.

Importantly, the hotel is also across the road from Hotel Parque Central - the ONLY place where we could withdraw cash from a credit/debit card at a foreign exchange desk. We found no ATMs in Havana that accepted our UK and Australian credit/debit cards.

* a late check-out on request.

WE DID NOT LIKE:

* breakfast, which was terrible - a small selection of uninspiring food on the buffet (e.g. cold pasta, cold sausages, slices of cold ham, tasteless cold pancakes, bland croissants with flies swarming above, jelly in a tray - what the?). The chef behind the tortilla plate was visibly wishing he was elsewhere.

* no working lights in the bathroom for our entire stay (3 nights). We informed housekeeping on the first day and the front desk the next day, but we remained without lights in the bathroom.

* slack housekeeping - the toilet roll we used up wasn't replaced with another, nor were the toiletries. Our used glasses weren't cleaned or replaced either.

* bed bugs in bed! A week after leaving Havana, we're still covered in insect bite cream and itchy as hell.

We booked the Telegrafo last minute for a few nights at the start of December and couldn't have been happier. It was me and the girlfriend; we're 29 and 26 year old professionals and the Telegrafo gave us everything we could have realistically wanted from a Havana Vieja hotel.

Our room cost about £60 a night (including breakfast - which I'll get onto in a second), and was fantastic. I wouldn't quite call it a suite, but for that money we got a good-sized (if a bit soft) double bed, bathroom, sitting room and WC. We were on the second floor, and overlooked the bar, but never found the noise levels too much. Breakfast wasn't great, but the one thing people will tell you about Cuba is not to expect too much from the food. Even so, there was a good variety of fresh fruit, pancakes and a chef cooking omelettes on demand, plus the normal array of random breakfast food (pasta? for breakfast? really?).

We found the staff to be friendly, but not intrusive and housekeeping did a good job and never bothered us.

The best thing about the Telegrafo though is the location. We were a couple of blocks from El Capitolio, two minutes from the Bacardi building and five minutes from the narrow streets of Havana Vieja proper (and sights like Hemmingway's hotel room and La Plaza del Catedral). We walked it back from Vedado one afternoon, which took us about forty minutes and was a bit of a trek in 30 degree heat, but that was an eye opener. Everywhere else is a Cococab ride away.

I'd happily book the Telegrafo again, although after three frantic, tiring days in Havana we were happy to move on for a bit of a relax in Varadero.