By the Caribbean Journal staff

Luxury hotel brand Kempinski is adding a second hotel property in Cuba.

The Swiss company, which debuted its five-star Gran Manzana Hotel Kempinski in Havana in 2017, will be opening a five-star luxury resort on Cayo Guillermo, the company announced.

The Cayo Guillermo Resort Kempinski is already under construction and slated to open this year, the company said in a statement.

A rendering of a room.

The highlight of the 245-unit hotel will be a collection of six overwater villas, all of which will have private pools.

The majority of the rooms will boast ocean views; the property will be set directly on Playa Pilar beach.

A rendering of the spa.

Most notably, though, the hotel will be what Kempinski is calling Cuba’s first “non all-inclusive resort hotel,” with a spirit “inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s legacy.”

The entrance to the resort.

It would one of three Kempinski hotels in the Caribbean, with Kempinski set to debut its first hotel on the island of Dominica laster this year, a project by Range Developments.

It will be the second Kempinski-branded hotel in Cuba, along with the Gran Manzana in Havana, above.

Kempinski grew its global hotel project pipeline by 18 percent last year, according to Markus Semer, chairman of the management board and CEO of Kempinski.

The company is again partnering with Cuba’s state tourism company, Gaviota, on the resort.

“With Gran Hotel Mazana Kempinski, we introduced the concept of luxury hospitality to the city of Havana and are honoured to have also been selected as management company for the first ever luxury resort in the country. We are proud of the strong partnership we have built with Grupo de Turismo Gaviota and look forward to replicating our accomplishments in Havana, where we look back on particularly successful first two years of operation.”

— CJ