More hotels are planned — including Havana
IAN STALKER
Dania Reyna Rodriguez says her Holguin hotel’s parent company may not draw as much immediate name recognition as some other hotel brands found in Cuba but is quick to add that MGM Muthu Hotels & Resorts’ growing presence in the country means that it is steadily building a following.
Reyna Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Gran Muthu Almirante Beach Resort, notes the hotel is part of an India-based chain that is also represented in Cayo Guillermo and Varadero, and will soon arrive in other parts of Cuba, including Havana, marking Muthu’s first urban property in a country commonly associated with great beaches.
MGM Muthu also has properties in Europe, Asia and Africa.
The upscale, beachfront Gran Muthu Almirante Beach Resort opened in late 2021, with Reyna Rodriguez noting it’s a comparatively new entrant in Cuba hotel’s scene.
The 514-guest unit property has dining and bar venues, a nightclub, gym, spa, children’s aquatic park, games room and watersports.
Reyna Rodriguez says the “high-tech hotel” offers a number of free items for guests that many other hotels normally charge for, such as safe deposit boxes.
But Reyna Rodriguez says her hotel’s big draw is its location, adding the area is a famed beach region in Cuba, with MGM Muthu describing Guardalavaca Beach as “paradisiacal.”
The property can also host gatherings, including weddings and sales meetings.
Among tour operators offering the resort is Hola Sun, which had travel agents participating in a November fam trip stay there.
Cuban tourism suffered at the hands of the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war has also been damaging but Reyna Rodriguez remains confident that those who choose her homeland for a vacation will enjoy their stay.
“Cuba is always going to be a very welcoming country,” she says. “When we receive visitors we try to give them the best. We are fully ready to welcome tourists and we are eager to see them.”
Among agents on the Hola Sun fam who gave the Gran Muthu Almirante Beach Resort the thumbs-up was John Coletta of Toronto’s Uniglobe Bon Voyage Travel, who said he “would send people to this resort without batting an eyelash.”
Gobi Thaya of AJB Travels in Scarborough, Ont., in turn said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the property.
