Accommodation

Cheap hotels can be found in all Cuban cities. There used to be 2 classes of hotels: dollar hotels for foreigners and peso hotels for Cubans. Now most peso hotels take foreigners, but you have to pay a special dollar price (generally the same amount in dollars that the Cubans pay in pesos). No chance of faking Cubanism here, because they require your passport or Cuban ID card. I asked prices at 4 of them in different cities and they ranged from $9-18. Most cheap hotel rooms have private bathrooms but no hot water.

A casa particular is a private home. People who rent out rooms in their homes are literally epidemic. The setup is generally as follows: a private bedroom, usually with a double bed (occasionally 2 singles); lockable from the inside, though only occasionally from the outside; either a private or shared bath, sometimes with hot water, though if they only have cold they’ll heat water on the stove for a cup-and-bucket shower; they provide soap, towel and toilet paper; they usually have fans, occasionally air conditioners. Some give you a key to the front door; others are always home to let you in. They vary in comfort and noise level, but in my experience the hosts were all sensitive to westerners’ needs and expectations.

Private homes are by and large a very positive experience, but don’t relax your instincts to guard against theft, because, as these anecdotes illustrate, you never know. Keep your valuables with you, not behind in your room. BTW, my advice, if you should have a problem, is go to the police, as they’ll definitely be on your side.

Casas particulares are easy to find. Get referrals from other travelers (I have some I can e-mail you, since posting them publicly isn’t a wise idea), or from your hosts in the last city, who may know someone where you’re going. Some internet options:

• A Cuban collective can assist you via the Internet if you request info via their web site
• Kubareisen’s web site lists a few, though they do ask for a donation to cover telephone costs.
• Havana Home can make reservations in Havana.
• Cubatrip has listings in Havana, but the asking prices are $20 and up.
• Havana Rooms does on-line booking in Havana, and has a site in Spanish as well.
• Casaparticular.com has on-line listings and descriptions, the vast majority in Havana.
• Blue Building is a single offering in Vedado, Havana.
• Particular Cuba has photos of listings mostly around Havana, for $30/room and $60/apartment and up.
• Casaparticular.info has extensive links to many casa pages for casas throughout Cuba.
• Cuba Particular has a searchable listing with photos of casas around the country, some with pools.

And then there are always touts who hang out at bus and train stations and will approach you. They get around $5 a night for taking you to a house (every house has their own offered commission), and the houses I got through touts were all fine. But if you’ve got an address from someone else, don’t let a tout help you find it, because they’ll demand a commission from the family when they don’t deserve it. Realize, also, that every tout will lie and tell you his house is only 3 or 4 blocks away and that it’s near the center of town (sometimes the two statements are contradictory). If a house you go to is full, they can almost always refer you to another, often only a few doors away. I also got a referral from a bus driver and one from a clerk in a peso hotel. And if you don’t like a casa that’s shown you, feel free to tell them “sorry, it’s not what I’m looking for” and try another.

Permits and monthly taxes are required for anyone to operate a private home, restaurant, or taxi, but some (many?) operate without the required permits. Cuba being a socialist state, they can step in at any time and take someone’s house away if they think the family is making more than they should and being too good a capitalist. I’ve received third-hand reports of nighttime police raids in which foreigners have been removed and placed in dollar hotels. For this reason, you need to use some degree of discretion. You don’t need to sneak around or lie about staying in a private home, but giving details about your host to other Cubans should be avoided.

Castro, seeing the taxing potential, clamped down on private homes and restaurants. Effective July, 1997, taxes were implemented of at least $100 per room per month, whether or not it gets rented. Taxes are higher in tourist areas ($250 per room), for extra rooms, and if meals are served. Some also consist of a flat fee plus a percentage of receipts. This May, 1997 news report explains the system. And this October, 1997 news report describes some of the impact.

Landlords in licensed (legal) casas are required to fill out forms for each guest that stays with them. On arrival, you’ll be asked to fill out the form, sign it, and show your passport. If you’re not asked to do this, the house is unlicensed. Licensed casas also post a triangular sticker on the door that says “Arredator Autorizado.” You’ll need to make your own decision about whether or not to stay with an unlicensed operator, though it doesn’t appear that the government will do anything to you if they find out, other than ship you off to a nearby hotel. Your host will be fined $1500, however. (info from frederik.vanhaverbeke@elis.rug.ac.be)

I never had any problems with cleanliness, but colarolw@chlsnr.nestrd.ch warns to check (and smell) the beds for sweat, insects (“bichitos”) and crabbies and to spray mattresses with insecticide before sleeping on them.

I paid $10 a night in every casa I stayed in. Some asked for $15, but I was able to easily negotiate them down to $10, with or without a tout. (Remember, an average person makes 200-300 pesos a month, and a doctor around 400, so $10 is a small Cuban fortune.) If there’s resistance, telling someone that’s what you paid somewhere else seems to be a more effective argument than pleading poverty. Since the tax was imposed, prices seem to have risen to about $12-15 in the low season, and up to $25 in the high season in heavily touristed areas. Due to the competition, prices are nearly always negotiable.

Many casas offer to cook for you as well. I preferred this option because in some places good food is extremely difficult to find, and it’s nice for someone else to do the work for you. If they don’t cook, they can always refer you to good paladares. See more info under “eating.”

One big plus about casas is that you get to meet real Cubans, not just those who hassle you on the street. They’re generally happy to either include you in their evening conversations or leave you to yourself. Some will even be tour guides for you.

Cuban immigration officials often ask travelers for proof of a hotel reservation upon arrival in Havana. It seems to happen about half the time, more often with Friday arrivals than on other days, and is somewhat dependent on the mood of the immigration official or political climate of the week. (continued feedback from recent travelers on this would be much appreciated!). Some tips on handling this:

• On the immigration form, fill in the name of a hotel or licensed casa particular. Do not write “recogida,” or they’ll make you buy vouchers on the spot at rack rates (very high). If they ask for proof of the reservation, tell them you don’t have one because you wanted to see the room first.
• Bring with you a verification that you do indeed have a reservation. If you’re staying in a hotel, a reservation confirmation should work, but one traveler reported that he had to buy a voucher anyway, which the hotel then didn’t accept (it did get sorted out the next day). If you’re staying in a casa, bring a print-out of the e-mail reservation confirmation if you’ve done it by e-mail, or something as official-looking as possible that shows where you’ll be staying.
• If money isn’t too much of an issue, consider buying a package that includes a hotel night or two with the plane ticket.
• Ask your travel agent to issue you pro-forma hotel vouchers when you buy your plane tickets. It’s unlikely that immigration will actually call the hotel to confirm whether they’re real.
• Let a $10 bill be your voucher, nicely secured in an envelope labeled “voucher” that you provide to the immigration official when asked for it. (Note: cuba@together.net warned against offering bribes to people you don’t know, as they could be very offended.)
• Tell the official you’re leaving directly for another city on the train or bus and won’t be staying overnight.
• If they do deliver you to a hotel and make you stay there, you can leave after the first night. I did, however, receive this note from an unlucky traveler who tried this and had to stay at the hotel for longer, so it depends on the official.

Thanks to rgeiger@dir.fh-sbg.ac.at, fv@telin.rug.ac.be, stephen.psallidas@granada-learning.com, JS in LA, and cuba@together.com for the above info.

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