Hotel Deauville (Havana)

The Hotel Deauville is a historic hotel in the Centro Habana municipios of Havana, Cuba, located at Galiano 1, La Habana, on a corner with the Malecón promenade, and overlooking the Bay of Havana.[1] The hotel was constructed as a casino hotel in 1957 by a consortium owned by American mobster Santo Trafficante Jr..

Hotel Deauville
The Malecon, 2017. The Hotel Deauville is the large blue building on the left.
General information
LocationGaliano, 1 E/ Malecón y S. Lázaro.
Havana, Cuba
Coordinates23.14206°N 82.36358°W / 23.14206; -82.36358
Opening1957
OwnerGran Caribe
Other information
Number of rooms144
Website
http://www.hoteldeauvillehabana.com/

In 1955, President Fulgencio Batista enacted Hotel Law 2074, offering tax incentives, government loans and casino licenses to anyone who built a hotel costing in excess of $1,000,000 or a nightclub costing $200,000.[2] This resulted in the construction of the Hotel Deauville, as well as other hotels including the Hotel Habana Riviera, Hotel Capri, Hotel St. John and Havana Hilton, all featuring casinos.[3]

The construction of the Hotel Deauville began in 1956, and the hotel opened in 1957. It was built at a cost of $2.3 million, was 14 stories high and featured 140 rooms, a rooftop swimming pool, a cabaret and two casinos.[4][5]

The hotel was primarily owned by Trafficante crime family boss Santo Trafficante Jr. and bolita banker Evaristo Garcia Jr., and the casinos were owned by Trafficante. Joe Silesi (alias Joe Rivers), a member of the Gambino crime family, was the casino manager.[6] Trafficante also had interests in the Hotel Capri, the Sans Souci nightclub and casino, the Sevilla-Biltmore, and the Hotel Comodoro.[7][8] The casino was sacked by mobs in early January 1959 as Fidel Castro's rebel army overtook Havana.[9]

On October 24, 1960 the Cuban government published its Official Gazette Resolution 3 (pursuant to Law 851, Official Gazette, July 7, 1960), which nationalized the Hotel Deauville as well as a number of other hotels and businesses owned by American investors.[10] In 2017, it was announced that St Giles Hotels would assume management of the hotel after a major renovation. As of 2021, the renovation has not yet begun.[11]

References
  1. Hotel Deauville - wikimapia
  2. Rough Guide Havana Mob Hotels
  3. Investment in the New Cuban Tourist Industry by Mark Michael Miller and Tony L. Hawthorne
  4. cubaheritage.org - Hotel Deauville
  5. Havana Nocturne p205
  6. Havana Nocturne p205
  7. Testimony of Santos Trafficante Jr. before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) September 28, 1978
  8. Gangsterismo: The United States, Cuba and the Mafia, 1933 to 1966. by Jack Colhoun
  9. Havana Nocturne p305
  10. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States - In the Matter of the Claim of Edward Thal. November 27, 1968
  11. https://www.travelweekly.com/travel-news/hotel-news/st-giles-rebranding-havana-hotel?ctxp=hotels
  • English, T.J. Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. William Morrow Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0061712746
  • Mobsters Move in on Troubled Havana and Split Rich Gambing Profits with Batista. Life magazine March 10, 1958 pp32-37
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