- Five Jamaican resorts are operating again
- Major renovations completed across hotel portfolio
- Negril and Montego Bay properties upgraded
- Sixth resort planned for 2027
Kingston, Jamaica, 22 September 2026
Royalton Hotels & Resorts has reopened all five of its Jamaican properties following extensive renovations, restoring a significant block of tourism accommodation in Negril and Montego Bay while signalling further investment in Jamaica’s resort property market.
The company’s three Negril resorts, Royalton Negril, Royalton Hideaway Negril and Grand Lido Negril, are again receiving guests, alongside Royalton Blue Waters and Royalton Hideaway Blue Waters in Montego Bay.
The reopening follows investment in guestrooms, suites, public spaces and wider resort environments across the properties. The company said accommodation has been redesigned while technology, connectivity and guest services have also been upgraded.
Resort investment returns to focus
For Jamaica, the significance extends beyond the number of hotel rooms returning to the market.
Large resort properties represent substantial pieces of the island’s built environment, supporting employment, construction activity, utilities, transportation and businesses serving the tourism sector. Reinvestment in established hotels can therefore have effects well beyond the boundaries of the resort itself.
The latest upgrades also demonstrate how Jamaica’s mature tourism properties are being repositioned rather than simply replaced.
Hotels increasingly compete through the quality of their buildings, technology and overall guest experience. In Royalton’s case, rooms have been modernised alongside improvements to digital services, WiFi and pre arrival systems.
The company plans to introduce an artificial intelligence based concierge system across the resorts in the months following reopening, allowing guests to obtain information and assistance through their devices.
Negril and Montego Bay remain central
The five reopened properties are concentrated in two of Jamaica’s established tourism markets.
Negril continues to offer a mixture of traditional hotels, all inclusive resorts, villas, smaller accommodation and residential property along its western coastline.
Montego Bay, meanwhile, remains one of the island’s largest tourism and property investment centres, with extensive hotel development alongside residential communities, commercial property and supporting infrastructure.
Royalton’s Negril portfolio includes accommodation aimed at families, multigenerational visitors and adults only travellers, while the Montego Bay properties similarly serve different parts of the tourism market.
That variety is increasingly significant as Jamaica’s resort property sector becomes more segmented. A hotel is no longer competing simply on having a beach and bedrooms. Developers and operators are designing properties around particular groups of travellers and building facilities accordingly.
This has implications for future development because specialised tourism products can require different room configurations, recreational areas, technology, entertainment facilities and supporting infrastructure.
Infrastructure remains part of the investment
The renovations also included elements of the resorts’ energy infrastructure.
Solar panels at Royalton Negril and Royalton Blue Waters have been reinstalled and are expected to generate more than 634,000 kilowatt hours of renewable electricity annually, according to the company.
That is increasingly relevant to Jamaica’s wider property sector.
Energy costs, water security and resilience are becoming important considerations for large property developments, particularly hotels where electricity and water demand can be substantial.
During the period in which the resorts were closed, Royalton said infrastructure at the properties was also used to provide emergency water and electricity as surrounding communities worked towards recovery.
It is a reminder that major developments often operate as part of a much wider physical and economic network. Their generators, water systems, roads, employees and suppliers connect them closely with neighbouring communities.
Another resort is coming
Royalton is also preparing to expand its Jamaican property portfolio.
Royalton CHIC Jamaica Paradise Cove, an adults only resort, is scheduled to open in summer 2027. The development will introduce the company’s Royalton CHIC brand to Jamaica for the first time.
The planned opening provides another indication that major international hotel groups continue to see Jamaica as a market capable of supporting additional resort investment.
New hotel development can bring construction spending and employment, but it also adds pressure to surrounding infrastructure and increases competition for suitable coastal land.
For property markets in areas dominated by tourism, the consequences can spread further. Successful resort districts can attract restaurants, transport services, commercial development, residential projects and short term accommodation, gradually changing both land values and the character of nearby communities.
Dean Jones, founder of Jamaica Homes, said major hotel investment should therefore be viewed as part of the wider property market.
“Tourism developments do not sit in isolation. When significant capital is invested into a resort area, the effects can eventually be seen in surrounding land, housing, infrastructure and commercial activity.”
Jamaica’s tourism property cycle continues
Jamaica has spent decades developing a tourism economy strongly tied to property.
Hotels occupy some of the island’s most valuable coastal locations and require continuing capital expenditure if they are to remain competitive internationally.
That creates a cycle in which existing resorts are renovated while new developments are added to the market.
The return of Royalton’s five properties is therefore more than a reopening story. It is another example of substantial existing Jamaican real estate being reinvested in, modernised and returned to productive use.
With another resort already scheduled for 2027, the company’s Jamaica portfolio is still expanding.
For the wider property market, the important question will be how continued resort investment translates into infrastructure, development and opportunity in the communities that surround Jamaica’s major tourism centres.
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