CUBA
TOURISM (GUTTMAN/STOBART) -- PBS NHWE HFR DEC 17, 2016
PRODUCER: AMY GUTTMAN
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: TOM
RITZENTHALER
EDITOR(S): BART
STOBART/MICHIEL PILGRIM
CAMERA: BART STOBART
AMY GUTTMAN: Since the U.S. Government eased restrictions on travel to Cuba
early last year, the number of American tourists visiting the Caribbean island
nation has soared. About 230-thousand went to Cuba in the first 11
months of this year, roughly two-and-half times the number in 2014, when the
process of normalizing relations began.
AMY GUTTMAN: Today, eight U.S. airlines are approved to run 20 round-trip
flights daily from around the country to Cuba’s capital, Havana.
AMY GUTTMAN: However, Cuba’s hospitality industry has a lot of catching up to
do. With few exceptions, hotels are either abandoned or frozen in time...just
like the American cars that roll through the streets of Havana, nearly 60 years
since Fidel Castro’s communist revolution forced out privately-owned
businesses.
AMY GUTTMAN: Along Havana's storied, seaside boulevard, known as the “Malecon,”
state-owned properties like the Hotel Nacional De Cuba, famous for having
hosted American Presidents and Hollywood stars, don’t have enough capacity.
AMY GUTTMAN: There are currently 63-thousand hotel rooms in all of Cuba, and
far fewer up-to-date, quality hotels than are needed to accommodate what is
approaching four million international visitors a year.
AMY GUTTMAN: Since 2014, the Cuban Government has relaxed rules on foreign
ownership of hotels. It’s now allowing international chains to build, remodel
and manage hotels, as long as they partner with state-owned Cuban tourism
companies.
AMY GUTTMAN: France’s Sofitel, Switzerland’s Kempinski, and the American-owned
Starwood Group are among those refurbishing and constructing four and five-star
hotels in Havana.
AMY GUTTMAN: Starwood, recently bought by Marriott, has already taken over
management of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, now re-branded as Four Points, and it’s
renovating a 19th century Havana landmark, The Inglaterra.
AMY GUTTMAN: Though the Cuban government has announced plans to double the
island’s hotel capacity by 2020, the current shortage of rooms is a boon for
another American-run company, AirBnB. The online platform for homestay bookings
has listings in more than a hundred countries. But it says Cuba has become its
fastest growing market, as measured by listings.
BRIAN CHESKY: “We estimate now that 20-percent of all Americans that are
staying in Cuba are staying in a home with a Cuba host.”
AMY GUTTMAN: AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky accompanied President Obama in March on
his historic trip to Cuba, the first by a sitting US President in nearly 80
years. Chesky says Americans from all 50 states have used AirBnB in Cuba since
it began operating here a year-and-half ago. He calls this “people to
people diplomacy.”
BRIAN CHESKY: “There are hundreds of thousands of friendships that are possible
if you bring people together.”
AMY GUTTMAN: This is the third time San Francisco entrepreneur Madelyn Markoe
has stayed at the home of Cuban host Fanny Acosta.
MADELYN MARKOE: It is very different. It really feels like you are in someone's
home. A lot of times AirBnB in other places, you know, it can feel very much
like you are just renting an apartment. In cuba it’s a full experience from
start to finish.
AMY GUTTMAN: Acosta and her husband, Reddy, list three bedrooms in their four
bedroom apartment on AirBnB. In addition to Spanish, she speaks French,
Italian, Mandarin….and English.
FANNY ACOSTA: This is my way to learn about the rest of the world. I don't have
to go out. The people and the world, they come to me. And we have very, very,
very good friends from all over the world.
AMY GUTTMAN: The concept of AirBnB is not exactly new here. Even when Fidel Castro
was president, Cubans were permitted to list rooms in their homes on the
Internet and rent them to foreign tourists.
AMY GUTTMAN: Since 1997, Cubans have been allowed to supplement their income
through casa particulares, or private houses. A symbol of an upside-down anchor
near the doorway indicates homes that are licensed by the government to rent
rooms.
AMY GUTTMAN: 20,000 homes are registered – 10,000 of them are now listed on
AirBnB. Like all hosts, Acosta pays taxes on the income earned.
AMY GUTTMAN: Has business changed since the arrival of AirBnB?
FANNY ACOSTA: Yes, 100 percent. Now we try to keep our rooms available just for
the AirBnB requests. This is our way to know they will arrive for sure. If they
decide to change, I know in advance, so I can update the calendar again.
AMY GUTTMAN: How busy are you?
FANNY ACOSTA: We are full almost the whole year, because they read about us.
Before AirBnB, it's not possible.
AMY GUTTMAN: So you get financial security?
FANNY ACOSTA: Yes. I'm also learning how to be a businesswoman.
AMY GUTTMAN: A business that pays well for Cuba. Acosta and her husband pocket
about $250 per booking after paying AirBnB’s fees. That’s more than the $200 average monthly salary in Cuba. The income helped her pay back the loan from a friend
she used to buy the apartment three years ago. To maximize their earnings, she
and her husband share their fourth bedroom with their two small children.
AMY GUTTMAN: So, this is quite a sacrifice?
FANNY ACOSTA: I do it with pleasure. I think everything in life is
sacrifice.
AMY GUTTMAN: With income from guests and high demand, buildings like these that
have been left derelict for years are now being repaired for the rental income.
AMY GUTTMAN: Acosta and other Cubans are investing in renovations and
remodelling to accommodate guests.
AMY GUTTMAN: What will you do with this money, now that it's yours?
FANNY ACOSTA: We are going to fix the elevator.
AMY GUTTMAN: It may be surprising that AirBnB can thrive in Cuba, where the
communist regime has banned Internet access from home, except for government
officials or employees of foreign companies. Cuba is now installing its first residential
broadband service, wiring two thousand homes. And
just this week, the government signed a deal with U.S. tech giant Google to
place its servers on the island. Universities and offices are equipped
with Internet access for their employees, but other Cubans must pay to get
online at hotels and in wifi zones in public parks. Without online
service at home, AirBnB hosts have come up with work-arounds. Fanny Acosta
walks a few blocks to the nearest hotel several times a day and pays to get
online.
AMY GUTTMAN: University of Havana Economics professor Patricia Ramos rents out
rooms in her home and tutors friends and family helping them create a profile
of their properties and manage bookings.
PATRICIA RAMOS: The people have not the culture to interact with the web. To
access the internet is not easy in cuba. It is possible to go to these wifi
zones, but the speed is not so high. And of course, it's also a little bit
expensive. That’s why it's not so easy to manage your profile on AirBnB.
AMY GUTTMAN: Soon, Ramos, Acosta, and others may be learning how to use another
American travel site: TripAdvisor. The company is now taking bookings for
homestays, hotels, and flights to Cuba after winning approval from the U.S.
Government last month.
Even as multinational chains are building
hotels, Acosta believes there will always be a market for the personal service
and cultural exchange that homestays provide.
FANNY ACOSTA: There are some people that feel really good in a casa, and this is
what I enjoy. The people who want to stay in a casa and be part of our family.
# |
|
|
BRIAN CHESKY AIRBNB |
2:50 |
|
2 |
MADELYN MARKOE AIRBNB GUEST |
3:09 |
3 |
FANNY ACOSTA AIRBNB HOST |
3:35 |
|
AMY GUTTMAN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
3:44 |
|
PATRICIA RAMOS UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA |
6:51 |