Rumors not contrasted advance that the popularly known as Hotel Torre K, the “elephant in the room” of Cuban tourism, would finally be inaugurated in the next few days under the official name of Iberostar Selection Havana, since, at the logistical level, the logistics level, the Formidable establishment would finally be ready throughout its collection of details.
Until now, the most accurate track is on the website of Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts Where the offers of the Spanish chain appear: “This hotel will open the doors soon!” And in the reservation box on-line Rooms are sold with a calendar from February 23.
This Friday, one of the builders, in his lunch schedule, when he left the property for the main access of 23 Avenue, commented on the air: “This is still missing.”
Heavy construction vehicles are still visible, both in 23 and 25, in the back zone of the hotel, and heavy load trucks that deliver supplies through the main door.
Iberostar, a whole empire
The consortium, one of the heavyweights of world tourism, has 18 four and five -star hotels on the island, in the main tourist poles.
Three of these are in Havana, not counting Tower K, and 14 are located on the banks of Balneario de Varadero and Cayo Cruz, a small island of 26 square kilometers in Jardines del Rey, north of Ciego de Ávila.
The Iberostar Grand Packard hotels in Havana and Mystique Trinidad La Popa by Royalton de Trinidad won in 2024 the Best Hotels in the World Prize, of TripAdvisor, positioning in positions five and 19, respectively.
Founded in 1986 by the Fluxá family, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has more than 114 hotels in 18 countries from three continents, Europe, America and Africa.
Previous dates
Last July, representatives of Gaviota, the largest hotel group in Cuba, announced to the press in Canada the opening during 2024 of a series of facilities, including Tower K.
According to the portal then Travel Weekin the inaugurations program they were contemplated, among others, the Metropolis Hotel, managed by Kempinski, the second section of Muthu Havana, the Corona Hotel and Torre K, by the date of November 20.
On December 28, on his official Facebook profile, Havanatur published a video promoting the opening in 2025 of the Iberostar Selection Havana Hotel La Havana –Commercial name of tourist exploitation–leaving the date for January 15.
By then, six years had passed since the works began in the so -called “23 hole”, in the heart of El Vedado Habanero, where a building of 42 floors and 154 meters high is risen. It has 565 rooms and other attractions, such as an eight -meter cantilever or balcony on the 32nd floor and a Sky Bar with panoramic views of the city on the 41st floor.
The project was presented in 2018 as a construction with “100 % Cuban capital”, aimed at becoming a luxury hotel and lordly on the capital horizon, well above two emblematic buildings such as the FOCSA and the Habana Libre hotel, and the torque of the highest skyscrapers in the Caribbean: Las Torres Anacaona 27 and Caney, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Cuba aspires to receive about 2.6 million tourists next year, below the goal of 2024
Criticism target
Although he has had defenders, the five star hotel in Iberostar has been in the eye of the storm of many since the announcement of its construction.
Both specialists and Cubans on foot have loaded against the controversial building for different reasons, from its design and location to the fact that it is lifted at a time when the island crosses a deep and prolonged economic crisis, and in which tourism is Huy with depressing occupation rates.
In January 2024, in a post on his Facebook profile, the Hispanic-French journalist Ignacio Ramonet described the “urban horror” building.
The author of the book One hundred hours with Fidel The debate revived when the “architecture hotel Horribilis”
Apparently, before this month ends, now, the new hotel will begin receiving visitors.
In recent years, the government has stressed that tourism will be a fundamental part of economic recovery. But the country has not matched the prepaid levels of international visitors, which in 2019 were in the environment of 4.5 million and in 2024 in just 2.2 million.
