CubaTrade-April2017-FLIPBOOK

A Dubai theme: The Fombellida household has freshly painted white walls and shiny black-and-white tile floors
Left: Angel Pupo Rosa and his wife Maria Mercedes Oliveros at their home near Vedado. Right: An adjacent home under construction.
Three blocks from Havana’s iconic Hotel Nacional seems
like an unlikely place for a Cuban who emigrated to the
U.S. during the periodo especial to open a casa particular, or
private lodging. But that gamble appears to be paying off, because
Jesús Fombellida and his wife Yusimi say they’ve been welcoming
a steady stream of visitors since opening their doors in November
2016.
“It’s been so busy,” said Fombedilla said from the living room
of his recently renovated two-bedroom apartment. “We rarely
have days where we aren’t booked.”
The Fombellidas are among thousands of Cuban families
riding a recent wave of prosperity in Cuba’s casa particular industry.
While Cuban families have opened their homes to tourists
for decades, recent U.S.-Cuba policy changes have allowed
homeowners to welcome more American visitors by using San
Francisco-based hospitality giant Airbnb to take reservations.
Those changes, along with the Cuban government’s willingness
to allow entrepreneurs to play a larger role in the tourism
sector, mean that private homes now account for about 25 percent
of Cuba’s available accommodations, according to a recent
Brookings Institution report. Former President Barack Obama
acknowledged that achievement by inviting Airbnb CEO Brian
Chesky on his historic 2016 visit to Cuba. During that trip,
Obama applauded Chesky for making the island Airbnb’s fastest-growing
market. It was a promising message for a high-tech
company that’s been operating in a country with limited internet
access for only about two years.
While those numbers are encouraging for entrepreneurs, the
Fombellidas know from personal experience that starting and
maintaining a casa particular requires a lot of grunt work. Nearly
every task—from financing renovations, to booking guests, to
buying supplies—requires additional steps and workarounds to
complete.
“It’s not easy, but it’s possible,” he said.
GETTING IT OFF THE GROUND
Unlike many Havana tourist accommodations, nothing in
the Fombellida household looks like it was made in the ‘50s. The
home has freshly painted white walls, shiny black-and-white tile
floors, black faux-leather sofas, flat-screen TVs, and frilly silk
duvets covering each bed.
But perhaps the most unusual part of the apartment is its
offbeat theme: Dubai. Felt posters of the Middle Eastern city
adorn several walls, and nearly every table has glass models of the
iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper.
Even a quick glance of the apartment should tell visitors that
close to nothing inside the apartment comes from Cuba.
“Nearly everything was purchased outside [of Cuba],” said
Fombellida, explaining that he bought nearly all his furniture
and appliances in Panama’s Colón Free Trade Zone and had it
all shipped to the island. As for the Dubai souvenirs, he says his
son brought them back from his frequent travels there. “I myself
have never been to Dubai,” he said with a chuckle, while wearing
a Dubai hat.
It’s difficult to find good quality materials
and products here. You need to find products
in Panama and Mexico
Angel Pupo Rosa
Buying and shipping products from Panama is prohibitively
expensive for most Cubans, but Fombellida is no ordinary Cuban.
He left the island on a balsa for the United States in 1994 to
escape the economic crash that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse.
He eventually made his way to New York, where he earned
a living as an apartment building manager. During his time in the
U.S., he kept in close contact with friends and family back home,
and made frequent visits to the island. Maintaining those ties
allowed Fombellida to fall in love with his wife Yusimi.
Several years ago, Fombellida permanently returned to the island,
begging the question of why somebody would leave the comforts
of the United States to go back there. “To be with his wife, of
course,” said Yusimi Fombellida, answering the question herself.
While the Fombellidas are fortunate enough to be able
to use American-earned dollars to spruce up a casa particular,
many Cubans look elsewhere to finance home construction and
remodeling projects.
Retired engineer Angel Pupo Rosa and his wife Maria
Mercedes Oliveros—friends of the Fombellidas—asked their
daughter in Italy to help pay for renovations to their casa particular.
A quick look at their five-room colonial-style home makes it
clear that it wasn’t cheap.
After learning that the second floor of the building where
they lived was crumbling, Rosa and Oliveros bought and renovated
the entire second floor. This involved doing some construction,
remodeling all the bathrooms, painting walls, modernizing amenities
and buying furnishings. Rosa says the entire project cost
about CUC 50,000—roughly US$58,000. A considerable portion
of that money came from his daughter through wire transfers or
in-hand deliveries.
“It’s difficult to find good quality materials and products here,”
said Rosa. “You need to find products in Panama and Mexico.”
The result of their investment is a casa particular that offers
guests a taste of what upper-class homes in Cuba were like before
the Revolution—an ambience found at historic hotels such as the
Saratoga and Nacional for a much steeper price.
“It has a balance of modern and classic,” Rosa said.
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APRIL 2017 CUBATRADE
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