Meliá San Carlos — Hotel in Cienfuegos

without doubt this is one of the worst hotelsI have ever stayed in.|I have since read the low scoring reviews and agree. The reviews which have been posted which give positive comments surprise to me. I am not a high maintenance guest, as long as somewhere is clean and breakfast is reasonable I am happy. | Our experience was dreadful from the beginning. We stayed two nights on 17th and 18th March. We had to move rooms twice and had to make do in the end as there were no more rooms left in the hotel, and we were only staying in Cienfuegos for two nights and already wasted most of our first day trying to find a room that didn't smell of blocked drains. if we had tried to find another hotel or asked our travel agent to move us day one would have disappeared so on balance we decided to just stay . The best of the worst rooms was reasonably clean but when you put the air-conditioning on there was a bad smell so we stopped using it. There was no window to look outside as you faced a brick wall and so you felt like you were in a cell.||on our first evening there was a blackout outside and we could not get back into the hotel when we arrived back at 11:30 pm. The staff, after 10 minutes banging on the windows much to the locals interest, eventually answered the lock door and it wasn't a surprise they couldn't heat us as they were playing music very loudly while they were clearing up the bar, even though reception advised us they would be on hand for 24 hours a day. one of the windows was right beside reception but we got no response ! this spoiled the first night even more as I felt unsafe standing outside the hotel in total darkness in a town I was unfamiliar with.||breakfast both mornings was very disappointing and we were ignored by the waiting staff. The second morning hotel management were dining and got all of the staffs attention. We had the added negative experience of watching the managers gorge Themselves on food which they shovelled into their mouth so fast they could barely swallow! ||The food was simple, tasty and edible but the service experience absolutely abysmal!||there is nowhere to sit outside in the hotel and the inside reception and bar area has no atmosphere at all. We spent most of our time outside of the hotel only coming back to sleep for reasons mentioned above.||i'm guessing travellers will consider the positive reviews listed but my advice is do not take the risk of booking...

Nice hotel in an old, traditional yet fully refurbished building with lots more character than many other hotels. It doesn't really stand out from the rest of the street which is a nice touch and just a couple of doors away from the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party's office.||San Carlos doesn't have loads of rooms and when we stayed it wasn't even close to being full so it was easy to get a table in the lobby bar. However, here we encountered another typical Cuban situation - I asked for the price of a drink (to pay later with either CUP or card) and instead of telling me, the calculator came out and a random number on the screen was shown. In the end we had 4 drinks, and the situation was repeated, but this time the calculator was showing me the total cost in USD. I told the barman that USD meant nothing to me and asked for the amount in CUP or in EUR. When I said I wanted to pay in CUP but with a card, I was told that wasn't possible because of the slow internet connection for the card reader but were I to pay in EUR with the same card, using the same machine it would be OK. I shrugged and was ready to pay in EUR when I noticed the bill was incorrect - the total for 4 identical drinks was showing as an odd number. Upon pointing this out, providing a free maths lesson and asking to speak to someone numerate, I finally paid 15 minutes later. The drinks worked ou to be bloody cheap even after all that kerfuffle.||Internet in general has a WiFi password which is OK but often requires reconnection a few times before it expires, and a new password must be issued by reception. This too was a common theme in all the hotels we stayed in - all Meliá 5-star with San Carlos being the exception as a Meliá 4-star.||Clean comfortable room with sufficient plug sockets and a good bathroom. However, just as I was about to complain about staying in a box without any windows, we saw our guide Jesús who explained there were no windows in any of the rooms, but I couldn't catch the explanation for this...||Dinner was a little different this time as were had a choice of 2 main courses - fish or chicken - so more variety than we were used to, but not by much.||Good views from the restaurant's roof terrace, but as is common with these types of tour, we don't spend long enough in any hotel to experience anything other than the basics - here is was relax after arrival, shower, dinner and bed not...

Nice hotel in an old, traditional yet fully refurbished building with lots more character than many other hotels. It doesn't really stand out from the rest of the street which is a nice touch and just a couple of doors away from the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party's office.

San Carlos doesn't have loads of rooms and when we stayed it wasn't even close to being full so it was easy to get a table in the lobby bar. However, here we encountered another typical Cuban situation - I asked for the price of a drink (to pay later with either CUP or card) and instead of telling me, the calculator came out and a random number on the screen was shown. In the end we had 4 drinks, and the situation was repeated, but this time the calculator was showing me the total cost in USD. I told the barman that USD meant nothing to me and asked for the amount in CUP or in EUR. When I said I wanted to pay in CUP but with a card, I was told that wasn't possible because of the slow internet connection for the card reader but were I to pay in EUR with the same card, using the same machine it would be OK. I shrugged and was ready to pay in EUR when I noticed the bill was incorrect - the total for 4 identical drinks was showing as an odd number. Upon pointing this out, providing a free maths lesson and asking to speak to someone numerate, I finally paid 15 minutes later. The drinks worked ou to be bloody cheap even after all that kerfuffle.

Internet in general has a WiFi password which is OK but often requires reconnection a few times before it expires, and a new password must be issued by reception. This too was a common theme in all the hotels we stayed in - all Meliá 5-star with San Carlos being the exception as a Meliá 4-star.

Clean comfortable room with sufficient plug sockets and a good bathroom. However, just as I was about to complain about staying in a box without any windows, we saw our guide Jesús who explained there were no windows in any of the rooms, but I couldn't catch the explanation for this...

Dinner was a little different this time as were had a choice of 2 main courses - fish or chicken - so more variety than we were used to, but not by much.

Good views from the restaurant's roof terrace, but as is common with these types of tour, we don't spend long enough in any hotel to experience anything other than the basics - here is was relax after arrival, shower, dinner and bed not...