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Help for our guests

21/09/2016 by MY CASA IN CUBA*

Find an answer to all your doubts by checking the most important and frequent questions.

And if you have any other doubt you can share it with us by using the email info@mycasaincuba.com. It will be a pleasure to assist you.

To begin

mycasaincuba.com is more than a platform on the INTERNET, specialized in private accommodations throughout the Cuban geographic for a wide rank of preferences and budgets. MY CASA IN CUBA* puts guests around the world in contact with Cuban hosts, having or not accesses to INTERNET. And it offers a friendly and intelligent proposal for independent travelers looking for an authentic experience offered by the Cuban family.

In mycasaincuba.com you can find the appropriate rental that suits your main interests in this important Caribbean destination, e.g. houses, apartments or rental rooms near to the beach or seaside; learning some Spanish or taking dance lessons near to where you live, even in your own accommodation in Cuba. The place of your stay could be located very close to a hiking trail in a picturesque Natural Park or even the center of a colonial city that allows you to dig deeper into the history, culture and idiosyncrasy of this nice and welcoming people.

In order to ensure that anyone can find an attractive accommodation according to your vacation style and budget, MY CASA IN CUBA* offers more than 1500 options of rentals in each of the 14 provinces of Cuba, carefully sorted in our website. We communicate face to face with the most of the hosts and sometimes we take a delicious Creole coffee with them, who rather than business owners they are mostly friends, relatives, ex-colleagues or just coworkers for many years.

This is how we built our contact network, the one we offer to vacationers and visitors in Cuba.

MY CASA IN CUBA* gathers a group of friends excited with the idea of connecting the private Cuban holiday rentals with the entire world and help showing the culture and idiosyncrasy of the Cuban people. Our team members are Cubans that live in Cuba, Cubans living abroad and European colleagues. We are engineers, programmers, journalists, foreign language graduates, translators, tourism specialists and communication and marketing specialists, who strive to giving you the opportunity of having a great experience with us: TRUSTWORTHY, SAFE and VERY CUBAN.

Why stay at a private accommodation in Cuba?

Although Cuba offers a wide hotel infrastructure with good standard, staying at a private accommodation has the following advantages:

  • You can save more than a 70% of your nightly accommodation budget in comparison with hotel rooms of same comfort.
  • You have a better chance of learning about the authentic Cuba by meeting your hosting Cuban family.
  • It offers you privacy, safety and flexibility. For most Cuban landlords, the home-sharing business represents their main economic activity and their houses are their biggest patrimony, that is why they will do whatever it takes in order to guarantee a pleasant stay.
  • You are helping a family in Cuba and probably you will make a lot of new friends.

All the accommodations listed on mycasaincuba.com are duly authorized to work with international tourism by the established Cuban entities. The rental owners should confirm they have a registration number and a valid operational license for such activity and therefore they pay taxes.

Different institutions regularly control these houses to make sure those meet the sanitary and fiscal regulations in place.

Logotipo_Arrendador_DivisaThe registered houses could be identified with a logo like the one below: a blue triangle sticker on the front door of your house.

Make sure you stay at an accommodation correctly identified and authorized. Otherwise, you take the risk of been fined; it does not matter if you are staying over at a friend’s a relative’s or your couple’s.

Finding a suitable accommodation/ Use of filters

You can find the place you want to visit in the search panel, by selecting and specifying the date of check in and check out, number of rooms and guests. Later you should click SEARCH to see a list of possible options.

You will be able to see more details of every accommodation by clicking on the name of the property or its picture.

It is possible to sort the results in the search page by type of accommodation, price, facilities and services.

MY CASA IN CUBA* also puts together the houses according to what activities can be done nearby or the type of activities offered by a host. You can find those accommodations groups under “My Holidays”, sorted by interests: Beaches, Cities and Architecture, Nature, History and Culture, Learn on vacations, Specially Unique.

You can arrange the list of results by price, in a rising or a descending way.

Furthermore, you will be able to look for an specific house by introducing the name of the property in the search.

Booking my stay

  1. Find available accommodations:
    1. Introduce check in and check out dates.
    2. Introduce number of clients

    Contact the host through the messenger on our platform to check availability or make an enquiry before you book.

    2. Make a reservation

    Once you have chosen a property, send a request to the host following these steps:

    1. First of all, you should log in. If you don’t have a user account, please create one here
    2. Click “Book Now”
    3. Check the total price of your stay and other details
    4. Choose the payment method
    5. Provide the payment information
    6. Click “Book Now”

    3. Host’s confirmation

    Once the reservation has been requested, the host has 24 hours to accept or reject your request. When the host responds you will receive an E-mail with the reservation confirmation or rejection.

You will be welcomed by your host and your reservation is guaranteed upon arrival, secured by your pre-payment. You will receive a confirmation email to show to the host upon checkin.

You are going to pay a minimum amount for your accommodation to My Casa in Cuba* and the rest directly to the host.

You have the possibility to claim back for your money or not to pay in case your reservation is not honored.

Arrival and checkin

Once your reservation and pre-payment have been made we will provide you with the address and all relevant contact details. You can communicate with your host through our platform, which is the safe way to exchange messages and to give the host specific details about your arrival and stay.

Hosts mostly have contact with professional taxi drivers, state workers or private who can pick you up at the airport or any specific point. You can use the Google maps app on our website to find the exact address.

Prices and invoicing

Warning! In Cuba there are two official currencies: the Peso Cubano Convertible (CUC) and the Peso Cubano (CUP),  which havea  different value: 1 CUC=24CUP. All the prices and conversions made on MY CASA IN CUBA* are based on the Peso Cubano Convertible (CUC) exchange rates.

For conversions, MY CASA IN CUBA* uses Cuba local financial institutions, such as (CADECA, Metropolitan Bank) and other external sources.

Hosts generally accept foreign currencies, such as Euro (EUR), US dollars (USD) and Sterling Pounds (GBP) in such case the conversion is based on the CADECA or National Bank exchange rates.

Advice: Change your currency only at the bank to avoide scams. CADECA does not charge commission but hotels do.

A service fee of up to 10% is charged to the guests for each confirmed reservation to cover for the operational costs, website-related expenses and to provide assistance service to our guests while they are in Cuba.

Terms and payment options

With the payment option “Book today and pay tomorrow”, you only submit an anticipated partial payment of around 20% of your total stay when you book online and the rest is settled upon arrival. This allows you:

  1. Gain the confidence of your host regarding your booking, which will be guaranteed.
  2. At your arrival your host can answer any doubts, questions about your accommodation and if required, you can make any price adjustment.
  3. You keep your money longer. With just 20% of the price, you can book all your stay in Cuba in advance.

You’ll have access to the most attractive accommodations, more likely if you make your reservation plenty of time in advanced, without spending all of your money.

Cancellations

First, we recommend you to check the cancellation policy of your host and confirm wheter you have time to recover all your money or part of it.

  1. Check your host’s policy under ‘’Cancellation Policy’’ of your reservation.
  2. Access My Reservations (https://mycasaincuba.com/my-reservations/)
  3. Find the reservation you want to cancel and click Cancel Booking.

See more information about the different cancellation policies  of MY CASA IN CUBA*.

If you have any doubt when making a cancellation, please contact our bookings center at booking@mycasaincuba.com

Cancellation Policy MY CASA IN CUBA*

Hosts can choose among three simple cancellation options, based on a policy of full refund to the guest, provided guests cancel within a certain number of nights prior to the check-in date:

  1. Flexible (100% Refund to Cancellations 3 days prior to check-in date)
  2. Moderate (100% Refund to Cancellations 7 days prior to check-in date)
  3. Strict (100% Refund to Cancellations 15 days prior to check-in date)

With these policies, an agreement is established to protect guests and hosts from cancellations.

A cancellation is the act of eliminating or modifying a booking and therefore the no-show on the dates previously booked.

A specific cancellation policy applies for each rental, that can vary according to the season or specific periods of the year.

Hosts are able to change their cancellation policy at any time, although the bookings previously confirmed shall be honored. The new cancellation policy will only be applied for new reservations.

Guests and hosts are able to cancel and check which policy is applicable by checking the reservation status, under ‘’Cancellation Policy’’, or as per details described on the confirmation email.

Valid for all cancellation policies:

  1. The service fee charged by MY CASA IN CUBA* is not refundable.
  2. MY CASA IN CUBA* will mediate between both sides (guest and host) whenever necessary and will make the last decision in every dispute.
  3. Any issues between Host and Guest must be notified to MY CASA IN CUBA* within 24 hours after the checkin.
  4. A reservation is not officially cancelled until the guest clicks the cancellation button and is notified.
  5. The cancellation policy could be invalidated due to security issues or Force Majeure.

Please, check these exceptions:

  1. Applicable taxes will be retained.
  2. The check-in time will be 16:00 hrs Cuba local time, unless advised otherwise.

 

Flexible: 100% Refund 3 days before the arrival, with the exception of commissions

  1. MY CASA IN CUBA* will refund the payment made by the client when the cancellation is made 3 days before the check-in date.
  2. If the client cancels less than 3 days before the check-in date, a penalty fee of 100 % applies for the first night.
  3. If the client leaves the accommodation before the booked departure date, the cost of the night of the cancellation and the following night will be paid in full. The rest of the nights would be refunded to the guest, if applicable.
  4. The service fee of MY CASA IN CUBA* is not reimbursable in any case.

Moderate: 100% Refund 7 days before the check-in date, with the exception of commissions

  1. MY CASA IN CUBA* will refund the payment made by the client when the cancellation is made 7 days before the check-in date.
  2. If the client cancels less than 3 days before the check-in date, a penalty fee of 100 % applies for the first night.
  3. If the client leaves the accommodation before the booked departure date, the cost of the night of the cancellation and the following night will be paid in full. The rest of the nights would be refunded to the guest, if applicable.
  4. The service fee of MY CASA IN CUBA* is not reimbursable in any case.

Strict: 100% Refund up to 15 days before the check-in date with the exception of commissions

  1. MY CASA IN CUBA* will refund the payment made by the client when the cancellation is made 15 days before the check-in date.
  2. If the client cancels less than 15 days before the check-in date, a penalty fee of 100 % applies for the first night.
  3. If the client leaves the accommodation before the booked departure date, the cost of the night of the cancellation and the following night will be paid in full. The rest of the nights would be refunded to the guest, if applicable.
  4. The service fee of MY CASA IN CUBA* is not reimbursable in any case.

Long-term cancellation policy applies to all bookings of 30 days or more

Long-term Stay: full payment for minimum the first month is required, 30 days of notice for ending the agreement

  1. The Long-term cancellation applies to all the reservations of minimum 30 nights.
  2. Guests must make a deposit of 50% upon confirmation and settled the balance minimum 30 days before checkin date.
  3. For long-term stays the cancellation must take place minimum 30 days prior to the check-in date, otherwise a penalty fee of 100% applies for the first 30 nights.
  4. If guest leaves before the booked departure date, the 30 nights after the cancelation date must be paid in full or the remaining number of nights, if less than 30 nights.

Contacting my host

You can get in touch with the hosts through the messenger on MY CASA IN CUBA*. Just click the Contact Host button below the host’s profile picture. Latter click the Submit button in order to send your message.

It might be possible that the host has no internet access nor email service available, in which case the CASA IN CUBA* team would contact the host on behalf of the client and give a reply as soon as possible.

Use our system to confirm availability, set the check-in time or ask about any details regarding your stay.

Many hosts work closely with taxi drivers and offer airport pick up service, for which the following flight details are required: airline, flight number and time of arrival. The driver waits for you at the exit with a sign showing your name and takes you to your destination. To be sure you have met the right driver you can ask him the name of the host expecting you and it should be the same information as on your voucher.

You can read the host’s reply in your Inbox.

Security guarantee

mycasaincuba.com is an online based platform that stores the minimum amount information of users, such as name and email. We have no access to bank or credit card information.

Paments are made via bank transfer to Pregones Gbr, owner of mycasaincuba.com.

Although payment is secure, payment amounts are never high and therofore safer and riskless.

Advice: Take with you enough cash to pay for your stay. You will save at least 3% charged by the ATM. Ask your host which currency is accepted and the exact amount you have to pay. Some hosts prefer to be paid in a foreign currency, which conveniently saves you time looking for a place to exchange your money.

Claims and problem solutions

We are in permanent contact with hosts and double check bookings and availability on a regular basis, so this is unlikely to happen.

Nevertheless, if your room is not available you should contact our team in Cuba who will not just arrange a full refund of your pre-payment, but will also help you find an alternate, suitable accommodation.

If you still have questions, please contact info@mycasaincuba.com and we will get back to you the soonest possible.