What decides the price of a room in Cuba

Hotel prices in Cuba do not move by the hour the way they do on a booking site. They are set for a season and held, which is unusual now and mostly good news: the price you are quoted in March for November is the price that was always going to apply, and refreshing the page will not change it.

What does change it is four things, and all four are things you can answer before you ask anybody for a price.

When you are going

The season is the largest single factor. Mid-December to mid-March and the weeks around Easter are the expensive ones on the whole island, and the difference between those weeks and September is not small. If your dates are flexible by a fortnight, moving them is worth more than any amount of comparison.

The other side of it is weather and crowds. The cheaper months are cheaper for a reason, and on the north coast that reason is usually rain. Late April, May and early December tend to sit in the middle on price and near the top on conditions.

How many of you are in the room

Cuban hotels quote per person per night rather than per room. That one difference explains most of the confusion when two people compare prices for the same hotel.

A room by yourself costs more per night than half of a double, because the room is being sold once instead of twice. A third adult sharing usually pays less than the first two, and young children often stay free. So a nightly figure means very little until you have said who is travelling, which is why we ask before quoting rather than publishing a number that would be wrong for most people.

What is included with the room

Room only, breakfast, half board and all inclusive are four different prices for the same bed. On the beach at Varadero and the cayos, all inclusive is usually the normal way a hotel is sold and the alternative is barely cheaper. In Havana, Cienfuegos and the other cities it is the opposite: breakfast is the sensible plan and you will eat better outside the hotel anyway.

Moving between plans after you have booked is a fixed amount per person per night rather than a negotiation, so it is worth deciding early but not worth agonising over.

How far ahead you ask

Rooms held for the season go back to the hotel if they are unsold shortly before arrival. In practice that means late availability in Cuba is real but thin, and it is the good rooms in the good hotels that go first.

If your dates are fixed, asking early is worth more than waiting for something to appear. If they are not fixed, tell us the window rather than a date and we will tell you which weeks inside it are open.

What to send us

Your dates or the window they sit in, how many adults and the ages of any children, and whether you want to be on the beach or in a city. That is enough to price a stay properly.

Every price we give you is the price you pay. There is nothing added later, no resort fee at the desk, and no separate charge for the things listed as included.