Cash Dollars in Cuba’s New Stores, in Hotels No, Go Figure!

The Clasica card, a trap that complicates tourist spending in Cuba

In its eagerness to extract more dollars from foreigners, the government forces them to pay with plastic and prohibits them from using cash.

By Natalia López Moya (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – A tourist enters the cafeteria of the Grand Aston Hotel in Havana and is immediately approached by an employee who warns him that if he’s from the USA, he can only pay with the Cuban Clásica card. The traveler takes some bills from his pocket, but the waiter shakes his head: “No, dollars aren’t accepted here.” A minute later, the customer has left, and the place is empty again.

The dollarization of the Cuban economy is most fully expressed in the Clásica card. Created in early 2024 by the Cimex corporation, part of the military-controlled Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (Gaesa), this payment option has, so far, caused more problems than solutions in the tourism sector. Delays, complaints, and doubts surround the latest financial innovation from national banks.

“They told us this would make it easier for Americans and Cuban-Americans to spend more during their stay, but it’s not working,” an employee at the Iberostar Marqués de la Torre hotel, located a few meters from Havana’s Central Park, explains emphatically. The employee, along with his colleagues, received rapid training last year on how to operate the Clásica. “They told us great things about this option, but in reality, it only brings disappointment.”

The sources of discontent are multiple. “US tourists are generous, but they expect efficient and fast service, without delays. So when they order a drink at the bar or go to a restaurant for a meal and are told they first have to buy the Clásica Card at the front desk, it’s like having a bucket of cold water thrown over them.” On multiple occasions, the employee has seen guests “turn around and say they’ll go to a paladar [a private restaurant].”

Although the tourism sector is not experiencing a favorable outlook, 38,757 Cuban emigrants and 25,197 Americans visited the island during the first two months of this year. Among the former, many stay part of their visit with relatives but also choose a tourist accommodation to treat their loved ones to a few days away from the power outages and everyday problems.

Cards issued by US banks don’t work in Cuba due to the economic sanctions imposed by Washington. For this reason, tourists arriving from the United States are forced to buy the Clásica card to access a wide variety of services. “When Marrero talked about dollarizing the economy, we all thought they would use cash directly, but that hasn’t been the case,” complains the Marqués de la Torre employee.

“The simplest thing would have been to allow the dollar to circulate freely in hotels, but they say that’s not possible for now, because if they let it circulate here, it will spread everywhere and sink the Cuban peso.” For the time being, authorities prefer to encourage the use of the Clásica and avoid direct payments in US currency. “We’ll see when they come to realize this mechanism is useless,” he concludes.

For the employee, as for many other professionals linked to tourism, it remains contradictory that cash payments are allowed in the dollar stores that have begun to open throughout the island since the beginning of this year. Many wonder why US currency can be used in those markets but not in hotels. The answer points to a decision that is more political than pragmatic.

Outside the Tropicana cabaret, an employee tried to explain to an US couple this Saturday that they had to first buy a Clásica card to pay for admission to the venue, which, despite the crisis and the exodus of many of its dancers, continues to define itself as “a paradise under the stars.” With a look of confusion, the visitors finally agreed to exchange their bills for the blue plastic card.

To obtain a Clásica card, tourists can go to a bank branch, a currency exchange office (CADECA), or to the reception desk at hotels and recreational centers where they are also sold. The purchase price of the card is $4, and the service charge for reloading it is equivalent to an additional $1, for a total of $5 for the first time. After that, each reload costs $1.

The couple visiting the Tropicana had to shell out $155, $75 for each ticket, plus the purchase price and the top-up service fee of the Clásica. The card will most likely fly off in the tourist’s pants pocket to the United States, having been used only once, as is the case with most tourists who are forced to buy it.

The Clásica card is not linked to a personal bank account, nor does the cardholder’s name appear on the card. “Upon departure, the cardholder may be reimbursed for the unused amount up to a maximum of 100 US dollars or the equivalent in another available currency, provided they present their boarding pass,” explains Fincimex, but the refund depends on many factors.

Rene, a Cuban who has lived in Miami for more than 20 years, knows the difference between words and deeds. He recently traveled to the island to visit his few remaining relatives in Havana. He took the opportunity to pack two suitcases full of old family photos, belongings from his late mother, and other mementos with more emotional than material value that he wanted to take back to the US. He had the misfortune that, the night before his return to Florida, the national electrical grid went out.

Upon arriving at the Delta airline counter in Terminal 3 of Jose Marti International Airport, Rene thought he’d been saved from being stranded in Cuba due to the power outage. However, when he tried to pay the $80 fee the company was demanding for two suitcases—$35 for the first and $45 for the second—he ran into a problem. “We don’t accept US cards or cash in dollars,” the employee stated.

The woman told him he had to go to the Cadeca money exchange on the ground floor of the airport and buy a Clasica card to pay for the right to have his luggage put in the plane’s hold. The terminal’s escalators weren’t working, and only one elevator provided transportation between floors. Alone and carrying two bags, Rene had to wait patiently in line to use the elevator.

When he arrived at Cadeca, the workers were having lunch, and card sales were at a standstill. After half an hour, service was reactivated, and the Cuban-American purchased a Clasica card for $80, but the employee who served him didn’t warn him that he would only have $75 left, after deducting the $5 in fees. The result: long minutes wasted again in the line at the elevator and at the airline counter, only to have to return to Cadeca to deposit more cash and reach the $80 required by Delta.

“They rejected about ten of my 20-dollar bills because they said one had a dent here, the other was a little worn, and some had a bent corner. Not even the US Federal Reserve is that particular about paper money,” he laments. “If they say they want dollars, they can’t be carrying out such things because money that’s worth something deteriorates; it passes from hand to hand; it’s not meant to be hung in a museum.”

When the eventful expedition ended, there were only about 40 minutes left until the plane was due to take off. “Because of the Clásica card, I almost ended up missing my flight,” he told this newspaper after his return to Miami. He couldn’t even give his family in Cuba the card so they could recharge it later, as he had chosen to go to the airport alone. Now, in a drawer in his Hialeah apartment, he keeps the memory of the awful time he had in Havana.

Translated by Translating Cuba.

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