RIU honoured by RJRGLEANER Hospitality Jamaica Awards
Newly refurbished hotel doing ‘extremely well’
THE RECENTLY refurbished RIU Ocho Rios has expressed delight at being given a special award at the 2019 RJRGLEANER Hospitality Jamaica Awards.
The hotel picked up the Special Award for Investment in Tourism after a massive US$85 million upgrade to the St Ann property, which reopened in September.
Niruka Garcia-Linton, RIU’s director of Sales – Jamaica, said the hotel is honoured to have received the award.
“It’s truly an honour to receive this Special Award for Investment in Tourism,” Garcia-Linton said. “The RJRGLEANER Hospitality Awards has gained great recognition through the years as it seeks to showcase institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to the development of such a key industry in Jamaica. We are honoured and grateful for this award.”
RIU Ocho Rios closed on April 29 for the upgrading exercise that saw the addition of 45 rooms, a spanking new water park, and a complete renovation of rooms and other areas of the hotel. The new rooms, which feature two-bedroom family rooms, brought the room stock to 901. Restaurants were upgraded with the Mandalay, which serves Asian cuisine, expanded to facilitated 108 seats.
RIUland, which hosts and takes care of children from four to 12 years old, is another new feature and so too, RIU4U, which caters to teenagers. But the most satisfying addition for the brand would have been the water park, Splash, which is the first RIU water park on the island. Garcia-Linton said the amount spent on the upgrade was equivalent to building a new hotel and showed the trust that the hotel brand has in Jamaica. The property reopened on September 21 and has been doing well since. “RIU Ocho Rios has been doing extremely well since it opened its doors at the end of September,” the director of sales disclosed.
“The support from the local and international market has surpassed our expectations. The feedback we are receiving from our guests, travel agency community and tour operators alike confirms that the renovation and new features added to the resort have been a success.”
RIU opened its first hotel in Jamaica in 2001 and after 18 years, boasts six hotels and over 3,000 rooms. Worldwide, RIU has over 90 hotels in 20 countries, welcoming over four million guests annually, with a staff complement of over 29,000.