THE Sagicor Group, which officially took control of Hilton Rose Hall this week, has entered into a wider franchising agreement that allows it to use the ‘Curio by Hilton’ tagline for properties acquired in the Caribbean, Rohan Miller at Sagicor stated.

The hotel will eventually rebrand as Jewel Rose Hall Curio by Hilton.

“Today we took control of the Hilton Rose Hall,” said Miller , chief executive Sagicor Real Estate X Fund Limited, following his presentation at the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s 10th Regional Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday. “We will remain within a franchise arrangement with the Hilton.”

The 489-room St James property, reportedly valued at some US$100 million, sits on 400 acres. Miller on Wednesday avoided officially disclosing the purchase price. However, the company reportedly raised some $4.5 billion in debt to finance the purchase. The purchase gave Sagicor its fourth hotel to total some 1,230 rooms. Its other properties include Jewel Resorts in Mammee Bay, Runaway Bay, and Paradise Cove, all in St Ann.

“We will look at operating other Hilton-branded properties in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” he said of the Curio tagline, which are independent hotels that enjoy the same benefits offered to Hilton guests – including access to Hilton ‘HHonors’, one of the leading hotel loyalty programmes.

“We have an agreement with them wherein we can move to rebrand other properties as Curio,” Miller stated, stopping short at whether the other three properties in St Ann would add the Curio tagline. “The benefit is that Hilton has a global reach [and you can] still maintain the Jewel brand.”

The inclusion to the Curio line would therefore appeal to business travellers who choose hotels based on stacking up points.

–STEVEN JACKSON