Booking hotels in Cuba
 

I just wanted to let people know that we had no trouble using booking.com (and an American credit card) to book a Havana hotel, and the rest of our family was able to book a hotel directly on the hotel's website with an American credit card (and got a much cheaper price than booking through a third-party website or a travel agent).

Most of our trip was on a pre-paid tour, where we stayed in casas particulares, so I don't know how this would would for hotels outside of Havana.

Until the extent of damage from IRMA is known, and the living conditions of the people who survived (10 dead) are more clear, any comments about hotels, booking methods, casas, etc-----anything other than how to help the survivors of the severe flooding and wind damage get back on their feet so there ARE places to stay--- seem more than a little insensitive and self-absorbed.

It was a simple statement of fact. Tourists will return to Havana and quite quickly, I am certain. I emailed with our tour guide today and he was both unharmed and is optimistic for a quick recovery. I don't share your feelings about my post.

Optimistic? Yes, Cubans are a strong people. In tragedies like Irma, having an optimistic outlook is important to get through.

Whether that syncs with reality, particularly in a country that suffers from shortages of building materials and both government and individual money to buy them, is another question.

"Quick" is relative.

Tourists from the US are already dissuaded from traveling to Cuba by the upcoming changes, not even in effect as yet, so with potential added discomforts from this killer storm, I doubt they "return to Havana and quite quickly". The majority of non-US tourists go to the resorts that have been destroyed, and probably don't book with Booking.com anyway.

Did your tour guide explain in detail the damage in Havana, as my friends did for me?
Would you even know the neighborhoods they referenced, in that you were there for such a very brief time, mostly led around by guides?
Have you seen the photos of the hotels completely destroyed in the resort areas? Having no trouble with BOOKING.com is the least of concerns.

Appropriate posts at this time might be about where to send donations to aid the recovery of individual Cubans effected.

Here are photos of Havana in the condition it was the day when publicity for using booking.com to book hotels here was uppermost in the mind of some:

https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2...o-huracan-irma
(7 dead in Havana, 10 total in Cuba so far)

https://www.cibercuba.com/videos/not...ran-residentes

And the day after:

https://www.cibercuba.com/videos/not...-tomadas-drone

https://www.cibercuba.com/videos/not...irma-habana-no

One organization to which to donate to help Irma victims in Cuba:
https://www.care.org/newsroom/press/...sland-impacted

Here's what the government had to say about the Irma disaster:

A call to our combative people

We face the recovery with the example of Comandante en Jefe de la Revolución Cubana, Fidel Castro Ruz, who, with his unwavering confidence in victory and iron will, taught us that nothing is impossible

Hurricane Irma, with its destructive power, battered our island for 72 hours, beginning the morning of September 8 until this Sunday afternoon. With winds that surpassed 250 kilometers per hour on occasion, it crossed the north of the country from Baracoa - hit hard by another phenomenon of this type almost a year ago - to the outskirts of Cárdenas. However, given its immense size, practically no province was spared its effects.

Described by experts as the largest ever to form in the Atlantic, this meteorological phenomenon caused severe damage to the country, which, precisely because of its scope, has yet to be quantified. A preliminary view shows evidence of an impact on housing, the electrical system, and agriculture.

It also struck some of our principal tourist destinations, but damage will be repaired before the beginning of the high season. We have on hand for this the human resources and materials needed, given that this constitutes one of the principal sources of income in the national economy.

These have been difficult days for our people, who, in a few hours time, have seen what was constructed with great effort hit by a devastating hurricane. Images from the last few hours speak for themselves, as does the spirit of resistance and victory of our people that is regenerated with every adversity.

In these difficult circumstances, the unity of Cubans has prevailed, the solidarity among neighbors, discipline in response to instructions issued by the National Civil Defense General Staff and Defense Councils at all levels, the professionalism of specialists at the Institute of Meteorology, the immediacy of our communications media and its journalists, the support of mass organizations, as well as the cohesion of National Defense Council leadership bodies. Special mention for all of our women, including leaders of the Party and government, who with aplomb and maturity provided leadership and confronted the difficult situation.

The days that are coming will be ones of much work, during which the strength and indestructible confidence in the Revolution of Cubans will again be demonstrated. This is not a time to mourn, but to construct again that which the winds of Irma attempted to destroy.

With organization, discipline, and the coordination of all our structures, we will move forward as we have done on previous occasions. No one should be fooled; the task we have before us is huge, but with a people like ours, we will win the most important battle: recovery.

At this critical moment, the Cuban Workers’ Federation and the National Association of Small Farmers, along with all other mass organizations, must redouble efforts to eliminate as quickly as possible the trail left by this destructive event.

One principle remains immovable: the Revolution will leave no one unprotected and measures are already being adopted to ensure that no Cuban family is left to their fate.

As has been customary every time a meteorological phenomenon has struck us, there have been many expressions of solidarity received from all parts of the world. Heads of state and government, political organizations, and friends in solidarity organizations have expressed the desire to help us, who we thank in the name of more than eleven million Cuban men and women.

We face the recovery with the example of Comandante en Jefe de la Revolución Cubana, Fidel Castro Ruz, who, with his unwavering confidence in victory and iron will, taught us that nothing is impossible. In these difficult hours, his legacy makes us strong and unites us.

Raúl Castro Ruz

Havana, September 10, 2017

Why was an article about which hotels in Havana are opening again after the storm removed? How much more pertinent can it get?

This is what the airport looks like in Havana now.
Let's all rush to booooooking.com so we can return to Havana and quite quickly to experience this.
https://www.cibercuba.com/videos/not...tm_medium=push

Hurricane Irma is not the only natural disaster these days.
The global geomagnetic storm is also dangerous.
The strongest for 10 years!
http://miamiweather.info/geomagnetic-storm-and-health
My kitten, behaved very anxiously these days.
I would refrain from any trips in the coming days.

This report is dated Friday September 15, 2017 from an American journalist and cafe owner in Havana, with details (continuing power outages, contaminated cisterns, etc) of the situation there:
https://hereishavana.com/2017/09/15/...-note-on-irma/

Those who wish can return to Havana and quite quickly to experience this.

What does that have to do with hotels? Why don't you start your own thread about donations.

It has to do with thinking of instructions for booking hotels at the very moment that Cubans outside those hotels were waist deep in water from hurricane Irma.

a lot of damamge has been done all through the caribbeans by the last hurricane season.