It wasn't a smooth experience for us - in fact, it was quite stressful and so not the vacation we were looking forward to having.
The staff was unfriendly and unavailable to help. Sometimes we had to go to 3 different members of staff until we get the answer, to simple things such as "where's the restroom?". Many members of staff told us "no" to requests such as "can we have a taxi to the airport?", "can we pay half in Cuban pesos and half in Euros?", "do you have juice?" or "can we ask for a towel, please?"
We had a series of unfortunate events when we arrived. A lady in the 24h bar told us we could only have a cheese sandwich and we waited 40 minutes for it. In the meantime, we saw pizzas and salads passing by. After waiting for a long time, we asked if our food was going to take too much longer, and her answer was 'but what's missing?'. There was also no coffee or juice in this bar.
They told us we had to book dinner in their special restaurants if we wanted to eat there. When we went to book, the lady said there was no more space and blame it on us, saying we should have booked before we arrived (but we didn't receive any information beforehand about this).
Besides, she told us most people stay for 4 nights, and we shouldn't have come for 2 days as we did. How does it feel when a member of staff says that we shouldn't have come? In the end, we were able to find a seat at the Cuban restaurant, which the lady said was almost full but could get us a seat: surprise, it wasn't nearly full, and the restaurants we wanted to book also had empty tables during the night.
They also didn't have beach towels. We paid a deposit at the reception to have them, and the man in charge told us (quote) "I've told the reception they can tell you what they want, I'm not giving any towels today. Why? Because I don't have them. See this big pile? They need to be washed. Come back tomorrow". When we said we were looking forward to going to the beach because we were only staying for 2 days, it felt like the blame was on us: "who comes here for just 2 days? Why are you here for just 2 days?" He said we should come for longer, like most people. Little did we know we had just arrived and were already looking forward to leaving.
Eventually, after talking to another member of staff, we agreed to take the towel from our room, and that towel would be replaced. It wasn't and we had to wait one hour for the new towel. I was looking forward to having a shower after the beach and had to wait for a long time. Plus, the phone didn't work, and I had to talk to 3 members of staff until I got a new towel. Two of them said, "I can't help you, there's nothing I can do about the towels". They didn't even point me in the right direction. It was exhausting. I felt like I wasn't dealing with people who wanted to help.
Besides, we needed a first aid kit, which, to our surprise, the hotel didn't have. How does a 5-star hotel not have a first aid kit? We had to clean a wound with white rum, following the suggestion of a member of staff. They told us to go to the doctor the next day, who will be in the facilities: but they failed to tell us we had to pay the doctor in dollars.
Overall it was a stressful experience in a hotel that was loud, with loud music all day, a super unclassy environment, horrible food and super unfriendly and unhelpful staff, who don't know they way around and makes us feel there's lack of items or of options they can do to help us. For sure we won't stay there again, and if you want to rest, we advise you to run away from this hotel. It will be chaos, for sure.
Positive:
The beach is nearby and the Spa is good.
Negative:
Everything mentioned above.
