Casa Kiki is a Casa Particular located in Cienfuegos, Cuba. But, without knowing that you were in a rural part of a formerly communist country, the casa would easily be mistaken for a nice bed and breakfast in the United States. There was a minimum of five rooms in the house for guests and a full bar on the roof deck that overlooked a few streets of Cienfuegos. The room that my roommate and I were assigned to had a bathroom that was almost the same size of some of the other rooms that we stayed in and it included a tub. Shortly after being shown our room, Kiki, our hostess, asked us how we would like our eggs cooked in the morning for breakfast. On top of the kindness and luxurious size of the room, the cleanliness was impeccable.
After
arriving back from dinner in town, Kiki’s son and friend (pictured above)
opened up the bar on the upper level for all of us to enjoy. This was a full-service
bar with everything from beer and wine to Pina Coladas. Every Pina Colada was
topped with two fun twisty straws and a paper umbrella to truly give it that
tropical touch. It was very evident that
the hostesses were doing everything in their control to provide an
unforgettable experience for us, the consumers.
The
hospitality put forward by Casa Kiki was impeccable and far surpassed any
standards or expectations that I had for my stay in Cuba. While Casa
Particulars are common in Cuba, the majority of the Cubans renting out rooms in
their houses have probably barley, if ever, experienced hospitality from a
consumer perspective or taken a hospitality course. Yet, most of the Casa
Particulars, especially in Kiki’s case, seemed to know exactly how provide a
good experience for the consumer. With that said, an unfortunate side effect of
this mentality is that sometimes it felt like the true people-to-people
experience was lost because the hostesses were so focused on providing a
professional and enjoyable experience that meet American standards.
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