The exterior of GRAND ASTON La Habana located in Havana, CUBA  (Credit: Archipelago International)

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Archipelago, Southeast Asia’s largest privately owned and independent hotel management group, today announced the expansion of its Cuban portfolio with the opening of the 600 room GRAND ASTON La Habana Hotel located in Havana’s commercial district section Vedado.   The hotel has “an innovative design, its interior decoration is a perfect fusion between the Havana style of the 1930s and the Asian refinement of GRAND ASTON,” Archipelago said  in a statement. The hotel  includes the city’s only 24-hour fitness center and a 56-meter long swimming pool overlooking the  waters of the Havana Malecón.  

“We’re delighted to be opening what will become a true icon in the Havana hotel scene. One of the most creatively designed hotels is ready to welcome guests to experience the fusion of Asian and Cuban hospitality in a fantastic location.”

– said John Flood, President & CEO of Archipelago

The exterior of GRAND ASTON La Habana located in Havana, CUBA  (cuballama.com)

Cuba  in December 2021 reopened its international borders in a bid to bring back badly needed tourists after being shut to visitors for most of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Cuba’s economy took a beating during the pandemic, and it remains to be seen whether tourists will return in large numbers to the island. Cuba attracted nearly 70 percent fewer visitors in 2021 compared with 2020, and less than 10 percent of the 4.3 million arrivals in 2019, according to Reuters. 

Archipelago International, based in Jakarta, Indonesia, began expansion in Cuba in 2020, with two new  ASTON-branded  properties opening in December of that year-one located in the Miramar district of Havana, the other in the resort city of Holguin in the eastern part of the island.  Archipelago International is the largest private and independent hotel management group in Southeast Asia, operating more than 150 hotels, with 50 more under construction in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East.