You will find here both good testimonials about our service as well as bad experiences in Cuba

Date: Jan 12th 2002
From: Stephanie Morrell <Eyeparty@aol.com >

Dear Miguel,
I was very happy with my accomodations at Dora and Mario's apartment in Havana, Cuba.
They are very loving and informative and there hospitality and interest for my friend and I having a great time in Cuba. I will keep in touch with them! I hope that you will send everyone to them as they are the best and there location was too.
Thank You
Stephanie Morrell
email: Eyeparty@aol.com

Date: Dec 30th 2001
From: Gilles Verreault<jlgverr@sympatico.ca>

Just a few words to tell you that I came back from Havana yesterday, Dec. 29, 2001 and that everything went perfectly well. I found the apartment Rodolfo very convenient and comfortable. Sr. Rodolfo was very pleasant and accomodating and we got along nicely. Your Havana Rentals representative in Havana met me on time for the appointment of Dec. 16 and she was very helpful. I only have positive comments about the whole thing. As for life in Havana... well that's another story, but there's nothing anybody can do about that.
Thank you for making my stay in Havana easier and muy agradable.
Gilles Verreault, Ottawa, Canada.
email: jlgverr@sympatico.ca

Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001
From: Charlie Waite <charliewaite@compuserve.com>

Thank you for all the information Miguel......as they say ..."It has been a pleasure doing business with you" I will recommend your company to all the people that I know.
Many photographers are coming to Cuba and I am will suggest your company. I am very pleased and thank you for finding a private apartment so near to Marina Hemingway.
Many thanks for all your very efficient and professional help.
Yours Charlie
email: charliewaite@compuserve.com

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001
From: "Manuel Francisco Cachan" <mcachan@post.harvard.edu>

I finally decided to rent a house in "Tarará". Please allow me to apologize for the late notice but I have just decided that three days ago.....
Anyway, thank you for your help. I must say that from all the similar companies that I was able to contact to in Internet, you were the only one that knew how to guide me and who always was both kind and professional.
I have friends who travel to Cuba and my father runs a group of students that visit Havana each summer, spending there several months.
Be sure I will recommend you.
Regards,
Manuel Cachan
email: mcachan@post.harvard.edu

Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001
From: "jllombartp"<jllombartp@wanadoo.es>

After our return to Spain and having a few days adapting to the time difference in Spain, I write you just to say that it was all perfect.
Right from the start with the greeting at the Havana airport, also the stay at the apartment of Mrs. Esther and finally the return, it was all perfect.
In the apartment of Esther we received a very good service and I´m glad to say that we felt home.
I simply want to thank you for your service and hope to see you soon.
Kind regards,
Joaquín and Nuria (Spain)
email: jllombartp@wanadoo.es

Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001
From: Simona Chiose <chioses@yahoo.com>

I found your service excellent and both of you veryfriendly and very reliable. It was great to be picked up from the airport, especially because it was our first time in Havana. Hilda's house was wonderful, there was warm water all the time, Senora Alvarez was very helpful and nice to us. The room was cleaned every day and was very neat and large enough for two people.
We happened to see a room at the Hotel Nacional and we said "that's not very different from ours!" except we were paying only $30. It was quite good to have privacy and in the evening we often sat outside in the courtyard outside the building.
The location as well was excellent. If we come to Havana again, we're definately stay with Senora Alvarez. It's a room you can spend two weeks in without any problems.
But overall, we really liked Havana and found the life and the people there fascinating. I hope to see you both again in not too long a time. Please say hello to your girlfriend for me and muchas gracias.
Simona

From: "Ashley Lawrence" <ashley@csource.net>
Subject: Our Stay in Havana
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 23:23:54 -0700

Dear Havana Rentals,
We just returned to Canada from our holiday in Cuba.
I am glad to tell you that we had a great time in Havana.
Our stay at the house of Elia and Acuña (not yet listed in the website) was very pleasant.
They were great hosts and cooked large and dellicious meals whenever we needed. The house is very comfortable, spacious and secure also with secure parking on the premises.
Thanks for your assistance. I will let you know when I plan to visit Havana again in the future.
Best Regards,
Ashley Lawrence

From: "Rick Hayes" <RickSTRIKEZONE@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 19:06:54 EST
Subject: Recomending your rental service

I would like to let you know that Leo and myself realy enjoyed stay at Carlos house in havana and Arn and Jim liked there stay at Mr Jose Guerra house. We also liked the location as it was not too far from down town, the beach and the Marina. the breakfast we had were great and very reasonable.
Should you have any inquires please feel free to give my name and phone number.
Rick Hayes,
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada. N5L 1G7 Phone 1 519 782 3028
e-Mail       Rickstrikezone@AOL.com

Note from Havana Rentals: We feel the need to expose here as well, bad experiences that some of our clients have gone through in order to warn other tourists like you willing to visit Cuba and keep you away from going through these bad experiences too.
Cuba is a safe place, but we must admit that you may find unexpected situations that could be avoided if you knew them.

From:"Ilaria Marcellini" ilaria.marcellini@nokia.com
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 12:02:28 +0300

My friend's money was under her pillow, she noticed somebody had touched it but when counting the money she first thought nothing was missing, but when checking it again for a second time, she noticed 100 USD were missing.
Unfortunately we had already left Havana by then, so we didn't tell anything. We don't know who took my friend's money, we just know it happened in the apartment and since we had the room's keys, I don't think any of the other guests could have done it but only somebody belonging to the family, as they were cleaning the room and changing the bed sheets etc.

I know it was foolish on my friend's side to leave some of her money in theroom, from that moment on we kept everything with us all the time.

About the other "accidents":
- There are lots of teen-agers (especially in Camaguey city) trying to fool tourists telling them the house they are going to has no rooms available, in order to bring them to other homes they know which are not the best possible ones - the house owners should be responsible for their guests' car, while in 99% cases they are prompting the guests to pay 1 or 2 USD per night to somebody who is supposed to watch the car; of course these are no regular parking places, in other words tourists are paying for no-service, as the car is left in the street and nobody is liable for that.

In Camaguey the house owner was using a 'car watchman' who wanted the car keys to park the car in a parking place very far from the house we were stay in, with the result that we couldn't use it until leaving the town and once we left we found out that a considerable amount of gasoline was taken out of the car tank!.
- In Santiago de Cuba city we had a car accident which was clearly caused with the intent to get some money from us and the police was not helpful at all, on the contrary they encouraged the private transaction
- We had another case of police corruption when a policeman offered not to fine us but took half the fine's charge to himself
- You surely know already that some roads are in very bad conditions and what's worse with no signs, some have signs but then you find out the road is interrupted or the place it leads to is closed; most of the locals you're asking to are not helpful in these cases as they don't travel a lot.
OK, I think I can stop for now...maybe we've just been unlucky or the style of our holiday - driving for more than 3200 Km and always sleeping in private homes - was particularly subject to these inconvenients, but that's what happened to us.
Bye for now,
Ilaria Marcellini
e-Mail: ilaria.marcellini@nokia.com

   Thomas Voirol´s experiences in Cuba 2001: http://thomas.voirol.com/oriacuba/