Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Tourism (December
29,
2004)
Sandals opens 529-room Grande Ocho Rios Beach resort
Jamaica's newest mega
resort, the 529-room Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Beach and Villa
Resort, welcomed its first guests on Christmas Eve, Friday,
December 24.
The new resort, set on a
100-acre estate, is an amalgamation of the former Sandals Ocho
Rios and Beaches Grande Sport and at 529 rooms, is the largest in
the Sandals chain - after Sandals Royal Bahamas.
Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Beach and
Villa Resort is Jamaica's second largest hotel after the Sunset
Jamaica Grande which has 723 rooms. It is also larger than the
Holiday Inn, 524 rooms; Wyndham Rose Hall, 488 rooms; and
Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall at 427 rooms - all located in Montego Bay.
The opening followed a
multi-million dollar refurbishing at the former Beaches property,
which was closed for several months for repairs. In the interim,
Sandals Ocho Rios remained open and, according to the management,
continued to register high occupancy.
"Sandals Ocho Rios has now
been transformed and expanded into the largest in the group,"
says Michael Darby, the resort's general manager. According to
Darby, the hotel has 529 units with a combination of private
villas, luxury rooms and suites, and one-bedroom suites.
"Overlooking the Caribbean
sea . nestled in the hillside, (it has) just about every room
category to satisfy the most discerning traveller," he stated.
With the re-branding, the former
Sandals Ocho Rios which is sited on the beachfront, is being
labelled The Riviera, while Beaches Grande, which is perched on
the hillside, has being branded The Manor.
The 285-room Beaches Grande
Sport was closed in May for a US$10-million refurbishing in
preparation for the merger.
The changes included major
upgrading of all central and public areas. The great house and
villas were renovated and equipped with new furniture; a new
restaurant is to be built while existing restaurants have been
upgraded in keeping with plans to expand the meal options to be
offered by the new resort.
In addition to the restaurants,
the resort boasts ten bars including two swim-up pool bars.
A new, large swimming pool was also
built and the existing ones upgraded. In addition, the hotel's
conference facilities were modernised in an effort to make the new
resort the prime meeting place on the north coast.
"This is the ultimate and
premier vacation resort in the Caribbean and we are extremely
confident future travellers to this region will make us the
preferred number one choice for a very, very long time to
come," said Darby.
Sandals took over the management of
Grande Sport Villa Golf Resort and Spa, formerly Ciboney Resorts,
in December 2000 and purchased the property a year ago.
After operating Sandals Ocho
Rios for 10 years under a lease agreement, the Sandals group
acquired the property in 1999 and has spent over US$10-million on
upgrading the property over the years.
Former public relations manager at
Sandals Negril Burchell Henry is the PR manager at the new resort,
replacing Ian Spencer, who was recently transferred to Beaches
Turks and Caicos.
Sandals operates 18 resorts on
four Caribbean islands under the Sandals and Beaches brands.
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