A Cuban who publishes under the name Zona Pau documented in a Facebook video her visit to the Hotel Neptuno, in Miramar, Havana, and frankly described it as: "the worst experience in a day trip and I don't intend to discuss it with anyone."
The video sparked a flood of comments from other users sharing similar or even worse experiences.
The day pass for the hotel, which belongs to the state group Gran Caribe and is located on Avenida Tercera and Calle 74, costs three dollars per person and includes access to the pool from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. However, Pau's visit began with a delay of more than three hours due to a power outage.
"Due to electrical problems, they had to postpone the opening until 12 p.m., but it wasn't until 1:10 p.m. that they came to let us in. During all that time, no one showed up to provide any explanation. It was just waiting, waiting, and waiting," recounted the content creator.
While they waited, the group took shelter in the lobby bar, where Pau insists that the glass was covered in flies. There, they paid 1,500 pesos for each hamburger and 450 pesos for each soft drink.
For lunch, the offering was reduced to a minimal portion of rice, beans, cucumber, and squash, with chicken thighs priced at 2,000 pesos each. The available beer cost 680 pesos and was served warm, without refrigeration.
The difficulties with the menu were compounded by the prohibition on bringing in outside food or drinks. When Pau tried to bring in some cookies for her child, a staff member prevented her from doing so: "She was very rude and offered terrible service, telling me no and insisting I buy from what they had there." The hotel also does not accept payments via bank transfer.
The power went out twice during the day, leaving the pool without music on both occasions. By the end of the day, the total expenditure exceeded 18,000 Cuban pesos, plus three dollars for each entrance.
What other visitors are saying
Comments on the video painted an even more worrying picture. A user who was there on the same day confirmed that she would not return and reported having paid 23,300 pesos for four meals, four breads, and four sodas at the bar.
Others pointed out that the hotel "is like a pigsty" and warned that the pool water is "cloudier than that of a ditch."
A user said that they had found floating feces in the water during a previous visit: "We ran out of there and never went back to that hotel."
Despite the criticism, the regime launched a monthly pool membership for 30 dollars in August, as part of a strategy to attract domestic tourism to the Neptuno Hotel in Havana.
Filed under: