The Barcelona chain Axel opens the first LGBTQ+ hotel in Havana

Axel Hotels resumes openings after the halt caused by the pandemic. La Barcelona-based chain founded by Juan Juliá has opened this week its first hotel in Cuba, located in Havana, and now has a total of ten establishments aimed at the LGBTQ+ public in the cities of Barcelona (2), Madrid, Berlin (2), Miami, Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Ibiza and San Sebastián.

El Telégrafo Axel Hotel La Habana will be the first LGBTQ+ establishment in the capital of Cuba and is located in a historic and emblematic blue building inaugurated in 1860 that has been completely renovated. In fact, the Hotel Telégrafo de La Habana is considered one of the oldest in the city and is located on Prado Street, near the National Capitol of Cuba, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of the Revolution.

The new Telégrafo has 63 rooms, in addition to leisure and gastronomy spaces. Its owner is Grupo Gaviota, one of the main hotel companies in Cuba, which has signed an initial ten-year contract with Axel Hotels to manage the establishment. "The goal is for it to become the heterofriendly meeting point in Havana for international tourism and the local community," Axel states.

The chain born in Barcelona has chosen Cuba as a new destination for its tourism potential and for "the great social relevance in terms of visibility and normalization of the LGBTQ+ community that the arrival of the first gay hotel in Havana represents." For the last quarter of the year, Axel Hotels has set out to achieve an occupancy of 60% in the new Hotel Telégrafo.

Axel Hotels opened its first establishment aimed at the gay public in Barcelona in 2003. Located in the heart of the Gayxample, on Consell de Cent street with Aribau, the Axel Barcelona has a four-star category and 101 rooms. Last December, the chain sold the property that houses it to the Swiss Life fund which, according to sector sources, paid around 30 million euros in a sale & leaseback transaction, which means that Axel continues to manage the hotel and occupy the building, but now under a rental regime.

In the Catalan capital, the chain also owns the Axel TWO, on Calabria street, inaugurated in 2015. Axel Hotels' arrival in Cuba comes two years after the company landed in the United States with the opening of AxelBeach Miami, located in South Beach. Thus, the firm led by Joan Julià now operates in four countries: Spain, Germany, the United States, and Cuba.

Axel Hotels already has three other projects in its portfolio. Specifically, it plans to strengthen its presence in the Spanish market with the opening of establishments in Valencia and Bilbao in 2024 and will make the leap to a new country from that date, Portugal, where it plans to establish itself on the island of Madeira.

In 2021, Axel Hotels exceeded 21 million euros in total turnover, a figure that represents an increase of almost 79% compared to 2020, still 22% short of matching the pre-pandemic results of 2019, when it reached 27 million euros in turnover. The chain's average occupancy in the last year has been 66.8%. It is worth noting the AxelBeach Maspalomas, with an occupancy of 80.5%, although, despite the health crisis, good figures have also been achieved at the Axel Hotel Barcelona, with an annual occupancy of 69%, AxelBeach Ibiza (78.7%), Axel Hotel Madrid (64.5%) and Axel Hotel San Sebastián (71%).

In 2016, Juan Juliá brought in a partner to gain strength for the chain's expansion, but this investor has recently disassociated himself from the group and today Juliá manages the company without external partners.