HAVANA, Cuba. – “K” Tower, also known as the “López-Calleja Tower”, the hotel that will soon become the tallest building in all of Cuba, is going up rapidly amidst a tourist-deserted Rampa Boulevard, and while surrounding buildings are falling apart.
The tower will rise 44 floors, and feature 500 guest rooms, according to the information proudly published by newspapers financed by the very same State that is financing the construction of that white elephant, “built with the highest standards of quality and security” while hospitals, theaters, housing and even other hotels across the country do not meet even minimal conditions to operate normally or keep occupancy standards.
The tower has its admirers among Cuban men and women. Of course, it has them, but not as many as it has detractors among people who endure the general neglect in their daily lives, and for whom it is an insult that the government assigns resources it claims not to have “due to the blockade” to something that is clearly not necessary but harmful, instead, in a crisis economy that depends completely on donations, international aid, renegotiation and postponement of its debts.
And, if the tower bothers regular Cubans, I assume that it must bother even more the owners of those hotel chains who are watching as the new Gaviota “crown jewel” rises while their own facilities are falling apart. They are aware that, although their hotels are not at the stage of imminent fatal collapse as are approximately half of all other buildings in Central Havana and Old Havana, some are getting there and even worse. Those hotel- chain owners are aware that to build “K” Tower, the government has spent unchecked and spared no expense in innovative technologies like solar-control glass, argon-lined glass windows to further enhance temperature and acoustic control, among other engineering details.
Such is the case of the Habana Libre Hotel, just feet away from the “K” Tower, whose architects claim to have conceived it as a nod –or homage- to their neighboring building which is managed by the Spanish hotel chain Meliá. It’s been a decade since Meliá started demanding a capital renovation that can restore the hotel to its original splendor, including the reinstallation of the neon sign that was taken down in 2019 and still not restored. Meliá has been demanding that those renovations do justice to the four-star category with which it markets –fraudulently- this hotel whose present condition would merit only a two-star category, or perhaps none.
Four-stars at the Habana Libre Hotel that once was a five-star, until the day came when it became impossible to keep that rating: when comfort and services started to decline the moment some “smart cookies” in the Cuban regime realized that, paradoxically, they could earn much more money building new hotels by the truck-load (and neglecting them later) than restoring or systematically providing maintenance services to the existing ones, and with lesser resources.
One could say that, for every three or four floors that are completed at the “K” Tower, one is shut down at the Habana Libre, to the point that only a few guest rooms are rentable at the Habana Libre from the 17th to the 24th floor (the rest are out of service due to deterioration). This, according to comments –to an avalanche of complaints, really- that clients leave on pages like TripAdvisor, where the ratings are the worst, even though it is a “Meliá product” and among Cuba’s “emblematic” hotels.
Throughout the years, news reports –including those by CubaNet- have been many. They have voiced an alert about the deplorable conditions of the facility, and yet, those have not been sufficient to merit that repairs be started at this true gem of Cuban architecture, nor have they put a stop to the construction of other hotel facilities. Judging from the low occupancy rate at existing hotels (around 15%, according to 2022 data published recently by the National Office of Statistics and Information, ONEI, by its Spanish acronym), the new hotels will remain practically empty, they won’t be profitable, and are destined, therefore, to deteriorate like the rest in two or three years’ time.
Neither press statements nor negative comments written by guests about their bitter experiences have made a difference.
“Unfortunate” and “horrible” was how a couple who stayed this past May at the Habana Libre described their stay, which, as a result, they are not recommending to anyone, as they stated on TripAdvisor.
“There was no hot water. The windows were stuck. Only two elevators out of six worked, and sometimes only one; you can be waiting for 20 minutes for one. The guest room door had no peephole, only a hole. The fridge didn’t work. Well: shut down the hotel,” commented the guest who identifies herself as Carmen PS84 on TripAdvisor; she describes in detail her bad experiences in that place where “all that matters to anyone are the tips” in spite of the fact that “there’s never water at the bar, and bad service is rampant.”
“The hallway carpets are all stained,” “careful at the door because someone always tries to swindle you,” “change the staff and the management,” “they are scoundrels, they treat you badly and are rude,” “filthy facilities that get no maintenance,” are among the other comments that one can read on the internet site.
Another user who identified as Carolina C who stayed there in April 2023, feels that she was discriminated against at the cafeteria, although she doesn’t give the reasons; however, it’s generally known that when a guest doesn’t tip –even when the staff is aware of the poor service given to the guest- or when a guest is Cuban (even when he or she is white and pays in US Dollars) are frequent reasons for discrimination in hotel facilities in the island. It’s as if there were “internal directives” to keep foreigners and nationals separate, as if “continuing” the old apartheid from the nineties that prohibited Cubans from staying at hotels or even hang around their vicinity.
Complaints about the Habana Libre Hotel go from the absurdity of having to pay for a bottle of water at the breakfast buffet, to basic hygiene and security in the guest rooms and common areas.
Gonzalo Beaware, who stayed at the hotel in April 2023, describes it as a “nightmarish hotel”: “I will never return to this place (…), not to be forgotten and especially not to return ever again (…). The security safe in the room was sitting on a shelf. Awful cleaning. Cero maintenance service. Horrible.”
Melanie m, whose visit took place in March 2023, speaks of “moldy furniture,” “the worst service at the restaurant” and she warns about certain publications that try to discredit the negative comments and which maybe are written by the hotel staff in order to improve the TripAdvisor rating: “To be honest, I would not return to Cuba. Be aware because there are many fake comments about Cuba’s hotels.”
A user who identifies himself as ginecoespino wrote in March 2023: “Money and prescription Armani glasses were stolen from me. The room had a moldy, old stench, the bed sheets and towels, the same. An ugly smell.” He also talks about the wall paint peeling and falling on the floor, the rusty furniture, and the lack of maintenance staff to clean the rooms properly.
“We never imagined that prestigious establishments like the Meliá hotel chain, where we reserved a premium guest room and paid 300 Euros for two nights, could be in the terrible condition that we witnessed,” stated the user Joana LL in February 2023. “There is no toilet paper in the bathrooms. Ceilings are falling down due to leaks and humidity. When leaving the room, you feared that everything was going to collapse,” she added.
However, according to what one reads on this same webpage on Internet, it’s not just a Habana Libre problem, but the deterioration and neglect, especially in services, extend to the majority of hotel facilities in the country, even in the most emblematic ones, like Hotel Nacional de Cuba; and even in the newer facilities, such as the Gran Aston Habana or the Iberostar Grand Packard, which belong to other chains.
Regarding Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a user who identifies as Odyssey21087111110 complained in May 2023 about his terrible experience on the hotel terrace due to “poor service on the part of the staff.” Likewise, TripAdvisor user George louis h wrote, one month earlier, that the place “could not be worst.”
User Samir B’s experience at the Gran Aston Habana in March 2023, was described as “horrible.” This was his recommendation: “Do not waste your time and money in this hotel.” An opinion similar to that of Rodolfo D. who in May 2022 commented on the same webpage about his “awful experience.”
Not even Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel has been spared of bad ratings, in spite of receiving recognition in recent times. Some of the poor ratings could explain what they do in order to get undeserved praises. TripAdvisor user who identifies herself as Gracia B referred to her “horrible experience” in May of this year, as well as the “poor service” and being “harassed by hotel staff” asking her to write “comments on social media.”
“It is shameful that they resort to that when their service doesn’t even deserve an evaluation,” expressed Gracia B.
User Armando R, a Cuban national, wrote in February 2023: “This is the most racist hotel in Cuba,” adding: “This is a hotel where, the moment you walk in, from the doorman to the hotel staff, they see that you are Cuban and they react as if they’ve seen a ghost; one can tell they don’t want to give you lodging (…), they looked for seventy different ways to not lodge me.”
In the meantime, the majestic future “K” Tower (which should be renamed so as not to sound like a laboratory virus), continues rising above the rooftops and discolored buildings of a city that languishes due to the neglect of the very institutions that should deal with this problem but do not care. Due, also, to the tourists who do not arrive, or who have decided not to return ever again after so many bad experiences.
ARTÍCULO DE OPINIÓN
Las opiniones expresadas en este artículo son de exclusiva responsabilidad de quien las emite y no necesariamente representan la opinión de CubaNet.
Recibe la información de CubaNet en tu celular a través de WhatsApp. Envíanos un mensaje con la palabra “CUBA” al teléfono +1 (786) 316-2072, también puedes suscribirte a nuestro boletín electrónico dando click aquí.