Hotel Nacional de Cuba
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The Hotel Nacional is a historical luxury hotel located on the Malecón in Havana, Cuba. Featuring an eclectic mix of architecture, it opened in 1930 at a time where Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans.
Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors and writers such as Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Keaton, Jorge Negrete, Agustin Lara, Tyrone Power, Rómulo Gallegos, Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway. The guestlist includes well known Italian American gangsters Santo Trafficante, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. The hotel’s reputation as a deluxe host is backed by patrons such as Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, scientist Alexander Flemming, and innumerable Ibero American Heads of State and European monarchs. Minnesota (United States) Governor Jesse Ventura stayed at the hotel while visiting Cuba on a trade mission in 2002.
In 1933, after Fulgencio Batista's September 4, 1933 coup against the transitional government, it was the residence of Sumner Welles and was the site of a bloody siege, which pitted the Cuban Army officers who had been instrumental in the overthrow of Gerardo Machado (August 12. 1933), against the non-commissioned officers and ranks of the Cuban army who supported Batista. Despite heavy losses due to the presence of the extremely accurate Cuban Olympic Rifle team, the Batista forces prevailed. A number of officers were shot on surrender.
After years of neglect due to the disappearance of Cuba's tourism following the Cuban revolution, the hotel was mainly used to accommodate diplomats and foreign government officials. After the collapse of the USSR the Cuban communist party soon reopened Cuba to tourists in search of monetary support. Despite its restoration during the 1990s the hotel no longer carries the status and impact it once did. But its remaining splendor and history serves as tangible remainder to Cuba's past times.
The hotel has been depicted in several films and is a popular photographed and painted landmark. The last scene of the 2001's movie Nada + (Nothing more) takes place in top of the Cascade Fountain in the Hotel grounds.
 Musicians at the Hotel Nacional, Havana. October 2002 |
 Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana. October 2002 |
 Hotel Nacional and The Cascade fountain from Malecon Avenue. |
 Main entrance. Poster reads "Welcome to FIT Cuba 2007 (International Tourism Fair) |
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