A Cuban couple who intended to spend their honeymoon in a Cayo Coco hotel had their dream dashed when they were told that you can only book from abroad.
Johanna Jola Alvarez denounced on his wall Facebook what happened to her daughter-in-law when she went to the reservation bureaus located in the central street of 23 e/ L and M del Vedado, on the ground floor of the Hotel Habana Libre.
“They inform him (in both) that THERE ARE NO RESERVATIONS FOR CUBANS, reservations are only available abroad,” he said.
The Internet user questioned how it is possible that in the official pages it is denied that reservations to Cubans in the Keys are not prohibited, and that these events occur in full view of all.
“We Cubans have to have priority in our little piece of land. Discriminatory policies are unfair and immensely harmful. I invite anyone who wishes to verify what I say,” he said.
Johanna described as “unforgivable” what is happening in Cuba, that its residents cannot reserve hotel accommodation and can only do so if someone from abroad pays for it.
“It is more outrageous when we are aware of what it costs any average family to gather to go on vacation,” he lamented.
The woman added that although she has possibilities to resolve the situation of her son and her daughter-in-law, but she thought of those who have no one outside.
“One can resolve but… and those who do not have that possibility, fuck them? Na, keeping quiet cannot be the option,” he said.
This complaint comes to light two weeks after the administration of the Hotel Angsana Cayo Santa María will apologize for a letter that circulated on social networks with the facility’s letterhead, which informed its workers that Cubans could not stay at the center, after denying that same information in previous days.
In a new communication signed by the director of Sales and Marketing of the hotel, they “clarified” the fact and affirmed that it was a writing error, when they had recently denied everything in an official note from the Gaviota hotel group.
“The information was not properly drafted and was given to erroneous interpretations about said measure. Therefore, we ask you to ignore it,” the new letter read.
The institution apologized for the confusion and pointed out that national tourists could book at their hotel “as long as the bookings are carried out through business partners and not through illegal shopping sites”.
According to him document leaked days beforehotel employees had to “carefully check the nationality” of their customers.
“In the event that a Cuban client is filtered in the reservation, we will find ourselves in the unfortunate need to deny their entry to the hotel and cancel their reservation immediately, without additional cost. This measure is not negotiable,” the document said.
“We want to emphasize that this measure is not due to a matter of discrimination, but to policies and rules of our owners that we must abide by,” said the director of Sales and Marketing of the hotel.
The text signed by the director, Debbie Gómez Luna, which informed of the new measure, was quickly denied by Gaviota, belonging to the SA Business Administration Group (GAESA), in the hands of the military.
Last April, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured Americans visiting the Island that in Cuba, unlike the United States, the hotels belong to the people.
Johana Tablada, deputy general director of the organization’s United States Directorate, told more than 150 leaders of movements and social organizations in that country that the money spent by foreigners in the country goes to public services.
“It is totally opposite to what the United States says, that the money goes to the army and all that shit that they talk all the time. In the case of Cuba, the owner of the hotels is the Cuban people, the money that you spend on the hotel goes to public services, to health, to education,” he said.
