President-elect
Donald Trump was looking at buying hotels in Cuba as recently as six months ago, according to a top Spanish hotel executive who learned of it from industry contacts. That would be at odds with Trump’s stated Cuba policy and could have violated U.S. law against promoting tourism there.
The hotelier, Miguel Fluxa, executive chairman of Grupo Iberostar, made the comments to reporters at an event in Mallorca on Thursday to celebrate the closely held company’s 60th anniversary. The firm, which has more than 100 hotels, manages Havana’s five-star
Parque Central, the city’s top-ranked hotel on TripAdvisor Inc. for several years.
Fluxa learned of Trump’s efforts from industry contacts in Cuba, not from the president-elect himself, an Iberostar spokesman said. Trump hasn’t offered to buy any of Iberostar’s 11 hotels in Cuba, said the spokesman, who asked not to be named, citing company policy. Fluxa’s comments were first reported by Spain’s ABC newspaper.
“In the last 12 months, many major competitors have sought opportunities in Cuba,” Amanda Miller, vice president of marketing at the Trump Organization, said in an emailed statement. “While it is important for us to understand the dynamics of the markets that our competitors are exploring, we do not intend to expand into Cuba nor have we ever done any business there.”
nah, nobody wants to go to Cuba ...