A Cuban toured the buffet at the Hotel Playa Vista Azul, a five-star establishment in Varadero, and documented in a viral video what he found: endless lines, depleted sweets, a shortage of cheese and ham, and long queues to get eggs or tortillas, all for a price approaching 1,000 dollars.
"It’s a shame, it’s truly a shame. They charge almost a thousand dollars for a service that is worth nothing," concludes the author of the clip, published by the page Isla Local on Facebook, where it accumulated nearly 50,000 views, 529 likes, and 163 comments in just a few days.
In the images, the man describes what he sees as he walks through the food area: "People in line for sweets, but there are no sweets. On the cheese line, there's a lot of chili. Look at the cheese and ham line, they say he wasn't in line. And on the other side is the line for eggs, for tortillas, the Cubans here, you know. Struggling and in need of a hotel that supposedly they don’t provide."
The hotel identified in the video is the Ocean Vista Azul, a complex with 501 rooms located on the South Highway, kilometer 11 of Varadero, rated as five stars and belonging to the Grupo Empresarial Gaviota, controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces.
The official prices of the establishment are around 326 dollars for two nights with an all-inclusive plan for two adults, although longer stay packages may approach or exceed the 1,000 dollars mentioned in the video.
The complaint is not an isolated case. In April of this year, a Cuban woman went viral with her complaints about the Grand Aston Varadero Beach Resort, where she claimed that they only served "chicken with rice and cabbage" and that the bread was infested with weevils.
The pattern is repeated throughout the Cuban hotel industry, which is experiencing its worst crisis in decades.
According to reports from June 2026, Cuba lost nearly 50% of its visitors in the first four months of the year, hotel occupancy in Varadero does not exceed 10% during certain periods, and around 30 hotels have temporarily closed due to a lack of fuel and low demand.
In February, the Cuban government closed several hotels due to a lack of fuel, while the chains that remain open are applying discounts of up to 25% and offering free transfers to attract tourists.
The sector's revenues have accumulated a 70% decline since 2019.
The contradiction between the international prices charged by these establishments and the actual quality of service—characterized by shortages, power outages of up to 20 hours, and a structural energy crisis—is at the heart of the outrage expressed by an increasing number of visitors on social media, turning Varadero into a synonym for a tourism promise that the regime can no longer uphold.
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