Very stylish, recently renovated smaller hotel with large rooms. The design and architectural details are lovely. We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. Great location in the centre of old Havana. The breakfast buffet was certainly nothing special but more than adequate.

The Hotel Raquel is entirely splendid - a beautiful building, beautifully restored, one block from the stunning Plaza Vieja and four from the even more lovely cathedral square. Staff charming and helpful. The only drawback when I was there was that there didn't seem to be guest internet access and using public internet facilities is incredibly time-consuming, but connections are unreliable in Cuba and this was hardly the hotel's fault. You also have to be happy to wake up early if you have a room facing the street, as there is a primary school on the other side of calle San Ignacio.

The block to the north of the hotel is dilapidated, like large parts of Havana, but it is not a slum. Many of the hotel's neighbours are poor - Cuba is a third-world country and such areas are nearby every hotel in the old city - but with occasional exceptions they are also charming and friendly.

Much recommended. I'll be going again.

I stayed with my husband at the Hotel Raquel for 3 nights and we can certainly recommend the place. The beautiful old building used to be the Chamber of Commerce and now it's a lovely and spotless hotel with stained-glass roof. It's centrally located in Old Havana, the place is absolutely safe (in spite of some weird reviews i've read here, i guess if you walk around a poor country showing off your jewels you're asking to be robbed).
The rooms are decorated with charming furniture out of an antiques shop, the buffet is tasty and varied (something to be appreciated in a country where most of the people live on rice with beans), and the staff at the front desk were extremely polite and helpful. We entrusted them with a box full of toilettries and medicines for some Havanan friends who came to pick it up later and they told us the box was delivered intact. This shows a remarkable degree of honesty, when you think that Cubans do not even have an aspirine to soothe their headaches thanks to the inhuman blockade they suffer.

This hotel claims to be a Jewish establishment but it isn't very
Jewish at all. Also, it is basically located on three sides by a foul smelling slum with unemployed Cuban males leering at you
from every doorway. The hotel seemed to be run by the doormen
whose familiarity with you isn't a product of Caribbean friendliness, but a way to introduce a cheap cigar purchase to you. Had this establishment even the remotest managerial presence this type of behaviour would have to stop but since they
are nowhere to be found they seem to condone it. We payed 160
euros a night for a hotel whose physical beauty, were it to be located in Europe, could easily command twice that amount.
The main squares of old Havana are unforgettable Spanish
colonial gems well worth their World Heritage Site status.
Do not wear any jewellry or carry a handbag while walking these streets. There is NOT the level of police presence here the Cuban tourist board claims there is. Nor is the crime rate low.
My wife and I learned this the hard way. Good luck!!