HAVANA, June 28 — Four Points by Sheraton has become the first US hotel brand to start operating in Cuba since the 1959 revolution.
Located close to the Caribbean seafront, this is one of the two hotels that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide agreed to manage in a multimillion-dollar deal with Cuba in March.
Their brands include W Hotels and St Regis, and they’re known for their five-star service.
Taxi driver Javier Alonso is hopeful that business in Havana will improve.
“Let’s see if they can raise the standards of the hotel which was flat before. Now that it’s going to be administered by Americans I hope that it advances tourism in our country, particularly in the Miramar area,” says taxi driver Javier Alonso.
Thanks in part to the relaxing of US travel restrictions, the number of visitors to Cuba rose 13.5 per cent in the first four months of 2016 to 1.5 million tourists.
Those numbers are expected to balloon if the US lifts its travel ban altogether. — Reuters
