Royalton Habana — Attraction in Zona 25

My girlfriend and I just returned from staying at the Royalton Habana during our vacation to Cuba last week.

Unfortunately, our trip was tarnished by some really offensive "identification policies" that we experienced one night when we returned to the hotel.

The "identification policy" to which I'm referring seems to be an example of racial profiling and needs to change.

Let me be very specific here, because I understand the seriousness of my accusation.

When we entered the hotel lobby--on the night in question-- a male staff member refused to let us enter the elevators. (I'm a white male in my forties and my girlfriend is a black female in her twenties). I'm pretty fluent in Spanish and tried to explain that my girlfriend's name was on the reservation, and that he should verify this with the front desk. But this man demanded that we step out of the elevator and made quite a scene. He was loud and combative and extremely rude.

This situation occurred on our 3rd night staying in the hotel. The staff members throughout the hotel had seen us check-in together and spend the entire trip together. However, nobody stepped in to help clarify this situation with the "security" member.

Prior to this incident, we had witnessed several, young light-skinned women enter the hotel lobby with older, white male hotel guests and enter the elevators without any hassle.

I will let the readers draw their own conclusions about these implicit racial biases. It was a very upsetting situation.

Perhaps a better hotel policy would be for security staff members to verify with the front desk whose names are on a room reservation before confronting guests in a busy elevator. They could then politely and discretely make a phone call or knock on someone's door, if the reservation didn't match what they saw on a reservation. Or they could require all hotel guests to wear wristbands during their stay, if they are so concerned about "unregistered guests”

The upper management of the Royalton hotel group needs to call attention to this serious matter and better train their staff to understand the cultural and racial biases of their current...

A terrible experience that almost ruined our holidays. Check in kept being postponed for 45’ and then an hour and then again and again, so we ended up getting in the rooms at 23:00 at night, after a seriously difficult day. Worst part not the huge delay, but the luck of honesty from the hotel manager himself who kept saying “we do what we can to get your room in the next hour”, while he knew they had serious problem and there wouldn’t be any rooms available shortly.

But even when we got into the rooms, we never managed to relax and enjoy one moment in this terribly organized hotel. We were part of a big group so I will mention examples of personal experience, but these of others too: water flush in the toilet didn’t work in many rooms, ours was fixed late at night, but in other rooms they had to call the reception to send a technician, every time they used the toilet (!). Telephone was not working in our room, the lights were badly grouped so there were 4 spotlights that could not be turned off with any switch, the room was cleaned on the 3rd day of our stay, but even then they didn’t change the towels, they didn’t even bring us toilet paper or left a bottle of water as they were supposed to do; friends told us that the maid, in order to push for extra tips was only offering the amenities to those who rewarded her in advance for what was supposed to be offered for free (we are talking about a 5* hotel). Anytime you asked something from the reception they said “yes, we will bring this to you”, they NOT ONCE actually came. We ended up getting dressed and go downstairs to ask for things snd wait there until they were given to us personally. During breakfast I failed to find one member of the numerous staff, knowing what “boiled eggs” are, I must have asked 5 or 6 about it. The a/c (the central one, not in our room) broke the day before we left, thanx Good, it was time for us to depart. Bad management, dreadful logistics, complete luck of professionalism from the management result to a terrible waste of such a premium location (the best among all the 5*...

Arrived at the Royalton Habana on October 18 at approximately 1030pm. Got off the tour bus (transfer) from the airport. Place my knapsack on the steps of the hotel and turned around for just 2 seconds to give tips the driver, when I turn back my knapsack was gone along with my wallet, all my monies, medications, head phones and other essentials. The hotel has cameras situated in front of hotel and around the property. The general manager say they have a person of interest that the police are seeking. Apparently this happens alot around this hotel and this person is known to frequent the property perimeter. I asked if they check the camera or show to police, but then was told that the camera didn't pickup any footage of the theft because of blind spot. Police came by the hotel a couple hours later. Asked me to go to the station to file a report so they can start their investigation. I have already gave them the report so why the need to visit the station? I know they will not do anything with the information. So now I am in cuba with no money, no credit cards, no debit cards and all my government issued ids, except my passport are gone. I still have 6 more days here.||The Royalton Habana is a beautiful hotel, but lack the security measures to take care of their guests. The guests are dropped off infront of the hotel and luggages are taken off the bus and left on a busy walkway. The hotel should have taken measures to block off the drop off areas to ensures luggage and baggage are not stolen.||Not sure what to do at this point. Vacation totally ruined to say the least. Hope the hotel will make some kind of compensation since the theft took place on their property. A warning to tourists visiting or planning on visiting Havana to be vigilant as the times have changed. Havana and Cuba in general is no longer the docile, friendly, safe tropical paradise it used to be. Desperate times brings out the worse in people. Increased theft and...