HISTORY - AFTER THE REVOLUTION

Upon the entry of the Revolutionary Army into Havana, Fidel Castro took the Continental Suite, room 2324, as his central office for 3 months. He wanted to give a clear message to the world by occupying a hotel of US origin that was also one of the greatest achievements of Batista. During this period, conferences and meetings were held in the hotel and Fidel Castro gave regular interviews to international journalists. Castro gave his first press conference in the hotel's ballroom. His challenging words in the lobby are never-forgotten: ”Si a los americanos no les gusta lo que está sucediendo en Cuba, pueden hacer aterrizar sobre la azotea a sus marines… Habrá 200.000 gringos muertos (If the Americans do not like what is happening in Cuba, they can land their marines on the roof ... There will be 200.000 gringo dead.)”. The casinos throughout the city were closed, but the new government took a step back when the Havana casino workers started to protest, so that the casinos reopened a few months later.

The Revolution had a negative impact on the entry of the foreign tourists to the island. The new situation in the island with many uncertainties, blocked the way of the foreign tourists into the country. Consequently, on New Year’s Eve 1959/1960 Castro ordered to organize a party to stop the rot by presenting the new image of the island particularly to the US and encouraging the Americans to visit Cuba. Numerous American journalists and celebrities attended the party, held in the Pavilion ballroom atop the hotel. The boxer Joe Louis was also invited to the party to persuade the black Americans to travel to Cuba. However, the efforts to reassure the American citizens that Cuba was the same tropical paradise for them, were unsuccessful.

The hotel administration was increasingly claiming about the cost problems and the workers' wages. Even though the hotel seldom had more than 100 guests, 650 employees were working in the hotel. However, the lay-off of any employee was made difficult according the new rules in Cuba. Consequently, the hotel demanded from the government to grant two million pesos to finance the maintenance costs and to keep the hotel working; otherwise the hotel would go bankrupt. The request of the hotel was eventually met by the government and the hotel continued to operate until the end of 1960, when the relations between the US and Cuba worsened and all hotels of US origin were expropriated, and all casinos were permanently closed. In 15 June 1960 Castro announced in his speech to the members of the Restaurant and Hotel Workers Federation that the Hotel Habana Hilton has changed its name to the Hotel Habana Libre.

During the first years of the Revolution, the combination of the hotel guests changed significantly. The hotel opened its doors to the ordinary Cubans to compensate the loss of the foreign tourists; the peasants’ women that came to Habana to gain qualification, students of the first school of arts and crafts, the first foreign technicians. For a while, the two floors of the hotel were dedicated to the work of the first Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  

In the 1960s the hotel began to be operated by National Institute of the Tourism. During the Tricontinental Conference, addressing Asian, African and Latin American countries, organized in the hotel in 1966, Fidel Castro stayed in the Castellana Suite, room 2224. In the following years, he continued to use this room for all major diplomatic events. Currently, the room is converted into a museum and all the original furniture and artwork are preserved as they were in 1958.

The important guests in 1960s were the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in the space, that held a press conference at the hotel during his stay in 1964, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky that participated in the 17th Chess Olympiad in 1966, and Salvador Allende, the President of the Chilean Senate of the time, that stayed in the hotel in 1967.

From 1960s to 1990s, the hotel suffered several modifications. Some shops for foreigners were added to the building. The halls were enlarged, and the restaurants were restored. 

In 1990s, the Cuban government focused on the rebuilding the tourism industry in the island. In 1993, the hotel was managed by the Spanish Guitart Hotels chain and for a while its name was changed to Hotel Habana Libre Guitart.

In 1996 the Spanish Sol Meliá Hotel Group assumed management of the hotel in association with the Cuban government. The hotel was extensively renovated and much of it was modernized, when it was kept closed during the period of 1996 and 1997. At the end of 1997, the hotel opened its doors with its new name, Hotel Tryp Habana Libre, as the hotel was placed in the Tryp division of urban hotels of Sol Meliá Hotel Group.

In 1998, on the occasion of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba, many prestigious journalists like Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw and Christiane Amanpour stayed in the hotel and reported from here. CNN’s owner Ted Turner and his wife, the famous actress Jane Fonda was also among the hotel guests.

In 2013, the French spider man Alain Robert climbed the hotel without ropes and safety net.