Meliá to boost Cuban tourism by adding eight hotels

Meliá Hotels International is set to extend its presence in Cuba with the addition of eight hotels, as well as assist in promoting multi-destination vacations in the country.

The move was announced at the International Tourism Fair in Cuba, during which the company reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing quality and service in its new hotels through the renovation and adaptation to its brand standards.

Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, Meliá’s Vice President, said: “These eight hotels are an important challenge which we face with great enthusiasm and responsibility, given that we are also taking on a commitment to strengthen the multi-destination vacation segment, guaranteeing the service and quality of the Meliá, Innside, and Sol House brands from the east to the west of the island.”

The agreement between Meliá Hotels International and the Cuban hotel groups, Gran Caribe, Cubanacan and Islazul, aims to promote organised multi-destination vacations that already include several towns and cities on the island, while at the same time adding new destinations. The latter is one of the objectives of a Cuban tourism strategy that seeks to enhance the visibility of a number of cities and regions with huge potential for quality tourism.

How the new-look San Carlos Hotel in Cienfuegos will look

In the city of Cienfuegos, Meliá will manage the 56-room San Carlos Hotel and the 49-room Union Hotel, both located in the historic centre of Cienfuegos, declared a World Heritage Site in 2005. The company will also manage the Jagua Hotel in the same city, operating 173 rooms under the Innside by Meliá brand, Meliá’s most avant-garde urban brand, and one of its most highly-rated brands worldwide.

In Trinidad, the company will renovate and manage the 279-room Ancon Hotel under the innovative and youthful Sol House brand, as well as a new 102-room hotel to be built at the end of the Ancon peninsula and operated under the Meliá brand.

Finally, in Camagüey, Meliá will begins to work with the Islazul hotel group to manage three hotels, two of them in the historic centre of the city: the 72-room Gran Hotel and the 58-room Hotel Colón. Innside by Meliá will also be the brand applied to the 142-room Hotel Camagüey after an investment in renovation.

Meliá Hotels International, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its operations in Cuba in 2015, will assume responsibility for the hotels on 1 November this year, starting a transitional process in their management that will be completed by 1 January 2018.