Casa de Alexis y Mary

Didn't go great but not entirely her fault. There was a water issue all over Havana Vieja. We pulled up to the Casa and were told that we could not stay there because there was no water - OK, seems reasonable. We got directed to their "House 2" which is apparently overseen by their daughter. Led up to the third floor to an acceptable room BUT no A/C and no WiFi - and we needed to check in for flights, etc. There were some issuew with the room that aren't worth detailing that made it seem like it really wasn't ready to be rented at all. Were told the A/C would be fixed right away. It was not. We were told that the other(?) sister would come by and explain it all to us later but had no way to contact her and never found out the "plan." We were out and about for over an hour and came back and the door to the room was lock - we had not been given a key to the casa or tot he room itself - and no one was around except come younger girls - maybe 14 or so. They had a wad of keys, none of which fit, they didn't speak a word of English (I know, its is a Spanish speaking country). The eventually had to Jimmy the door with an ID card to get us in. No adults ever showed up despite a couple of phone calls from the girls. Eventually, we decided to leave and stay at a casa that we had stayed at before where they bent over backwards to accommodate us. So, bottom line? The water issue isn't her fault and I understand that we needed to go to their other casa. After that, we were just sort of left twisting with no way to even get into the room - that still had no A/C. The initial problem wasn't her/their fault for sure but we didn't get anything much after that to support our stay. So, would I book with her again? Maybe. I don't think that it would be my first choice. To be fair though, we never even saw the original room or anything about the setup in the main casa - maybe it would be great.

La casa de Mary a été la première où nous sommes restés durant notre voyage à Cuba et a marqué le début d'une très belle expérience ! Mary a été adorable avec nous, et nous a renseigné sur beaucoup de choses.
La chambre était très bien, l'indépendance avec le reste de la maison était un réel plus. Nous avons aussi beaucoup apprécié que le ménage y soit fait tous les jours.
Le petit déjeuner était aussi très correcte : jus de fruit, café, pain, etc...
Je recommande vivement cette casa et notamment de part son emplacement idéal !

I think one heart is even a bit much to be awarding in this instance. At the end of our three week trip we arrived back in Havana to stay with Mary, not only were we not given the room we had booked for two nights, but we were told that we were staying in alternative accommodation 6 blocks away. I noticed that this was an overflow apartment, our passports were never taken and we never signed any documents to say we were staying in that location. Having arrived at the alternative accommodation we were put into a small dark box room, when we had booked a two bed, bright spacious room. An agreement was made that we pay 35 CUC per night for this small room instead of the 45 CUC that was required for the original booking - which is extremely expensive for a casa stay in Havana. Although we had a deposit paid for two nights we decided to leave the accommodation after the first night, as the room conditions were unbearable. When we tried to leave after paying for one night accommodation ,a woman who appeared to be Mary's daughter would not let us leave the house, she would not unlock the door and tried to barricade us into the apartment which was on the fourth floor. It was the worst experience we had during our entire visit in Cuba. I absolutely believe these people are scheming and greedy, using an overflow house and charging prices well above anywhere else. The pictures do not reflect the rooms in the accommodation. Having seen the wonderful pictures online we decided to spend a little more on this accommodation for our final two nights in Cuba as a treat. We could not have been more disappointed!