US Orders Marriott to Stop Hotel Operations in Cuba

Marriott, a prestigious hotel chain, announced the closing of its operations in Cuba, after U.S. President Donald Trump, refused to renew its license to operate on the island.

“We can confirm that as of September 1 Marriott is no longer operating the Four Points by Sheraton in Havana,” the company’s communications director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Kerstin Sachl, told EFE news agency.

Although it had been closed for some time due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the Four Points was the only U.S. hotel bastion in Cuba, and an example of the rapprochement carried out in the previous Barack Obama administration with Cuban authorities.

Last June, Marriott had reported the Trump government’s decision not to renew his license to operate in Cuba, giving it until August 31 to cease its activities.

That decision also meant the suspension of Marriott’s plans might have to open new hotels on the island.

The American hotel chain had also planned to take over the Hotel Inglaterra, with 83 rooms and located in the central Paseo del Prado, a few steps from the Capitol and the Gran Teatro Alicia Alonso. Still, in the end, the operation was not completed.

Sheraton’s Four Points was the only U.S. managed hotel in Cuba, after the rapprochement and lifting of trade restrictions initiated in December 2014 by the Obama Administration, which President Trump gradually dismantled.