Very interesting. I'm not sure if I've taken a greater notice because of it's cigar mecca status, but there sure has been alot of articles and news lately about this. The biggest trend I've noticed is a general lowering of expectations. Almost every article and travel story I've read recently makes a point of telling the reader not to expect what we consider 5-star accommodations and service. Despite all of those, I see one of two things happening: Travel gets opened up, there's a flood of US tourists, they get lousy service, average food and outdated hotels, then it all dies down and few people keep going OR Cuba is somehow able to quickly build-up and renovate and change their service-industry attitude and it's a big hit.
I personally hope it's a combination of the two. Part of the allure for me is that it's more real, authentic, and cultural. Alot of tourists these days just want to physically be in that different place, but they want it to be as much like home as possible.