The hotel looked better from the photos. Do not expect too much though for this hotel as it is quite old. The room smelled like 50 years old and that includes the cabinets and the bed sheets. The aircon is super loud, you feel like there is a typhoon inside your room. But the room was spacious and clean so it was okay if you are planning to just stay a night there. This is probably one of the better hotels in this area so I would recommend this for people who need a place to crash just for a night.

we decided to head off from the office in Singapore at 6pm on a friday night and took tuas link on the recommendation of a colleague, rather than woodlands checkpoint. A wise move - we were out of singapore within 35 mins of leaving downtown. The drive to mersing is easy (2 hours) and Hotel Havanita a comfortable place to stay on friday night before heading across to the islands on saturday. We had no plans and no bookings. No problem. Easy to book everything there as it was not a long weekend. Staff at Havanita were good, and the room pleasantly decorated. Not much choice of food in mersing at 9:30pm on a friday night, but a decent roti place open 24 hours on the main road in town.

Most peoples reason for being in Mersing would be as a stop-over on the way to the islands off the coast. Usually you would just need a clean room for an overnighter before catching the ferry to or back from the islands.

For this reason, Havanita does not disappoint. Fairly newish hotel, located across the Mersing river on the road towards Kuala Rompin, it is still within walking distance of the bus and taxi terminal and the main part of Mersing town. For those with cars, there is ample open-air parking space around the 2-storey building.

For about RM120 per night for the cheapest room, Havanita is extremely good value for money. The room was clean, comfortable and surprisingly nice modern design. Room even had a hair-dryer in the room but funnily enough no refrigerator. Maybe it was only that particular room.

Although it was on the second floor, did not have any problems connecting to the wi-fi and connection speed was fine. The bed was a nice and comfortable, air-cond and ceiling fan was working well with hot water in the bathroom. Kettle was provided as well as a big old fashion CRT TV. ASTRO channels available but picture was not clear but this is probably just a minor complaint. Had a great nights sleep after a long drive.

Breakfast was fine, it was ala-carte with a choice of Asian or Western. Not sure what the other reviewers were expecting. Probably if the hotel was busier, a buffet would be offered.

Hopefully the management would maintain the hotel as we all know Malaysian standards of maintenance tend to drop after a while. Would not hesitate to recomment this hotel for those looking for a value-for-money overnight stay in Mersing.

We stayed in Havanita one night, arrived late in the evening from KL and took a ferry to Tioman on the next day. We were positiviley surprised, the hotel is clean, the rooms are nice, there is air-con, big bathroom, tv, tea/coffee. The breakfast is ok, I don't know what the others who complained expected, for me it was ok and enough, maybe it's a matter of being more or less demanding in general. The hotel is situated a walking distance from the bus station and from the ferry (a longer walk though). The price was also good, we paid 120 RM for a double room breakfast included, booked with one day advance. I can recommend this hotel to anyone who plans to spend a night or two in Mersing.