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// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs the Hotel Sevilla a good place to stay? Yes, it's a villa option.

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Hotel Sevilla Habana
Original 1908 wing of Hotel Sevilla
Map
Interactive map of the Hotel Sevilla Habana area
General information
LocationCalle Trocadero #55, Entre Prado y Zulueta
Cuba Havana, Cuba
OpeningMarch 22, 1908
OwnerGran Caribe
Technical details
Floor count10
Design and construction
ArchitectsJosé Troya, Antonio Rodríguez and José Rodríguez, Schultze & Weaver
Other information
Number of rooms178

The Hotel Sevilla Habana is a historic hotel in Havana, Cuba.

History

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The 1924 tower wing of the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore, 1925

The Hotel Sevilla opened on March 22, 1908.[1] It was a four-story Moorish Revival structure, designed by architects Arellano y Mendoza on, located on Calle Trocadero, next to the Paseo del Prado, between the Malecón and Parque Central. The Sevilla was bought by John McEntee Bowman and Charles Francis Flynn in 1919 and renamed the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore. In 1924, Bowman-Biltmore Hotels constructed a huge ten-story tower wing, with a rooftop ballroom, designed by noted New York architects Schultze & Weaver.

In the 1920s the Chicago gangster Al Capone stayed there, booking the entire sixth floor of the hotel.[2] In 1939, the Sevilla-Biltmore was purchased by Italian-Uruguayan mobster Amleto Battisti y Lora.[1] Under Battisti the hotel was used for narcotics trafficking. Cocaine shipments arrived there on a weekly basis from Madrid via a commercial airliner, while marijuana and cocaine were sold at the Longchamps Restaurant in the Hotel Sevilla Arcade, selling at a price between fifteen and fifty dollars per gram.[3] Its casino was closely associated with Havana's mafia network, being part-owned by Santo Trafficante, Jr. Mobs destroyed the Sevilla-Biltmore's casino on January 1, 1959, after Fulgencio Batista fled the country overnight as Fidel Castro's rebel army approached Havana. Amleto Battisti took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy.[4][5]

Today, the hotel is owned by the Cuban state-run Gran Caribe hotel group. The French Accor chain assumed management in 1996,[6] first under their Sofitel division as the Hotel Sofitel Sevilla Havana,[7] and later under their Mercure Hotels division as the Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane. Accor announced plans in 2017 to renovate the Sevilla and transfer it to their boutique MGallery by Sofitel division.[8] However, Accor ceased management of the hotel on December 31, 2018.

In 2023, the hotel joined the Spanish Meliá Hotels International chain[9] as Hotel Sevilla Habana Affiliated by Meliá. In 2026, Meliá ceased all operations in Cuba.[10]

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The hotel is mentioned in The Godfather Part II, at a meeting between the main mafia bosses in Havana, itself a reference to the Havana Conference.[11] The Sevilla-Biltmore was featured in Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana as the location where the protagonist joins the British secret service.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 "hotel sevilla cuba - a Centennial Hotel in Old Havana city". Hotelsevillacuba.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. ↑ English, T. J. (2008). Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. Harper. p. 11.
  3. ↑ English, T. J. (2008). Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. Harper. p. 102.
  4. ↑ Batista and Regime Flee Cuba; Castro Moving to Take Power; Mobs Riot and Loot in Havana, The New York Times. The entire Sixth floor was rented by occupied by Al Capone and he stayed in room 615 during the 20"s January 2, 1959
  5. ↑ Moruzzi, Peter (10 December 2011). "Family Feud: Havana vs. Las Vegas in the 1950s. Part 2". Petermouruzzi.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "Havana staying as it was". Otago Daily Times. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  7. ↑ "The Role of the United States in the Cuban Economy". Ascecuba.org. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Cuba's 1st US Standard-Based 4-5 Star/4-5 Diamond Rated Hotel May Arrive In June". U.S. - Cuba Trade and Economic Council, Inc. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "Meliá Starts a New Chapter in Cuba, Driven by the Island's Recovery, and Introduces New Lifestyle Experiences".
  10. ↑ Economía (2026-07-21). "Meliá abandona Cuba tres décadas después por las nuevas sanciones de EEUU". elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  11. ↑ "Meeting Between Michael Corleone And Hyman Roth - The Godfather 2 (1974)" – via www.youtube.com.
  12. ↑ Cluster, Dick (2008). The History of Havana. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 189–90.
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23°08′25″N 82°21′30″W / 23.1404°N 82.3583°W / 23.1404; -82.3583

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