The incident took place on August 8, just before Yanelys left the hotel to return to Serbia, where she has lived for a decade.
A Cuban resident in Serbia, Yanelys González Suárez, has reported the theft of 70 thousand Cuban pesos (about 220 dollars) while she was staying at the Grand Memories Santa María hotel, in Jardines del Rey, Villa Clara.
Yanelys, who was visiting Cuba with her family, discovered the theft when she arrived in Havana that same night. She said she had put the money in an Ikea bag inside her suitcase the night before, covering it with clothes.
The next day, she decided to pay an additional 2 thousand pesos to the hotel maid to extend her stay a few more hours, since her young son was making it difficult for her to keep to the check-out time.
The maid accepted the payment and promised to keep the luggage safe in the room until the next guest arrived. However, when Yanelys arrived in Havana and checked her suitcase, she realized that the money had disappeared.
Unsuccessful complaint
She immediately contacted the hotel to report the theft. The staff assured her that no one had entered the room after her departure, which raised suspicions about the veracity of the maid’s statement. A hotel employee, identified as Yamilka, suggested that they check the key control system to verify who had accessed the room, but she was asked to wait two days for more information.
On August 10, when Yanelys contacted the hotel again, she was informed that they could not provide her with additional details until she filed a formal complaint. Since she was due to return to Serbia on August 12 and did not have time to file a complaint, she left the matter in the hands of her mother in Cuba.
Warning to other guests
Yanelys tried to warn other travellers about what happened by posting a review on Tripadvisor, but her attempts to post the review were thwarted by an error every time she tried to do so. Back in Serbia, Yanelys still hasn’t gotten her money back and hasn’t been able to share her experience online.
This case adds to other similar incidents reported in hotels in Cuba, which could partly explain the slow recovery of tourism on the island, which has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, unlike other Caribbean destinations such as the Dominican Republic.
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