The Gran Muthu Rainbow Hotel, first in Cuba for the segment of the LGBTI+ community, will be inaugurated in Playa Playuelas, Cayo Guillermo, on December 5, the local media reported this Monday.
The five-star facility is located in the central province of Ciego de Ávila and has 248 rooms, three bars and five restaurants specializing in Asian, Cuban, international, gourmet and buffet cuisine, respectively.
Muthu Hotels’ CEO in Cuba, Rafael López, said that the opening of that resort responds to the chain’s interest in diversifying its offer on the island.
López also said that the staff that will work at the Rainbow went through a training program with the objective of creating “a much more inclusive environment” for tourists staying at the new complex.
This is the third new hotel under management of the Asian MGM Muthu Hotels chain in Jardines del Rey―an archipelago north of Ciego de Avila―thanks to its business with the Cuban state tourism group Gaviota.
Less than a month before its inauguration, the new hotel was included on the list of entities sanctioned by the U.S. government in Cuba, together with the Gran Hotel Bristol Kempinski, the Grand Aston Varadero Resort, the Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas Beach Resort and Spa, which is located in Cayo Las Brujas; and the Gran Muthu Imperial Hotel.
U.S. President Donald Trump created this “blacklist” in June 2018 to ban U.S. citizens’ transactions with companies “under control or acting on behalf” of Cuba’s military, intelligence and security services, according to the State Department.
The chain’s first resort in that tourist destination, one of the favorites of tourists visiting the island, was the Gran Muthu Cayo Guillermo, recognized for its high standard in the “all inclusive” modality.
In January 2019, the chain inaugurated the only-for-adults Gran Muthu Imperial. MGM Muthu Hotels’ three facilities in Jardines del Rey have a five-star category.
The opening of a new hotel exclusively for the LGBTI+ community in Cuba was announced in May, in the same week that the official parade against homophobia in Havana was to take place, which was eventually suspended, although activists from that community carried it out independently and it was interrupted by the police.
Mariela Castro consideró una “patraña” la marcha independiente LGBTI en La Habana
Another hotel aimed at the LGBTI+ community will open in Havana in late 2020. Belonging to the Spanish Axel Hotels chain, the future facility will be located in the emblematic Hotel Telégrafo, located on the Paseo del Prado in Havana’s historic center, in the vicinity of the Capitol building, the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater and the Hotel Inglaterra.
The Axel Hotel Télegrafo La Habana will have a 4-star category and 63 rooms, as well as services such as restaurant, spa, bars on the terrace, swimming pool or solarium.
