This hotel has an impressive appearance and a good location. But don't be fooled. The rooms are less than clean, which was no great problem, but the lack of any running water was. We stayed 3 nights and had intermittent water supply throughout. It was pretty hot and sticky in Havana during our stay, so we didn't consider running water a luxury. On the final day, with absolutely no water, we were told, as were the other guests, that we could use the water in the mini-bar to wash and that we would not be charged for the favour! The staff were extremely unhelpful when I complained about it. I understand it's Cuba and expect problems, but a little bit of helpfulness on the part of the management would have gone a long way- but there was none.
As for the problem of overbooking and being 'bumped' to other hotels (mentioned in a previous comment), we witnessed this while we were there, and when we finally left the place were asked to take a couple in our taxi who had just flown in from France, were extremely tired and not at all happy that there was no room in the inn. (Which they had booked).
Do yourself a favour, avoid this place

When we arrived at the (pre-booked) Beltran the foyer looked lovely, just our sort of place. Unfortunately, that's as far as we got. We were told there was a "problem" (unspecified) but that they had booked us into a similar standard hotel just down the road. The hotel they put us in (The Santander) was a typical hotel you would stay in the world over and overlooked the port, so not a great location. It probably was a similar standard but not similar quality. (The room had no windows for a start! - with no good reason, eg not a former monastery ). On reflection we should have said we wanted to see the hotel we'd been bumped to before agreeing to go there. Good thing we were only doing an over-nighter here or I would have been extremely upset.

This hotel was situated right in the middle of old Havana, surrounded by beautiful old architectured buildings and near the 'plaza vieja' (old square). You can really get a feel for the real Cuba here, as there are many locals around, all very friendly.

The hotel itself has very grand doors and has a very pretty little courtyard in the middle. The rooms were very traditional, old-styled baths, sinks, beds and furniture, it looked lovely. My parents were given the junior suite (although they only booked a normal one) and it was outstanding, a balcony looking onto Havana's streets. huge double bed and a small room with chairs and a table. Breakfast was pretty good aswell, lovely feeling sitting in the warm air in the courtyard with fresh fruit and juice, with a choice of eggs and toast and freshly baked pain au chocolat, donuts and bread! Only problem was the hot water was a bit dodgy! It would turn on randomly at full blast in the middle of the night, and you wouldnt have hot water all the time - but not much of a problem, and it is a poor country, we were lucky to have running water compared to the locals.

I would love to return here, and I would recommend to anybody who wanted to see the real side of Cuba!

We arrived in the Beltran late in the evening after a 6 hour transfer from Maria La Gorda. The staff could not have been more helpful and friendly, infact we were offered breakfast even though we were checking out at 4.30 am! We stayed in one of the suites (paying about £60) - it was stunning. The suite was huge and whilst not as well equipped as say the 5* Parque Central (where we also stayed) it had all you could need (TV, mini-bar and a very comfortable bed) and far more character, decorated with antique furniture giving it a real sense of history. On top of this it was well loctated, just of the old square, close to restaurants and museums.
I could not recommend this place highly enough. My only regret is that we did not stay longer!