HAVANA — American hospitality giant Starwood began managing a hotel owned by the Cuban military on Tuesday, opening one of the biggest holes in the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba since Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared detente in Dec. 2014.

The facade of the 186-room Quinta Avenida hotel in Havana’s upscale Miramar neighborhood has been emblazoned with the logo of Starwood’s Four Points by Sheraton business travel brand and travelers can now book rooms through Starwood’s website.

The Obama administration permitted the deal with a special Treasury Department license, and Starwood announced it on the eve of President Obama’s March visit to Cuba.

The stated intention of Obama’s normalization of relations with Cuba is creating more freedom for ordinary Cubans to operate independently of their single-party government, which maintains control of the most aspects of the centrally planned economy.