Therapedic makes inroads in hotel market
BEDDING COMPANY Therapedic Caribbean has been contracted to outfit the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay, an arrangement that is expected to run for another two years.
The 489-room hotel is locally owned by Sagicor Real Estate X Fund, a member of Sagicor Group Jamaica.
Therapedic has already supplied 850 mattresses and 850 bed foundations to the beachside property, all for $60 million.
Aswad Morgan, director of Therapedic Caribbean, says they completed the contract in January but only announced it now after sufficient customer feedback. He says the company has had a years-long relationship with Sagicor-controlled hotel properties and has otherwise been making inroads into the tourism market.
“This is one of many that we’ve done in the recent past. We did Gran Bahia Principe with almost 1,100 rooms. There was also Melia Braco, Golden Eye, Secrets, Hedonism 2 Couples, and quite a lot of them,” Morgan said.
Sagicor acquired the Hilton Rose Hall from American private equity firm Blackstone Group in late 2014.
Sagicor currently operates other hotels under the Jewel brand, and over the past six years, Therapedic has supplied sleep systems to Jewel Resorts in St Ann.
Hotel manager at the Hilton and Jewel Resorts, John Miles, confirmed the association, and noted that the relationship with Therapedic is expected to continue for now.
“The contract that our procurement team signed is that they are the ones slated to provide us with our type of bedding for the next two years,” Miles said.
Morgan said the Hilton Rose Hall project was the first time a Jamaican company got the opportunity to outfit a property with bedding under the international brand.
“We are very proud of this achievement...,” he said in a press release. BEGINNINGS
Therapedic said it first got a toehold in the hospitality market around 1999 when Spanish investors seriously began developing hotel properties in Jamaica. With the Jewel contract in the bag, Morgan says he is going after some other big jobs on the horizon.
“There are a lot more hotels coming to Jamaica. We’d certainly like to think that we have a good shot at getting this new business that’s coming. We’re also always trying to get business outside of Jamaica because we do export,” he said.
Therapedic Caribbean was established in 1984 as a licensee of Therapedic International, which is among the largest bedding producers, with over 60 factories worldwide.
All the locally produced sleep products are manufactured at Therapedic’s 40,000-square foot production facility at the JIDC Complex in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine. VERTICALLY INTEGRATED
Therapedic Caribbean is a member of the Morgans Group, which comprises Polyflex Foam Limited and Morgan’s Industries Limited. Those two operations, according to Morgan, occupy 40,000 square feet each. He says the Morgan’s Group is leveraging the capacity and technology at the plants to supply quality bedding.
“We’re vertically integrated in that sense. We have the largest foam plant, possibly, in the Caribbean. We also certainly have the most technologically advanced foam plant in the region, and certainly in Jamaica,” Morgan said.
The investment in technology was executed during a period of recovery for the company. Seven years ago, the plant was affected by fire, and as Therapedic recovered, it used the opportunity to retool, including installation of a new conveyor system three years ago.
There are a lot more hotels coming to Jamaica. We’d certainly like to think that we have a good shot at getting this new business that’s coming. We’re also always trying to get business outside of Jamaica because we do export.