The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is one of the hotels that will allow its countrymen to stay there now.
Some big news on the Cuban tourism front today: Cubans can now stay in hotels that were typically reserved for foreign tourists.
Cubans will be allowed to stay in the hotels beginning at midnight Monday, said employees at several Havana hotels. Word of the change came from Tourism Ministry officials, the employees said.
Sadly, this initiative is largely symbolic as many Cubans can't afford the hotel room prices which range from $60 to more than $200 a night. The average income in the country is $20 a month.
For years under Fidel Castro's rules, Cubans could not stay in their own country's hotels but with the succession of Raul Castro, he has been lifting many restrictions such as allowing Cubans to own cellphones and computers. Again, these are mostly symbolic since average Cubans cannot afford such items.
Still this might create a mini-hotel boom for country's capital of Havana. The tourism ministry expects at least 10 hotels to be built between 2008 and 2010.
Since we Americans still can't travel to Cuba, we have a dearth of Cuban Hotel Stories. If you got any, send 'em our way. Photos always appreciated too.
Amy, of NewYorkology fame, sent us the above snapshot of the legendary Riviera Hotel in Cuba. Turns out she visited the joint at the turn of the century, back when the Yankees were still winning World Series titles, and Cuba was Cuba.
She says of her February 2000 visit:
Indeed it looked like it was entirely unchanged from the '50s. It did smell a little
musty, but not too bad. And I think the power would go out n some floors for a few
hours at a time. But the view was stunning and that pool was just over the top.
This is definitely a hotel with tons of "potential," and could become a great property with the right type of renovations and service improvements, so don't screw it up Accor, or you could find a horse head on your pillow.
French hotel group Accor SA has taken over management of Cuba's Riviera and Capri hotels--the famous mafia hotels of pre-revolutionary Havana.
"We are very excited. Our imaginations are already hard at work. We can do many things with these two classic establishments and their nightclubs,"
Accor executive Eric Pyre said.
Our imaginations are running wild as well. Castro, Cocaine, Communism, and Crime. The four Cs -- what else could a tourist want?
Actually, despite the Bush administration tightening restrictions on Cuba, the country's tourism revenue has jumped considerably in the last couple of years, and most people know that the above Cuban stereotypes are mostly a thing of the past.
We still want to get to Cuba before Castro is out of power, and Accor ruins the authenticity of renovates these old mob haunts.
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by juliana
