“It Is a Death Knell for Small Jamaican Hotels”: A Negril Innkeeper’s Warning

• A 2027 GCT increase targets tourism accommodations
• Small hotels say they lack the scale to absorb it
• Rising electricity costs and two hurricanes compound the pressure
• One hotelier wants a phased rollout like the original room tax

Small hotel operators are warning that a General Consumption Tax increase slated for April 2027 could destabilise locally owned Jamaican properties at a moment when the sector is still recovering from Hurricane Melissa. Hoteliers describe the timing, layered onto rising utility costs and lingering hurricane disruption, as what one stakeholder called a perfect storm.

Sophie Grizzle-Roumel, hotelier at Charela Inn in Negril, did not soften her assessment. Talking as a small hotelier, it is a death knell for small Jamaican hotels, she said. We have already had massive increases in electricity. We have gone through two recent hurricanes. We consistently stay open, pay our taxes, and keep our staff employed even when business is down. This will put tremendous pressure on the smaller hotels.

Her core argument is structural rather than simply about the tax rate itself: small properties lack the economies of scale larger resort chains use to absorb new costs, and don’t receive the substantial tax credits generated through major capital investment that bigger developments qualify for. We don’t get concessions, she said. We buy local, which is often more expensive. We represent the authentic side of Jamaica, but we cannot compete with the large hotels on price, a framing that positions small, independently owned hotels as carrying a disproportionate share of the tax burden precisely because they lack the financial tools larger competitors have to offset it.

Grizzle-Roumel’s specific proposed fix looks to Jamaica’s own tax history rather than requesting an exemption outright: a tiered or phased implementation similar to the structure used when the room tax was first introduced, easing small hotels into the new rate over time rather than applying the full increase immediately alongside every other cost pressure they’re already managing. Whether government adopts that approach before the 2027 effective date, or applies the increase uniformly regardless of hotel size, will determine whether her death knell framing proves accurate or overstated.

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