HAVANA - Towering cranes dot the Havana
skyline as communist-run Cuba races to build luxury hotels, amid
indignation among some residents and concern that U.S. President
Donald Trump might reverse a detente that fueled the tourist
boom.
Swiss-based Kempinski Hotels SA will inaugurate its Gran
Hotel Manzana in the heart of the capital on Wednesday, billing
it as Cuba's first true luxury hotel.
The five-star property, managed by Kempinski but owned by
the Cuban government, occupies the top floors of a renovated
Belle Epoque shopping mall filled with glitzy Gucci and
Montblanc stores.
Farther down the iconic Paseo de Prado boulevard toward the
Caribbean Sea, workers are developing two other sites into
luxury hotels to be operated respectively by Spain's Iberostar
and France's Accor SA, the largest hotel group in
Europe.
Tourism is the one bright spot in Cuba's moribund economy,
which is struggling with falling exports and upheaval in major
trade partner Venezuela.
Cuban Tourism minister Manuel Marrero said in May that more
than 4.2 million tourists were expected this year, up from 4
million in 2016. He said the country was adding 2,000 hotel
rooms a year to its stock of 65,000 hotel rooms and 21,000 homes
renting to tourists.
Visits by Americans have soared since U.S.-operated cruises
and scheduled flights were relaunched last year as part of the
detente pursued by former President Barack Obama after a
half-century hiatus.
However, his successor Trump is considering tightening those
rules when he announces his Cuba policy as soon as this month,
according to current and former U.S. officials and people
familiar with the discussions. That would likely hurt tourism,
at least in the short run, and might slow the pace of hotel
construction.
"We hope that trade and travel restrictions eased by the
Obama administration will not be tightened again by the current
U.S. government," said Alessandro Benedetti, a marketing
director at Kempinski.
"That would not be favorable for any kind of businesses
connected to tourism, such as cruise ship operators, airlines or
hotel chains."
The Cuban government has courted foreign hotel operators to
develop untapped markets, particularly in high-end tourism.
With its gleaming white stone facade and French bay windows,
the Gran Hotel Manzana features a rooftop infinity pool
overlooking Havana's central park, as well as a spa with
steamroom and sauna. There is also a cigar lounge with a tobacco
sommelier.
Industry experts say Cuba, which offers a plethora of low-
and mid-range accommodation, is right to bet on luxury, although
it will be a challenge for operators to maintain standards in a
tightly controlled Soviet-style economy.
"We have travel agencies contact us saying they had never
worked with Cuba because it didn't offer anything up to their
standards," said Benedetti.
"But now that's changed," he said, citing strong interest
from U.S. tourists seeking more luxurious destinations.
CUBANS HAVE MIXED FEELINGS
It remains unclear how far Trump will go in rolling back
Obama’s changes. Any reinstatement of U.S. restrictions on Cuba
travel would face criticism from American travel companies as
well as a growing number of U.S. lawmakers.
The number of U.S. visitors rose 74 percent last year, but
Americans are still not officially allowed to visit as tourists.
Because their trips must fit certain categories, like
educational travel, most descend on Havana rather than the
coastal resorts.
While Cuba has been building resorts around the island, it
has redoubled its focus on the capital, where hotels are fully
booked year-round and demand is growing.
"With this increase, it would be appropriate to have
products of high standard," said Francisco Camps, Cuba deputy
general manager for Spain's Meliá Hotels International S.A.
, which wants to introduce its two main luxury brands.
Despite assurances tourism revenues will benefit all Cubans,
the move has stirred mixed feelings in a country that prides
itself on social equality.
"The hotels are very pretty, but they are too expensive for
Cubans," said retiree Antonio Cazamayor, who lives on a monthly
pension of $10.
Rooms at the Gran Hotel Manzana will range from $360 for a
low-season double to $5,000 for the 150-square-meter
(1,600-square-foot) presidential suite.
Cazamayor's home in the densely populated back streets of
central Havana is just a few blocks from the hotels but feels
like a different world.
His building appears derelict from the outside, with the
ground-floor windows boarded up, but inside it teems with
families packed into tiny units.
Many neighborhood buildings, which date to the 1920s and
1930s, are missing walls or balconies. Collapses are common. An
apartment block in front of Cazamayor's was recently evacuated
after its stairwell caved in.
"If that one collapsed, and this one is falling apart, why
don't they build homes?" Cazamayor asked.
Hobbled by an inefficient, centrally planned economy and a
U.S. economic embargo, Cuba has struggled to maintain its
infrastructure in a punishing tropical climate.
Since the country opened up to tourism in the 1990s after
the fall of the Soviet Union, Havana reinvested much of its
revenue in renovating historic buildings, from Art Deco hotels
to colonial palaces.
"They have returned the sparkle to part of Old Havana," said
Abraham Rodriguez, 45. He attended a school in the building that
now houses the Gran Hotel Manzana and recalls how the classrooms
flooded when it rained.
But much of the rest of the city is still falling into ruin.
Cubans working in the private sector as restaurateurs, taxi
drivers and tour guides say the arrival of Kempinski and its
rivals spells good business for them.
Yet the benefits for the more than two-thirds of the
government employees are less obvious.
Josefa Cespedes, 73, has been living for a quarter-century
in a building that houses a unit of the Communist Party charged
with keeping tabs on the neighborhood because her home
collapsed.
"The poor have to wait for the state to help," she said.
Source: Reuters