Starwood Hotels & Resorts has become the first American company to agree a deal with the Cuban authorities since the revolution of 1959.

The hotel and leisure company will renovate and run three hotels in Havana.

A Starwood spokesman said the company would be making a “multimillion-dollar investment to bring the hotels up to our standards”.

The news comes on the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba – the first by a US president in almost 90 years.

The deal is a welcome reminder of how far things have come between the US and Cuba since they decided to normalize ties.

Tourism in Cuba is at an all-time high, including a sharp rise in the number of US visitors, especially since travel restrictions were eased by President Barack Obama.