Hotel Deauville in Havana reopens its doors after four years closed

The Gran Caribe hotel group announced that the Deauville hotel in Havana, closed since 2020, reopened its doors after a repair process.

The facility, located in the central Galiano and Malecón streets, reopened on February 28, although guest entry began on Monday, March 4.

Gran Caribe hopes that the hotel, built in 1957 and with a three-star category, will raise its level after these works.

The remodeling work included the reception and lobby bar, the living corridor on the 13th floor, the buffet restaurant, the Snacke-Bar, the pool and the protocol room.

However, the 14-story, 144-room property has only put 100 of them into operation. The projects for the multipurpose room, the bar-gazebo and a private breakfast room were also not completed.

Its general director, Yosy Fuentes, revealed toRadio Havana Cuba that Deauville "will have Spain, Russia, Germany and Mexico among its initial markets."

For her part, Arlety Peña, economic vice president of Gran Caribe, recalled that the hotel chain is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and in greeting to the anniversary, it plans to "renew its products with a new brand strategy for its own hotels, in accordance with the tourism trends at an international level".

The official information does not mention theSt Giles hotel group, based in London, which in 2017 announced the acquisition of the Deauville.

Then the English newspaper Buying Business Travel revealed that St Giles had partnered with Gran Caribe to rebuild the hotel, and it was reported that it would be renamed Deauville - A St Giles Signature Hotel, would be four stars and would open its doors in 2019.

The regime continues to open hotels despite the collapse of tourism, a reality that has occurred even before the pandemic.

Last year, Cuba received less than 2 and a half million visitors, specifically 2,436,980, which represented only 69.6 percent of the plan.

Although the figure shows an increase of more than 51 percent compared to the previous year (1,614,087 visitors in 2022), it was below the government's expectations, which expected to reach 3.5 million tourists in 2023.