We stayed at this casa for 5 nights in the middle of our trip to Cuba. Unfortunately, despite its high ratings on here and a listing in the October 2017 Lonely Planet, I didn't like the place. I am trying to be very fair here and have waited until we'd experienced all 5 casas and their hosts before putting pen to paper.
I have now read back the more negative previous comments and I'm afraid I must agree with them regarding the attitudes of the owners. Small business has been allowed in Cuba since 2011 and it's clear that Ivette and Ronel have done very well for themselves. They now have a set of houses rather than just one room (as I assume they will have started) and they employ several staff (all of whom were lovely).
Hosting:
Where I think they've got muddled is with their own roles and their customer service now that they have a bigger place. Despite the staff not speaking English (apart from Adrian who checked us in), Ivette only spoke to us once when I asked her a direct question, despite us being around and about her own house for 6 days, and Ronel not at all. She showed no interest in helping me sort out the bill (which was incorrect initially in several places) with her staff, even though she was there walking around eating her breakfast.
In contrast to every other host of a casa in Cuba that we stayed in, I did not find the owners either warm, welcoming or hospitable. I think if you're there you either need to host properly or you need to stay out of the way. Neither my friend nor I felt comfortable around the exterior of their casa as it was unclear whether we were really okay to use the furniture since the chairs were generally taken by the owners. It made things uncomfortable.
Room:
We stayed in the Azure room, which is at the back of the original house. This room has no natural light (an issue for me as I'm claustrophobic), an extremely dark (although good) bathroom and is also situated about 20 feet away from a set of 3 crocodiles in a pen, an area of tree rats, and an area of rabbits. Whilst I had heard mention of the 'crocodile farm' I was not expecting it to be this close to our room and I did not like it. Had I realised what it was like I would have either requested to stay somewhere else or in one of the rooms in the other building.
Noise:
There was also quite a lot of noise from time to time, we were woken by the sound of the fridge, the adjacent aircon, and some of the workers starting at 7am on some days. One evening the owners and their friends sat around drinking rum immediately outside our room when it was clear that we had gone to bed. I don't think this is on.
Overall I would recommend you stay somewhere else in Giron - it's a lovely little place but it's full of casas and there are many more good ones to choose from.
