April 03, 2015

Airbnb Cuba: US guests welcome!

located:	Cuba, USA
editor:	Ama Lorenz

For a half-century, the US trade embargo has blocked businesses from entering the Cuban market. In January, however, the Obama administration loosened a series of restrictions on US business in an attempt to encourage the growth of the island's small private sector.

Netflix and MasterCard have already unblocked their services in Cuba, despite only about 26 percent of the population having access to the Internet., and most credit-card issuers still prohibit transactions from Cuba, making MasterCard's move largely symbolic so far.

Now also Airbnb started to offer places to stay in Cuba. "We believe that Cuba could become one of Airbnb's biggest markets in Latin America," said Kay Kuehne, regional director for Airbnb, the website and mobile app.

The Airbnb move could be the most significant development in terms of putting money in the pockets of entrepreneurs across the island and bolstering them in a stagnant state-run economy — leading goals for the Obama administration in warming relations with Cuba.

The arrival in Cuba of the online booking site for in-home lodging “will encourage people-to-people exchanges between Cubans and Americans, help meet soaring demand for rooms, and support and further encourage entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Cuba,” says Jake Colvin, vice president for global trade issues at the National Foreign Trade Council in Washington.

Airbnb will turn up more than 1,000 properties across the island, with 40 percent in Havana and the rest in tourist destinations such as Cienfuegos a few hours away on the southern coast. The company has been sending teams of representatives to Cuba for three months to sign up home owners, and plans to expand steadily in coming months.