Cuatro Palmas: Varadero's Colonial Style Crown Jew
Starfish Cuatro Palmas: Varadero's Colonial Style Crown Jewel
If you're looking for a good holiday odds are you will find it at this adults only, Spanish colonial style Cuatro Palmas resort in Varadero.
With its central location, beach par excellence, pleasant staff and almost everything you can want in a smaller, stylish resort undergoing improvements, this hotel offers an authentic Cuban experience. But like all resorts, there's room for improvement and the usual frustrations that come with holidays in Cuba.
As part of Blue Diamond Resorts (since 2011), C.P. could have an advantage. This may include access to supplies, including food. Best known for the Royalton, Hideaway, Memories, Grand Memories and Starfish brands, they boast an award winning track record. To bolster their strength, they partnered with Marriott Hotels (Feb. 2020) yet their resorts are still operated by the Blue Diamond chain. With 36 properties and over 10,000 rooms in the Caribbean including management of ALL Cayo Largo properties, Blue Diamond has grown far and wide. Positive as this is for them and partners - the property is owned by Grupo de Turismo Gaviota, Cuba's largest tourism company - concerns exist among vacationers fearing a quasi-monoploy and with this, less competition and higher prices. I have noticed this and stayed at other, similar resorts offering better value and no single supplement.
Soon after arriving on July 11, it was apparent for some guests that hotel renovations, refurbishments and repairs weren't happening fast enough. In recent months, British guests put in the hotel's Eco section, complained bitterly about the state of rooms there in the hotel's neglected, desolate building across the road as well as in the main building on my vacation.
My own original (superior room) assignment was far off in the Colonial section at the end of a dark hallway next to an electrical room, facing the street with a tiny balcony, a fridge that didn't work, a missing lamplight and power that went out soon after arriving. Although repainted and set off nice with new decor and artwork, it was not a a cheerful place and I spent my first night elsewhere. Yet, reception staff was helpful, and by 5 P.M. the next day, I had a new room.
MY ROOM
Repainted, redecorated, with a large screen TV, full length mirror, dresser drawer, sufficient clothes hangers, good fridge, free safety deposit box, clean linens and lovely balcony view, it was nice. Only tiny ants coming up from the overflow drain in the bathroom were an issue.
As a multi-repeat guest, I was pleased about my invitation to a complimentary lobster dinner featuring Son y Carazon, a great band that plays "traditional" Cuban music - what we go to Cuba for! On the other hand, I went two weeks without an a la carte dinner because nobody explained how to book one, and when I learned, it was almost impossible to do.
MGMT TIPS - Assign a person to handle restaurant reservations in the lobby area or hand out two pre-booked reservations per week to guests on arrival (day 3/5, day 8/12). Guests can always cancel if they don't want them. It would also be easy to cheer up and improve the Eco Las Palmas section by excellerating repairs, opening a bar there, cleaning out its courtyard for tables and chairs, piping in traditional Cuban music and offering guests lodged there, snack food (afternoons and late nights).
THE FOOD
It was very good to ahh, not so great some nights with things I didn't recognise yet there was lots of lean, perfectly cooked sliced pork and roasts, ok precooked chicken, a spaghetti station, fresh grilled meat, brocolli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts some days (albeit overcooked/watery); great lasagne (once I saw), and breakfasts with scrambled, poached and boiled eggs, an omelette station and plenty of delicious mango and pineapple, cucumber slices (albeit often recyled), mango and pineapple juice, among other things. No potatato, banana or tomatoes though. The young lad who made omelettes was great; normally, Cubans overcook them. Nothing on a la carte dining; never did that - a FIRST in over 20 years of visiting Cuba.
IMPROVEMENTS: LIKES & DISLIKES
LIKES
1. 24 hr lobby bar and snack food;
2. The property, architecture, swimming pool area, pool bar, beautiful beach and soft music around the pool in mornings;
3. The entertainment incl. some good shows but especially the large, traditional Cuban music house band that plays daily and often;
4. The air conditioned cocktail bar that also serves beer (in a can) and air conditioned buffet restaurant;
5. The generous breakfast, lunch and dinner hours that allows guests flexibility and helps minimize lineups and crowds at the grill station etc;
6. The new beachfront bar with its tent canopies, tables and chairs offering a view of the beach in a shaded, rain protected environment (good for smoking);
7. The snack bar and staff, pizza, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, grilled chicken/ham cheese sandwiches and sweet potato chips albeit things can be a hit and miss;
8. The pleasant staff who work hard in difficult conditions like the lobby bar without air conditioning or fans while often understaffed (that effects service);
9. Contrary to a review raising the alarm of flies in the buffet restaurant, I saw no such problem;
10. Attention to food hygiene by grill station cooks that I saw;
11. Bartenders/staff that substitute for the hotel's lack of a money exchange service converting dollars to pesos. GUEST TIP: Offer to take on their damaged foreign banknotes and coins that they can't use or bank.
DISLIKES
1. The often "too loud" music at the swimming pool;
2. Not cool enough buffet restaurant AND lack of air conditioned or fan cooled places in the hotel at large;
3. The lack of overhead fans or any in the lobby bar. Bad for guests, even harder on staff. You can go to restaurants in The Boulevard area across the street where fans are placed at each table!
4. The cocktail bar's small size (you may not find anywhere to sit) and limited hours (6 - 11 P.M.);
5. While I like the tables outside the snack bar alonside the ocean, like other improvements, it falls short of a "meaningful improvement." The uncovered wooden structure overhead allowing direct sun, renders it unusable unless you can stand strong sun and heat. Shame because this area has GREAT POTENTIAL! A photoshopped picture (?) showing it covered by an awning is disappointing as I looked forward to this place by the sea.
6. The new beachfront bar AND lobby bar areas with so FEW tables and chairs and no designated smoking area.
At the lobby bar area, smokers are FORCED out into the OPEN SUN with no umbrellas for protection where you usually can't find a place to sit, let alone in the shade
