Yanelys González Suárez is a Cuban mother who reports the theft of 70,000 pesos in national currency (about 218 dollars at the exchange rate of 1 x 320) at the Grand Memories Santa Maria hotel, in Jardines del Rey, Santa Clara.
According to her version of events, it happened on the 8th of this month of August, coinciding with the day she planned to leave the hotel to return to Serbia with her children, a country where she has lived for ten years. Every time she goes to Cuba, she stays with her family in hotels and had never had any problems until this summer.
Yanelys González, her mother, and her two children stayed in room 5122 at the Grand Memories Santa María hotel from August 4 to 8. On the night of the 7th, the mother packed the suitcase and put the 70,000 Cuban pesos inside an Ikea bag, at the bottom of the luggage. On top, she placed the clothes. On the morning of the 8th, the family got up to make the most of their last hours at the beach. The room had to be vacated by 12:00 PM, but they opted to pay 2,000 pesos (almost a monthly salary in Cuba) to the staff member responsible for cleaning the room so that they could have a little more time, as she had a small child and it was more difficult for her to leave the hotel at the designated time.
The maid told them that she would keep their luggage stored in the room until 1:00 PM because the next guest was arriving at 2:00 PM. The family arrived at the hotel at 12:00 PM, took a shower in the room, and was ready to catch the bus at 3:00 PM.
They arrived in Havana between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM on August 8, four days before taking the flight to Serbia. It was on that same day that Yanelys González Suárez realized that 70,000 pesos in national currency had been stolen from her at the Grand Memories Santa María hotel.
As soon as she realized the robbery, she called the hotel to report what had happened, and it was at that moment when they confirmed to her that no one had entered that room since she left and that it was still free. "That’s when I realized that the maid lied, that what she wanted was for me to take my things and leave," explains this Cuban mother in statements to CiberCuba.
A worker named Yamilka, from the hotel's Public Relations, told her that they had a key control system and that they could see who had opened the room and entered, and they suggested that she call back in two days. Forty-eight hours later, on August 10, Yanelys González called the hotel and was told that they had already clarified what happened, but they could not provide her with information until she filed a complaint. The problem was that she had a return ticket to Serbia on August 12 and didn't have time to file it. On the 9th, she had traveled to Viñales.
Since she had to return to her country of residence, Yanelys González left the complaint in the hands of her mother. "That is to say, if I don't report it, they keep the money because I am sure they all agreed to keep the 70 thousand pesos," she assures.
To prevent what happened from happening to someone else, Yanelys González wanted to post a review of the Grand Memories Santa María Hotel, recounting the theft of her money on Tripadvisor, but her comment is not accepted. Every time she writes it, it gives an error when saving.
She is already in Serbia, but she hasn't been able to get her money back or leave a negative review about the hotel online.
His case is not the first to occur in hotels in Cuba. In 2019, a Dutch tourist reported the theft of 1,000 euros from a safe in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.
In addition to the thefts, there are also complaints such as the one made by Argentine 'tiktoker' Georgi, showing the poor conditions of an All Inclusive hotel in Varadero, where the food buffet lacked variety, the pizza had no cheese, and the bread was "like a rock."
News like this helps to understand why the tourism recovery in Cuba has been poor, as it still has not reached pre-pandemic figures, despite neighboring countries like the Dominican Republic thriving.
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