Cuba’s first luxury hotel opens

Havana, Cuba – 23 May 2017 – 
Cuba’s first ultra luxury hotel has opened in Havana, with guests paying up to US$2,500 a night to stay in five-star comfort on the Communist island.

The Gran Hotel Manzana, part of the Swiss group Kempinski Hotels, is situated in the heart of the Cuban capital in front of the Parque Central and the grand Alicia Alonso theatre, home to the Cuban National Ballet, Agence France-Presse reported.

Guests in each of the hotel’s 246 rooms, 50 of which are suites, have the pick of four bars and two restaurants and can take a swim in the rooftop infinity pool.

The European-style building first opened in 1917, before undergoing a complete renovation.

In order to deliver the project in time, the Cuban government was forced to accept the builders bringing hundreds of qualified workers from India, a rare move in a country that usually requires that only underpaid – and under-motivated – Cuban workers.

Now the hotel, jointly owned by Kempinski and the military-controlled Cuban tour operator Gaviota, charges between US$440 and US$2,485 a night.

“We appreciate hidden gems and this matches our philosophy,” Kempinski director Xavier Destribats told Cuban state television.