As Trade Restrictions Crumble, Airbnb Offers Rooms In Cuba

As reported by the Associated Press, and carried by the Washington Post, one major move toward normalized relations between Cuba and the United States has been made not by diplomats, but by entrepreneurs. Airbnb has opened its crowd-sourced roomfinding service to Cubans and Americans, such that American tourists visiting Havana can book space in private homes — as of today. From the article: “We believe that Cuba could become one of Airbnb’s biggest markets in Latin America,” said Kay Kuehne, regional director for Airbnb, the website and mobile app that allows users to book rooms in more than 1 million private homes around the world. “We are actually plugging into an existing culture of micro-enterprise in Cuba. The hosts in Cuba have been doing for decades what we just started doing seven years ago. ... Because of continuing restrictions under the U.S. embargo, the company’s Cuba listing will only be available to U.S. travelers visiting under one of 12 U.S.-government approved categories of legal travel, ranging from professional research to religious activities.”

Comments

Casa Particulars

[Malc]

Cuba is easy to travel around. Reserve a room in a casa particular in Havana before you arrive, or just turn up. After that, the owners will just call ahead where ever you want to go and help you out. Or take your chances and just turn up and see what you find.

I loved Cuba, but accessing Internet wasn't much fun (my mobile phone company charged through the nose, and the equiv of USD$10/hr at one of the rare internet cafes that barely worked wasn't worth it. Go to Cuba and enjoy the music, interacting with people and being generally unplugged.

Re:The travel ban is usurpation.

[Anonymous Coward]

On issues that the constitution is silent, the feds can do what they want.

No, that's actually the exact opposite of how it's supposed to work. Powers not specifically enumerated by the constitution are reserved to the people and states. The misconception you have is exactly why there was such debate when the Bill of Rights was originally proposed...