New Havana Hotel

[El Presidente]

Cuba India relations have certainly gotten closer over the past 5 years. 

 

 

The Gran Muthu Habana has 27 floors and has a five-star category. Managed by the hotelier MGM Muthu Hotels in collaboration with the Cuban tourism group Gaviota, the hotel was opened for commercial operations in the Miramar neighborhood, Havana municipality of Playa.

This establishment is newly built, with an advantageous location, next to the sea and close to Fifth Avenue, the Miramar Business Center and other hotels, event venues, companies and embassies, and only 20 minutes from the Historic Center of the Cuban capital. .

This facility has a modern design and offers leisure and business travelers 494 standard rooms, 16 junior suites and five suites, restaurants, bars, Casa del Habano, a shopping gallery, a wellness area that includes a gym and meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 400 people for special events

[Corylax18]

7 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Cuba India relations have certainly gotten closer over the past 5 years. 

And Cuba China Relations seem to be drifting apart. There is more going on here than meets the eye.  

If you remember, this entire city block had been one, massive "Chinese" development for at least the last 6 years. (That's as long as I've been following it) Not much was ever going on though.

I'm getting ready for a trip in a couple weeks and I happened to see this development near completion on google maps and was very confused. The hotel in the rendering above is Labelled as the "Be Live Collective, La Habana" Be live is a Spanish company. The hotel next door is not nearly as fancy looking and its labeled as the "Hotel Grand Muthu Habana"

Maybe this was the plan all along, but I don't know why a Chinese development firm would spend 6 years of time and money building a property only to let Indian and Spanish companies profit from them. Something very similar happened at the Hotel Paseo del Prado at the other end of the Malecon. Again, built by a chinese firm, but opened and operated by NH hotels. (another Spanish firm) 

I'll make sure to grab some photos of this new development and ask around to see if anybody knows any more about how these deals happen. 

[E4GNCCI]

And Cuba China Relations seem to be drifting apart. There is more going on here than meets the eye.  
If you remember, this entire city block had been one, massive "Chinese" development for at least the last 6 years. (That's as long as I've been following it) Not much was ever going on though.
I'm getting ready for a trip in a couple weeks and I happened to see this development near completion on google maps and was very confused. The hotel in the rendering above is Labelled as the "Be Live Collective, La Habana" Be live is a Spanish company. The hotel next door is not nearly as fancy looking and its labeled as the "Hotel Grand Muthu Habana"
Maybe this was the plan all along, but I don't know why a Chinese development firm would spend 6 years of time and money building a property only to let Indian and Spanish companies profit from them. Something very similar happened at the Hotel Paseo del Prado at the other end of the Malecon. Again, built by a chinese firm, but opened and operated by NH hotels. (another Spanish firm) 
I'll make sure to grab some photos of this new development and ask around to see if anybody knows any more about how these deals happen. 

Are you suggesting that China is starting to give up on Cuba in the sense that they are investing less, not seeing returns and are essentially giving up on projects? It’s an interesting pov because the Chinese play a big role in Cubas economy wether it be cigars or tourism. Will be fascinating to see how this plays out. Nevertheless, HSA is still marketing a lot of products geared towards the Asian market. I doubt the ties will sever completely.


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[El Presidente]

20 minutes ago, E4GNCCI said:

Are you suggesting that China is starting to give up on Cuba in the sense that they are investing less, not seeing returns and are essentially giving up on projects? It’s an interesting pov because the Chinese play a big role in Cubas economy wether it be cigars or tourism. Will be fascinating to see how this plays out. Nevertheless, HSA is still marketing a lot of products geared towards the Asian market. I doubt the ties will sever completely.


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The Chinese government isn't going anywhere. 

Cuba is beautifully positioned for maximum regional access, influence and USA annoyance. 

What is impressive on the surface is Cuba's spread of investors. the Indian market could be huge for Havana/cuba. 

[Corylax18]

30 minutes ago, E4GNCCI said:

Are you suggesting that China is starting to give up on Cuba in the sense that they are investing less, not seeing returns and are essentially giving up on projects? It’s an interesting pov because the Chinese play a big role in Cubas economy wether it be cigars or tourism. Will be fascinating to see how this plays out. Nevertheless, HSA is still marketing a lot of products geared towards the Asian market. I doubt the ties will sever completely.


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I don't know enough to suggest anything regarding China's intentions. I do know that there is more going on behind the scenes than what we're seeing. Maybe the financial issues are scaring the Chinese away Maybe they where never as involved as we where lead to believe. Maybe they still own the buildings and they're leasing the operations to other companies. That model has become the standard in places like Las Vegas and Macau. You have a REIT that owns the hard assets and a separate company that runs the casino and hotel. It lends wonderfully to insane financial engineering here in the states, so it could, in theory, be a useful layer in the effort to avoid US financial sanctions. 

Every time I've ever paid for anything Cuba related with a credit card, the transaction has been run through Spain. The Spaniards appear to have a way to "clean" the transactions enough that they aren't triggering any US attention. Who knows how this Indian company is getting around the sanctions, they're completely ignoring the sanctions on Russia right now and profiting massively from selling refined, dirt cheap, Russian crude. A little hotel in Havana is a drop in the bucket compared to that. Where there's a will, there's a way. 

[Corylax18]

I enjoyed a delicious R.G. PC and a couple Cristal's across the street from this new complex last week. There is a locals supermarket and beach/recreation area that's mostly Cuban's very close by. The beach is just rocks, but otherwise, its a nice little area. It will be interesting to see how this influx of hotel rooms changes the area. There are other hotels in the area, but all smaller or much older than these. 

The smaller of the two hotels, which I believe will be the "Be Live" property once opened is actually very attractive and fits into Havana quite well. The larger "Grand Mutha" isn't nearly as well suited to the area and the random spacing of the different colored glass makes me anxious. Haha. Im certain that neither are open yet, the larger building is still under construction and the smaller one only had one taxi pull up in over an hour. 

One with the Big Vodka Bottle for reference. 

[Fuzz]

4 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

The larger "Grand Mutha" isn't nearly as well suited to the area and the random spacing of the different colored glass makes me anxious.

Random spacing of different coloured glass makes you anxious? I'd be more anxious of the fact that a high rise building has windows that can be opened!