The Melia Santiago de Cuba, is not typical of cuban hotels, but after 7 or 8 nights of "cuban style" it was a relief to get back to hot water, air conditoning and decent breakfasts. The Melia is well located and affords amazing views of the city of Santiago spread out below. The first thing I noticed from our hotel room that the city had virtually nothing in the way of coloured lights other than white. So no freeways, no neon and little in the way of traffic lights either. The entire city was laid out below in just white lights. But the Melia,was very comfortable, with large rooms, and even larger beds. Hot water in the shower and a decent flush of the toilet. It was great to have a few of lifes luxuries after sampling the "Cuban" hotels for a few nights. Oh and did I mention very limited internet - but it was there.

We stayed in room 406 for 3 nights and could not fault the place in any way. Certainly the closest to Western standards in our whole trip. The room was big, clean, well appointed and everything worked perfectly which is not always the case in Cuba. The dining room provided a plentiful and varied selection of food and we had no issues at all with the service provided by the staff. We would be happy to use this place again and would recommend it to all.

We stayed 4 nights in this hotel, The management have enough background and knowledge how a 5 star hotel should run and they do their best but, technical infrastructure in Cuba permits this goodwill up to some extent.

Although they were often in short of tropical fruits the breakfast buffet was satisfactory in general and the Italian restaurant at the central court was very reasonable too. You eate there good portions and tasty food. Avoid buying bottled water at the bar, for a 1/2 lt bottle you pay same price as in the USA ! (2.5 $). At any market outside 1.5 lt costs 70 centavos (= 3 quarters)

Rooms are clean, confortable but old oil paintings of doors and very low water pressure at the bath tube makes one of the 5 stars a "shooting star" (!)

Anyhow, Santiago is a city of music and dance. It is not within the target area of Cuban Government to increase the income. The all inclusive hotels at Varadero and Cayos are far more important than the ones in Santiago. In such a circumstance, Melia Santiago remains as the best option from the comfort point of view

I advise to everybody. Very close to high standards of luxury hotels in US and Europa. Clean rooms and nice buffet. Very nice music at lobby. Don't go to down town for Cuban music especially to music houses. It's much better to stay at lobby.