Paying the first day of the reservation is a tool and best practice used among rent house owners to make a commitment between the guest and the rent house owner and to make a warranty they will keep the reservation. When you make a reservation it’s verbally confirmed, and upon your arrival the rent house is free waiting for you.

Sometimes the guest fails to come in the agreed date, or changes the reservation; and sometimes the rent house owner takes another guest before the arrival because of some unexpected change with the previous reservation, and extension of the existing one or other reason. For more information about the challenges and problems with rent houses please read Rent Houses Rules and Code of Honor.

This should not happen; but life has demonstrated that it happens sometime. So we have decided to incorporate the “Pay the First Day Retainer” rule to our services to make the exact same commitment between rent house owners.

How it works?

This amount is a retainer held by the rent house owner, if guest comes the agreed day it counts as the payment for the first day, if guest fails to come, the guest loss the retainer.

So, this retainer corresponds to the first day of rent. By paying this retainer you assure your reservation. Rent house owners use this retainer as a proof of your commitment to arrive on the date you specified. After you arrive, you will need to pay the rest of the days of your stay. DO NOT pay the first day if you have paid the First Day Retainer.

This retainer is not refundable if:

• you fail to arrive in the agreed date,
• you decide to use a different house,
• you cancel the reservation or you do not come for any reason.

This retainer is refundable if you arrived on the agreed date but:

• the rent house is full
• the rent house owners they cannot accept your stay for whatever reason of their fault.

Since this retainer is transferred to rent house owners, if it should be refunded to you, the refund will be on-site in the rent house by the rent house owner.

So, Pay the First Day Retainer or not?

When coming to Varadero and making a reservation prior your arrival, is strongly recommended that you pay the first day retainer to ensure your reservation. This is a warranty for your stay.

Many visitors decide to not pay the retainer, and nothing happens, but lots of visitors decide to pay it to ensure the reservation. It’s a good and safe practice.

How to pay the retainer using vararent?

If you make a reservation using vararent, we handle your reservation details and locate a rent house for you, we check availability with the rent house owners and notify you properly. Also, we send you the contact information for the rent house owner once it’s confirmed.

If you decide to pay the First Day Retainer (because the rent house requires it), we offer safe methods to send the payment. A vararent representative contacts you and update the retainer invoice with the amount of the first day (1) and sends you by email the available methods with the equivalent amount you should pay. You can pay using PayPal or other available methods previously sent to you by email.

After paying the retainer, we will notify you of funds received (usually it takes 1-3 business days to receive the money in Cuba). Then we transfer the funds to the rent house owners, we get their signature as proof of delivery and send you back a scanned copy by email. You can also confirm with them by phone, but it is not necessary because the reservation is 100% secure with the First Day Retainer.

You should print that invoice as a payment receipt, which also contains important data about your reservation and the rent house including its map and address. You should present it on location to the rent house owners as a proof of payment, but won't be a problem if you can’t do it.

Please feel free to check the rent houses in Varadero which requires the first day retainer as a mandatory condition for making the reservation. This is highlighted in the description of the house.

(1) according to the payment method, maybe an additional small amount is added to cover the transfer fees, transfer fees are not refundable).