We stayed at the hotel for a few days in April, 2005 and had a mini suite, with balcony. The room was excellent, although suffered from a 5am pump noise in the street outside every morning. The breakfasts are in a local cafe (50m away) and were very good - the best of our stay in CVuba. I was intrigued by the comment of an earlier poster to avoid the cereal. I have no idea why though, unless it was because of the non refrigerated milk (one lump or two?).
I would have said the stay was excellent, but for 2 scams. The first was not a problem for the visitor, as the receptionist appeared to keep the money for the safe key (no receipt and no credit card permitted), but the minibar scam on leaving was VERY irritating.
We checked the minibar was OK and went downstairs with our cases, locking the door. A maid was sent from reception and reported 2 bottles of water were missing and demanded $3. This was clearly untrue. After an argument with the management and the maid, I resolved the matter by taking my tip back from the maid and paying for the water out of her money. Rough justice but fair.

We spent 5 nights at Los Frailes in Feb. 2005 and it was very enjoyable. We stayed in a regular room for 4 nights, and a mini-suite on the 5th night. Both rooms were nice, but the suite was very nice and spacious, had a beautiful balcony, and good value for the price. Overall the hotel was very clean and had good bathrooms (a plus in Cuba!).The staff was extremely friendly and very helpful. The hotel was accessible, and within walking-distance of most of the major sights. I would definitely stay there again.
(NOTE: if you stay here, you will eat breakfast at Cafe Taberna. There is a nice selection of food, but don't eat the cereal! You'll regret it!)

While Los Frailes has been updated, they have kept the charm of the old building. Even the bathroom had the old pull chain toilet and antiqued 'brass' fixtures. The maid service was wonderful possibly helped by the gifts of soap, shampoo, etc. we left everyday.
The only drawback was the lack of windows. We kept the door open unless we were sleeping. Back from the street, our room was wonderfully quiet. Having to walk down the street for breakfast was great. We got to see what was going on in their world, the students having gym classes and on Sunday, the pigeon market.
Right in Old Havana, it was close to everything.

We really enjoyed staying in this hotel. A very unusual theme - with the monks - and very well set out.
The only drawback was that we had an early bus so went for breakfast at 7am (the time we were told it opened) to find they weren't ready for customers and so gave us a plate of cheese!
The room didn't have any windows but that may have been a bonus, as we stayed at a different hotel later in the week that was exceptionally noisy because of the street.
Very friendly and clean hotel.