Cuba: hot right now

In recent years, Cuba has seen an exponential rise in popularity
among international tourists. The Caribbean island is flooding with
holidaymakers – Europeans in particular – who are attracted to the
country’s colonial-style architecture, vintage cars and
cigar-chomping folk. It’s a mysterious country, and one of extreme
polarisations – the dilapidated buildings dressed with smatterings
of vibrant colour, are an obvious example – yet such contradictions
only add to the island’s undeniable charm.

Airbnb launched in Cuba in April 2015, and in the first two
years alone, hosts in Cuba earned nearly $40 million. Since then,
the number of Airbnb listings have continued to grow. Yet as the
tourism trade thrives and the trade embargo shows no sign of
halting, are Airbnb hosts able to manage their private businesses
effectively and meet the demands of tourists visiting throughout
the year?

The reality: life as a Cuban

There is a confidence among Cubans that is unflinching. Despite
the poor infrastructure, continuous food shortages and lack of
opportunity that many citizens face, Cubans have a remarkable
ability to utilise the few resources they have – they’ve been
driving the same cars since the revolutionaries overthrew Batista’s
government in 1959. In short, they are innovative and know how to
drive a hard bargain.

Government job salaries average around 30 CUC (24 GBP) per month
regardless of job title or qualification – a meagre amount that
makes it impossible to save, let alone move freely within the
country. Yet despite the low wages, Cuba’s healthcare system
continues to be amongst the best in the world and the adult
literacy rate is a staggering 99.75% (according to Unesco).
Education and healthcare is free to all citizens and both are
sources of pride for the communist government.

“We have different worries here,” says Danel, a film producer
and walking tour guide in Havana.
“We are not in debt from university and have fewer financial woes.
Rent is cheap and everything is provided for us. But it’s harder
for us to leave.” In recent months, the Trump administration
ordered new sanctions on Cuba, including limiting the amount of
money that Cuban Americans can send to relatives on the island and,
in addition to this, the five-year visitor visas for Cubans are
soon to be abolished. This adds further complications to civilians,
especially those who are economically depressed.

Sharing economy or capitalist mentality?

Airbnb’s “sharing economy” platform has impacted hospitality and
housing in cities across the globe – though it has not all been
positive. While such platforms empower users to utilise goods and
services, it is arguably promoting economic self-interest which
works against the traditional communist ethos of high-income
equality.

Cuba is one of Airbnb’s fastest growing markets. Hosts in
Havana, Trinidad and other parts of the island are renting rooms
for 30 CUC a night and making an average of 500 CUC per month,
which is more than ten times the salary of a doctor earning 40 CUC
(32 GBP). Government jobs are paid poorly, which is why many Cubans
are leaving state jobs and starting their own private
businesses.

Hector Gortazar and his wife Arianna currently work as Airbnb
hosts in Santa Fe, Havana. They both left their government jobs –
Hector was a teacher and Arianna endured 12-hour shifts as a nurse
– to manage a listing on Airbnb. His brother, Alejandro Gortazar,
is the property owner. He’s also a successful photographer and
visual artist who often works away for six months at a time.
Managing his brother’s property allows Hector more free time while
earning the same or sometimes more than his teaching salary. Yet
his story is not unique.

Since Raúl Castro’s free-market reforms in 2011, Cubans have
started to be more self-sufficient when it comes to generating
their own wealth, independent of government and state. It was Fidel
Castro’s brother Raúl, Cuba’s president between 2008 and 2018, who
legalised private business across the island. The reforms proved so
popular that thousands of Cubans left state firms and co-operatives
to start their own small businesses enabling more lucrative
salaries.

Life before Airbnb

The hospitality landscape in Cuba largely consists of hotels and
“casa particulares”, and this has been the case for decades. In
Havana, a more affluent traveller might opt for one of the
historical government-owned hotels, such as Hotel Nacional de Cuba or
Hotel Inglaterra , both
providing opulent surroundings with original colonial features
offering a glimpse of less austere times prior to the revolution.
Yet for tourists looking for an authentic experience that doesn’t
break the bank (a stay in either hotel will set you back around
£180 per night for a standard double), there are thousands of casas
offering beds in family homes, usually colonial mansions in quieter
neighbourhoods.

Before Airbnb existed in Cuba, hosts advertised on other
platforms such as Booking.com or Sol Latino, a company
based in Paris. Airbnb is, however, more profitable and continues
to be the top choice among Cuban hosts. Onelio del via valle
Martinez, 31, is an Airbnb host in Cienfuegos. He lives in the
family home with his parents, his wife and their three children.
Before working as a host, Onelio had a government job that provided
a modest income for him and his family. This soon changed when he
realised more money could be made as a host.

“When I was working in Mexico, I created an Airbnb profile for
my parents and we started getting reservations instantly.” Onelio
rents out two double rooms in his elegantly-presented colonial
home. “But it’s hard to do well on Airbnb. You [hosts] must have a
strong home.” Onelio and his family take reservations every month,
some from Airbnb and others from Booking.com, but they receive a
better deal with Airbnb. “They [Booking.com] take 30 per cent
commission, so for this reason, I have to increase my fee.”

In western Cuba, Danner Sánchez Díaz, 20, manages his family’s
Airbnb listing overlooking the dramatic Crepusculo valley in

Viñales. After graduating from university, Danner worked as a
chef at a local restaurant before realising more money could be
made as a host. “We have the best view in Viñales,” says Danner,
and he is right. On average, Danner and his family earn 500 CUC per
month, and in Cuban terms, that is a great deal. “The earnings are
divided between myself, my mother, father and grandfather.” They
also have a dog and a number of chickens that roam freely on the
land, so their outgoings include food and supplies for the animals.
“Our groceries come to 100 CUC per month, including food for the
animals, my family and our guests,” he says. Even so, compared to a
doctor’s wage, that’s not bad.

Challenges hosts face

Since the arrival of public internet in 2013, which alongside
personal computers and mobile phones had previously been banned by
the Castros, Airbnb hosts are able to communicate relatively freely
with their international customer base. In 2017, President Miguel
Díaz-Canel authorised home internet and hundreds of public WiFi
connection points across the country, and one year later Cuba’s
citizens were granted full internet access for mobile phones.

Yet despite this, WiFi is not free, cheap or easily accessed,
and there are considerable connection shortages across the island.
Citizens and tourists pay 1 CUC per hour of WiFi, which often
involves queuing outside Etecsa (Cuba’s leading provider) shops for
a long time. This isn’t viable for most Cubans and poses a real
problem for hosts, as WiFi is a necessity when it comes to
communicating with international guests.

When it comes to providing goods for their guests, the
nation-wide food shortages and trade embargo can cause difficulties
for hosts. “We buy our soap and shampoo from someone who works at a
hotel. It’s the only way we can source miniature products for our
customers,” says Onelio, who spends 2 CUC per customer on such
products. Cuba is currently experiencing shortages in staple foods
including chicken, eggs and bread due to the crisis in Venezuela,
one of the few countries they can trade with.

Airbnb: for better or for worse?

For many Cuban hosts and families, Airbnb has allowed them a
better quality of life, and the platform continues to be more
profitable for them to use than other agencies and booking
services. Currently Airbnb only takes 1 CUC per booking per night,
so if a room is charged at 30 CUC, the platform are taking less
than 5% commission. This means that Cuban hosts are retaining as
much as 95% of the price paid per night.

There are growing concerns among hosts that the government might
increase their tax rate (at the moment it’s fixed as 150 CUC per
household, regardless of number of guests and total income and
profit made). “The government don’t know how much tourists are
paying – it’s not regulated at all,” says Onelio. If the government
wise up to the amount hosts are charging guests and the income they
are generating as a result, extra fees could be incurred, an
increased tax rate applied, and everything could change.

For now, life goes on in Cuba. Tourists are continuing to flock
to its Caribbean shores and it’s anticipated that numbers will
increase to 5.1 million visitors in 2019. You would think that the
widening inequality between those working in government jobs versus
the more entrepreneurial-minded would cause disharmony. Yet there
is still a strong sense of solidarity among Cubans. Although some
are adopting a more capitalist outlook and profiting from Airbnb’s
“sharing economy”, it doesn’t seem to be triggering hostility among
the people. Not yet anyway.