Americans
securing hotel reservations in Cuba is still not as straightforward as one
would hope by now, still mired down in the red tape of governmental
bureaucracy. We have been anxiously awaiting for U.S. based
travel providers who work with international hotels on a grand scale to become
established in Cuba. This process is
happening very slowly, with minimal movement towards stronger relationships
between U.S. based hotel booking providers and Cuban hotels.
~This preferred provider relationship is favorable
to clients as the strong relationship between a large travel provider and the
hotels they work with frequently assists in many ways.~
When
hotels see that a reservation is made from a preferred vendor that sends them a
lot of business, they take extra care to reserve the guests into favorable room
locations, mark them down for possible upgrades based on availability at the
time of check in, and are very receptive to travel agents working with them to
ensure all of this on your behalf. It is also very helpful after the stay
in the event of problem resolution if things weren’t quite right for you.
Also, through many of these large providers one can typically reserve hotels
with no cancellation penalty at all if you cancel up to a week or so
prior.
~Working directly with Cuban hotels is still not
possible due to legal restrictions, however U.S. citizens can book a Cuban
hotel directly that is a part of an international chain that is not based in
the U.S. or Cuba.~
There are
only two within the old town area of Havana; the Iberostar and the
Mercure. Iberostar is based in Spain, however they are not offering
this property to U.S. residents through their website, and when I contacted the
hotel directly was advised they require a 3 night minimum when booking
directly. The Mercure hotel is part of the Accor chain based in France,
and they do have online booking for Americans through their website;
with no cancellation penalty (pay at the hotel) and breakfast included.
Here is a link to the hotel website for further info: http://www.mercure.com/gb/city/hotels-havana-v6417.shtml
~The other option currently is to reserve your
Cuban hotel through a non-US based third party travel consortium. ~
I have
networked with travel professionals and looked into numerous non-U.S. based
hotel reservation companies and like www.HotelsClick.com for this. They are based in
Italy, in business for 10 years now and have a good variety of hotels available
in Cuba with an English language website. They have a 25 Euro per night
cancellation penalty that is somewhat buried within their terms &
conditions. This is much better than the
typical 100% non-refundable policy
U.S.
travel professionals are looking forward to more normalized relations between
our country and Cuba, enabling travelers to more freely. Our suggestion to those looking for hotel in
Cuba soon is to work through one of the international chains that have hotels
in your desired location, reserving this on their website of call center. If nothing like this is available; go to a
non-U.S. based online travel booking website such as www.HotelsClick.com.
Better yet, contact us for full assistance any time!!
Happy
Travels….