Meliá follows Iberostar out of Cuba, abandoning 15 hotels ahead of US sanctions deadline

The pullout

Meliá Hotels International, the largest foreign hotel operator in Cuba, announced on Wednesday that its Portuguese subsidiary Ilha Bela will immediately cease management, marketing, and brand licensing for 15 hotels on the island. The decision, confirmed to Spain's stock market regulator (CNMV), follows a similar move by Iberostar, which said on Tuesday it had stopped operating 12 of its 18 Cuban properties as of 1 June.

This decision, already communicated on 26 May to the owners of these hotels and confirmed today, has been taken out of a deep sense of corporate responsibility, and is a response to and consequence of a combination of supervening circumstances beyond Ilha Bela's capacity to manage or act.

The affected properties span the Meliá, Paradisus, Sol, and Innside brands, including the Gran Hotel Bristol Habana Vieja, Paradisus Los Cayos, and Meliá Península Varadero. Meliá stressed the financial impact is "limited" because most of these hotels were already closed due to energy shortages and collapsing demand.

The US ultimatum

The exits come just two days before a 5 June deadline set by Washington. An executive order signed on 1 May threatens to freeze US-based assets of any foreign company or individual doing business with Gaesa, the military-run conglomerate that controls more than half of Cuba's GDP and owns the hotels. The order also targets entities involved in energy, defence, finance, mining, and security on the island.

The final result of the new measures will produce an almost total disconnection of Cuba from international trade and financing circuits. Foreign companies that could previously assume certain risks may now prefer to withdraw to avoid problems with the United States.

A crumbling tourism sector

Cuba's tourism industry was already reeling before the sanctions threat. Meliá noted in its recent quarterly report that 2026 began with "significant" difficulties due to US intervention in the region, creating "a supervening difficulty" in obtaining fuel. Aviation fuel shortages have forced the cancellation of numerous direct flights, even from Cuba's main source markets. Iberostar retains six hotels through partnerships with Cubanacán and Gran Caribe, government-linked groups not tied to Gaesa. One of those, the Iberostar Selection La Habana, is Cuba's tallest hotel at 42 storeys and opened only in March after a $200 million state investment.

Broader corporate exodus

Iberostar and Meliá are not alone. Canadian operator Blue Diamond, the third-largest foreign hotel chain in Cuba by number of managed properties, is also ceasing all operations on the island, according to official media. Canadian mining firm Sherritt, the largest foreign investor in Cuba, has likewise announced its exit. The executive order's broad language gives Washington full discretion to apply sanctions, and economist Pavel Vidal warns that remittances, Cuban-American travel, private-sector imports, and humanitarian aid may be all that remains of the island's international ties.

What Meliá leaves behind

Meliá entered the crisis with 34 hotels in Cuba, representing 14% of its global portfolio. The company has opted for what it calls an "orderly disaffiliation" from the 15 properties, implementing protocols to transparently inform suppliers and clients. The Escarrer family, which controls Meliá, had previously declined to comment on its Cuban future amid what it described as high uncertainty. The remaining 19 Meliá-branded properties on the island face an unclear path as the sanctions clock runs down.