Meliá joins the withdrawal in Cuba due to the threat of sanctions from the United States

MadridCuba has been immersed for months in a serious economic and energy crisis, and tourism is one of the casualties. The fuel shortage that the island has been suffering for months due to the United States' oil stranglehold has led some airlines to cancel their flights to Havana. This is the case of Iberia, which as of this Monday no longer operates the route between Madrid and the Cuban capital. Now, the threat of sanctions also from the United States is added regarding foreign hotels managing assets owned by Gaesa, the conglomerate of the Cuban army. Pressure that has already led several hotel firms to withdraw from the island. This Wednesday, Meliá, the hotel chain of Mallorcan origin, announced that it was abandoning the activity of 15 hotels on the island, while on Tuesday the Spanish firm Iberostar did the same with 12 of its 18 establishments. The decision of both means the partial withdrawal of the most important Spanish hotel chains in Cuba.

Specifically, Meliá Hotels International, through its Portuguese subsidiary Ilha Bela, has decided to close 15 of its 39 hotels in Cuba, as it reported this Wednesday through a relevant fact to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). "Given the events and circumstances of the social, legal, and economic geopolitical context in Cuba [...] the decision has been made to immediately conclude the provision of management and marketing services, as well as the assignment of use of our hotel brands [in fifteen hotels]," Meliá stated in a relevant fact to the CNMV. Donald Trump has set this Friday, June 5, as the deadline for foreign hotels to cease their activity in those properties owned by Gaesa. If they do not abandon their relationship with the military conglomerate, they risk sanctions for "collaborating" with the Cuban government, as warned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"The decision has been made with a deep sense of corporate responsibility, and it responds and is a consequence of a combination of unforeseen circumstances beyond the management or operational capacity of [the subsidiary] Ilha Bela," indicates the hotel chain, which acknowledges that all of this was already impacting the "operational capacity, legality, and safety of service provision" at the affected hotels. In any case, Meliá explains that the impact on the business will be "limited" because many of the affected hotels were already closed due to the energy crisis on the island and the drop in tourist activity. Furthermore, it should be taken into account that the management and provision of services for assets that are not their property are being abandoned.

A partial farewell 30 years later

The hotel chain owned by the Escarrer family has been operating in Cuba since 1999 and is the Spanish firm with the most presence on the island. The step taken this Wednesday comes after the Balearic group Iberostar announced on Tuesday that it was also abandoning the activity of 12 of the 18 hotels it operates on the island. In this case, the hotels belong to Gaviota, a subsidiary of Gaesa. Iberostar did not officially link its decision to the threats from the United States, although in a statement it pointed out that it was ceasing to operate these hotels within the framework of a "process of adaptation to the international regulatory environment and with the aim of preserving the standards of quality, compliance and management that distinguish the company." In fact, the Canadian firm Blue Diamond, the third largest hotel company by number of assets in Cuba, also announced its disengagement from the island last Friday, but avoided linking the decision to US sanctions.

However, Iberostar's departure occurs more than three decades after its arrival in Cuba, where it began operating in 1993 with the opening of its first hotel. Since then, the hotel business on the island of the company owned by the Fluxá family has grown exponentially until now, when it has been forced to close a significant part of its activity.

Regarding the Spanish firms Barceló and Minor Hotels Europe & Americas (formerly NH), the former has two hotels in Cuba but only one is in operation. NH, on the other hand, has already completely exited the island where it also had two hotels. The company decided this at the beginning of this 2026 due to the "complex" climate that the tourism business in the country was going through, mainly as a result of the energy crisis.