Cuba's first true international five-star hotel, 246 rooms inside the restored 1917 Manzana de Gómez arcade, with a rooftop pool looking directly across to the Capitolio and the Great Theatre of Havana.
"The hotel that finally brought a contemporary five-star spec to Cuba, and still, eight years after opening, the only address in Havana that delivers it."
The Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana occupies the upper floors of the Manzana de Gómez, a full city block in the heart of Old Havana that was Cuba's first European-style shopping arcade. The building was constructed in stages between 1894 and 1917 by the Spanish-Cuban merchant Andrés Gómez Mena, modelled on the Galerie Vivienne in Paris and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, and dominated Havana commercial life through the first half of the twentieth century. After the 1959 revolution the arcade fell into long disrepair; the comprehensive 2014, 2017 restoration, executed by the Cuban state in partnership with Kempinski Hotels, opened the property in June 2017 as Cuba's first internationally branded five-star.
The 246 rooms and suites are arranged across the building's upper floors, with the original arcade's commercial galleries restored at ground level as a working luxury shopping floor (LV, Mont Blanc, Bulgari, Cartier, the only such concentration in Cuba). Standard Deluxe Rooms run a generous 38 square metres; Capitol Level Deluxe rooms add executive-lounge access; Junior Suites and Suites occupy the corner positions overlooking either the Capitolio to the south or the Parque Central to the east. The hotel's room finishes, Italian marble bathrooms, walk-in rain showers, custom oak headboards, Cuban-art-inspired textiles, set a contemporary standard that no other property in the country approaches.
Public spaces are the operational and cultural centre. The rooftop on the eighth floor holds a swimming pool, a cocktail bar (the SkyBar Selección Habana, with the strongest pour list of premium Cuban rum in the city), and a panoramic terrace looking directly south across the Plaza de San Francisco and the Capitolio dome, the single most photographed Havana hotel view. The ground-floor Café Surtidor is a properly comprehensive Cuban-international breakfast and all-day room; Confluencias is the brasserie-style main restaurant; the Asian-fusion offer Bar 33 occupies the eighth-floor corner. The hotel also operates the city's only proper Albear Spa with full wellness facilities, pool, sauna, hammam, that meet contemporary expectations.
Service at Manzana Kempinski runs at the highest end available in Cuba, which is itself a moving target. The hotel staffs a multi-lingual concierge desk, runs full luggage and bell service, and maintains the relationships with private restaurants (paladares), classic-car drivers, and cultural-event programmers that visiting business travellers and longer-stay anniversary travellers reliably need. Limitations are inherent to the Cuban operating environment, telecommunications and credit-card connectivity remain inconsistent, and pricing in dollars or euros runs higher than the room spec alone would justify in many capitals. Even with those constraints acknowledged, Manzana Kempinski is by a clear margin the most consequential luxury hotel in the Caribbean's largest island.
Havana anniversaries cluster at Manzana Kempinski because the alternative, the historic Hotel Nacional, the boutique Saratoga still under restoration, does not currently offer the same combination of contemporary spec and central position. Book a Junior Suite with the Capitolio view, the rooftop pool in the late afternoon, dinner at Confluencias, the SkyBar at sunset. The hotel's classic-car-with-driver service for the Malecón circuit is the city's most reliable.
For Havana business travel at the level where the property and the position both matter, Manzana Kempinski is the only adequate address. The Capitol Level executive lounge, the four meeting rooms (capacity 12-80), the WiFi (the most reliable in Cuba, by considerable margin), and the multi-currency concierge desk are the central operational arguments. The location, opposite the Capitolio, three minutes' walk from the Plaza Vieja, ten minutes by car from the Old Havana port, matches the spec.
Honeymoon in Havana works at Manzana when paired with a beach-resort leg in Varadero or Cayo Coco at the front or back of the trip. The Manzana segment buys the contemporary five-star spec for two or three nights inside the city, rooftop pool, SkyBar at sunset, dinner at a paladar arranged through the concierge, while the beach leg handles the slow second half. Suites on the Parque Central side are the romantic upgrade.
Calle San Rafael, between Monserrate and Zulueta
10100 La Habana Vieja
Cuba
Capitolio Nacional opposite (3 min walk); Plaza Vieja 7 minutes; Malecón 5 minutes; Cuban National Ballet next door; José Martí International Airport 25 minutes by car
246 rooms (incl. 50 suites)
Deluxe Room (city view) from USD 460/night
Deluxe Room (Capitol view) from USD 540/night
Capitol Level Deluxe (lounge access) from USD 640/night
Junior Suite from USD 880/night
Presidential Suite from USD 2,800/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Original arcade 1894-1917; comprehensive restoration 2014-2017; Kempinski opened June 2017
Rooftop pool with Capitol view
Albear Spa & Wellness
Confluencias (main restaurant)
SkyBar Selección Habana (rooftop cocktail)
Capitol Level executive lounge
WiFi throughout (most reliable in Cuba)
Luxury arcade shopping at ground level
Concierge classic-car & paladar service
From USD 460/night. Capitol-view and suite categories book three to four months ahead for the December-March peak season; standard city-view rooms typically open up two weeks out. Cuba travel for US passport holders remains subject to OFAC general-license categories, the hotel's concierge will document compliance for the Support for the Cuban People category on request.
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