A Cuban named Dani Falcon posted a video on Facebook in which she shares her experience at the International Hotel in Varadero, where she paid 150 dollars per night for two people and enjoyed everything wonderfully until, just at the end, the National Electric System (SEN) collapsed and the hotel's generator couldn't handle the load.
Dani's video begins with a direct question: "Is it worth going to a hotel in Varadero, Cuba right now?" The answer, throughout almost the entire clip, is surprisingly positive.
The woman left with her daughter with no great expectations towards the hotel to, as she said, escape "the blackouts and the bad nights."
What she found left her pleasantly surprised: clean rooms ready upon arrival, a varied buffet. There were also two or three à la carte restaurants -with prior reservation- and entertainment that she rated as "10 out of 10." The beer, she added, "was always available in almost all areas."
The price of that experience was 150 dollars per night, a figure that Dani Falcon herself acknowledged as "not cheap for the average Cuban."
The phrase summarizes a crushing reality: with an official average salary of about 7,074 pesos per month—equivalent to less than 13 dollars at the informal exchange rate—one night in that hotel costs more than ten average salaries. The official minimum wage is 3,210 pesos, while the basic basket exceeds 96,000 pesos per month.
But the conclusion of the video shattered the illusion that tourist hotels are a bubble untouched by the crisis. "Just before we left, the famous SEN collapsed and the plant couldn't handle it," Falcon recounted.
That collapse is not an isolated accident. On July 6, there was a total disconnection of the SEN that left the island virtually in the dark for almost 24 hours.
Matanzas, the province where Varadero is located, has been one of the hardest-hit areas: residents reported up to 85 consecutive hours without electricity in some neighborhoods during June, while hotels operated with their own generators and received state priority for fuel supply.
This double standard generated outrage when the event "Start of Summer 2K26" at the Resonance Hotel in Varadero kept lights and music for 72 hours while the rest of the country was in the dark. The phrase that went viral on social media summed it up bluntly: “lights for partying, blackouts for everyone else”.
The video by Dani Falcon adds a layer of discomfort for the regime: even that privileged bubble is not impenetrable. Since February, at least eight hotels in Varadero and the keys have closed or suspended operations temporarily due to a lack of diesel for their generators.
Tourism in Cuba is experiencing a structural collapse: hotels have reduced their prices by up to 25% and are offering free transfers to attract visitors but to no avail.
For the average Cuban, however, 150 dollars per night remains a mathematically impossible luxury, and even that price does not guarantee that the power won't go out.
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