U.S. hotel chains circle Cuba as visitors surge, restrictions ease

[Newsjock]

Source: Reuters

The race for Cuba’s beachfront is on.

Executives from major U.S. hotel chains have stepped up their interest in the Communist country in recent months, holding informal talks with Cuban officials as Washington loosens restrictions on U.S. firms operating there.

Executives from Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Carlson Hospitality Group, which runs the Radisson chain, are among those who have held talks with Cuban officials in recent months, they told Reuters.

... “If and when the travel ban is lifted. We estimate there will be over 1.5 million U.S. travellers on a yearly basis,” said Laurent de Kousemaeker, chief development officer for the Caribbean and Latin American regions for Marriott.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-hotel-chains-circle-cuba-as-visitors-surge-restrictions-ease/article26603111/

[Ron Green]

1. I wish Cuban culture would have the greater influence,

but the prospects don't look good.

[yeoman6987]

2. Cuba is going to be the place to go soon

I can't wait. Vietnam the same thing. I visited the country a few years ago and it is beautiful. In 10 years, it will find more tourists going.

[Recursion]

3. Eh. There's something unseemly about Americans hoping Cuba remains underdeveloped, IMO

I know that's not necessarily what you said but it's an undercurrent in a lot of the "I hope I can get to Havana before there's a McDonalds" talk: lots of Havanese would really, really like to have a McDonalds and be able to afford to go to it.

[Ron Green]

4. It depends on how you define "developed."

Would that the US had the kind of medical training, outreach and extension program found in Cuba.

Not to mention the music.

[Codeine]

6. I lament the lack of medical training and musical heritage

in America.

Oh wait -- no I don't, because that's an astonishingly ridiculous point of view.

[Ron Green]

7. Maybe we can give them for-profit health care -

and Autotune hits!

[Codeine]

5. That portion of the culture that they truly value

will be just fine; you may find that what we value (quaint and picturesque and "Ooh look honey -- a Packard still on the road!&quot from our position of wealth and privilege isn't necessarily that which they consider important.

I trust the Cubans will have the good sense to make their preferred way, whichever way that may be.

[Snobblevitch]

8. Now that relations are being normalized between

the U.S. and Cuba, will the U.S. owners of businesses in Cuba siezed by Castro be compensated for their loss, with interest?

[Fumesucker]

9. When is the US going to pay reparations for slavery?

With interest..

[Travis_0004]

11. Never

[Snobblevitch]

12. That's a different subject entirely and has nothing to do with my post.

What does Cuba have to do with American slavery? (Other than being a huge slave nation themselves.)

[Fumesucker]

14. Getting what is owed, that is the principle involved...

The US government specifically countenanced slavery for going on a century, the humans who were wrongly and evilly deprived of their liberty, the fruits of their labor and often their very lives are owed.

[Snobblevitch]

15. Oh, come now, you can't possibly think it is as simple as that.

[Fumesucker]

18. Exactly..

Then we could get into the whole Israel-Palestine thing and the Native American claims on America as well.

[Snobblevitch]

19. You might be onto something.

Reparations are due to the Israelies for being Egyptian slaves.

[Travis_0004]

16. Nobody who was ever a slave in the US is alive today

I would agree that we should have made restitution to fprmer slaves over 100 years ago, but nobody is alive to claim it now.

[Fumesucker]

17. How many of the business owners from the Batista era Cuba are still alive?

That was fifty five years ago, adults then would be at least seventy five with most owners considerably older than that.

[Travis_0004]

10. I wonder what effect this will have on the cuban car market

I imagine one could open a business buying classic cars in cuba and selling them in America. A lot of cars have work needed, and a lot might have a Peugeot engine, but I'm sure they can be restored, and it should open a new market to american car collectors.

[Snobblevitch]

13. I bet the owners of those American cars

in Cuba could make more money driving American tourists around Havana than they could by selling them.