CUBAN TRANSITIONS

We first encountered Havana Hotel on March 3rd after numerous flight delays and long airport transit times. As we anxiously familiarized with our first sights of Cuba, Hotel Plaza was our first stop from the airport and evolved to become more than that in the next few days.

We had a warm welcome with tasty fruit platters and drinks before heading to our rooms. The lobby was very beautiful and the gasp everyone had as we entered the hotel was priceless; partly a reflection of the exhaustion after a long 2-day travel and the awe over the beauty of Hotel Plaza.

For me Hotel plaza served more that being just my hotel while i was in Havana. Firstly, i never used a map of Havana as I walked often to explore this historic city. Hotel Plaza served me geographically as my reference point so that I became familiar with different streets and points of interest based on their position in reference to Hotel Plaza. Honestly if you asked me to identify many places I frequently visited without referring to Hotel Plaza I would be lost!

Another purpose was that the lobby became our meeting point due to lack of cell phones that we often use to text each other as we organize dates and meetings. Instead, I arranged to meet different people down stairs in the lobby to head out for walks, some night life or more often meals, especially dinner. This is also the same location where Yoel had us “approach the bench!” several times and as I write this I can vividly picture him impatiently waiting [15minutes early] for us to trickle down from our rooms as he repeatedly prompted Adrianna to do head counts to make sure that nobody was missing.

Then I’ll talk about the 5th floor; that beautiful terrace! Not only did we enjoy breakfast every morning during our stay in Hotel Plaza, we were also greeted with a breath-taking sight of Havana with the warm sun and amazing breeze. How I miss it!

Finally, coming back to Hotel Plaza on May 15th after visiting many other cities and resorts, I felt like I was home, partly because being in Hotel Plaza meant that were almost going back home but personally I felt comfortable because Hotel Plaza was a familiar place and I found myself having an attachment to it; one that I can best describe as a “Home in Cuba, Away from Home”.

Below is a timeline of the history of Hotel Plaza as described on their website:

1909 In January of that year the Hotel plaza is officially inaugurated with a charity Ball.
1920’s The world famous Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova visits the hotel
1930’s Albert Einstein is paid homage by the local Jewish community, with a rich banquet at the Plaza Hotel. Efforts are made during this decade to turn the hotel into a casino, but local permits and licenses aren’t granted.
1940’s The hotel is now operated by Hotel Plaza S.A., a public company.
1950’s A casino license is granted and the Hotel Plaza commence casino operations.
1960’s The casino is shut down with the Triumph of the Revolution. The hotel becomes part of the National Tourism Sector.
1970/80’s The hotel is closed for renovations.
1990’s The hotel is newly inaugurated after a full renovation. The Gran Caribe hotel group is created. Hotel Plaza becomes member of the group.
2000’s Throughout the past couple of years our staff’s dedication, as well as our customer’s satisfaction has been recognized in the form of several awards.

Sources

http://www.hotelplazacuba.com/

http://havanajournal.com