While several foreign-owned hotels may choose to import their furnishings, Kingston’s newest hotel, The R, does not fit into that mould.

The hotel opened its doors to the media and specially invited guests, stakeholders and friends on Wednesday for an exclusive model room viewing of the facility currently in construction.

Guests were taken on a tour of the building, already well on its way to completion by an October deadline, by hospitality expert Nancy McLean, ending up in a spacious model suite which was 70 per cent locally furnished.

The veteran architect and owner of the popular Red Bones Café, Evon Williams, who conceptualised the project, reminded the audience that his idea was always to do things “a little unique, a little different”.

He also noted that, while the hotel sector, “which is very important to the economy”, is open to very few Jamaicans, both in Jamaica and in the diaspora, The R (Renfrew), will provide opportunities for Jamaicans to invest in its development by purchasing rooms.

“Very few of us have any ownership stake within the hospitality industry…but on a scale on which the average person couldn’t participate. So, therefore, this extended-stay facility is hopefully going to attract not only local, but Jamaicans in the Diaspora to own part of the industry,” he stated.

He explained that the idea is that Jamaicans investors will be able to buy rooms, lease them back to the hotel’s management to operate and get a return on their investment on an AirBnB kind of basis.

He noted also that in the case of most of other hotels being built in Jamaica, the owners bring in nearly 70 percent of their needs from outside of Jamaica.

“But this Brand Jamaica idea, which I am very fond of, resulted in all of the furnishings, with the exception of telephones and light fixtures, made in Jamaica,” he pointed out.

Williams said that the idea is to have minimum stays of at least three days, “simply because it is not a luxury hotel, in the sense of fulfilling the needs of the average persons”.

“It satisfies the needs of business tourists,” he noted.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry Tourism, Jennifer Griffith, who represented the minister, Edmund Bartlett, approved of the idea that the hotel will rely on Jamaicans for 70 per cent of its furnishing — a policy she urged other investors in the local tourism industry to readily adapt.

“”It is a wonderful thing to see this project moving on so swiftly. It is a welcome addition to the stock of rooms in Kingston,” Griffith said.

“We welcome the concept, and we are very happy that you are using mostly Jamaican products, as far as possible. We are trying to encourage the use in all our hotels of as many locally made products as possible, and you are demonstrating that and we thank you for that,” she said.The viewing took place in the form of a tour of the Standard Deluxe Room and the standard deluxe room with kitchenette, at the still under construction multi-storey hotel located at 2 Renfrew Road, New Kingston.

The R Hotel incorporates a combination of exclusive rooms and suites, and features several amenities and unique offerings, making it ideal for the travelling business executive.

Guests will have the choice of four categories of rooms: the standard deluxe rooms with or without kitchenette, the Penthouse Room with balcony and the two-bedroom penthouse loft suite, with balcony and kitchenette.

“The hotel provides suitable accommodations as it will operate as a business centre, to provide an ideal place for business people, with rooftop restaurant and bar, art gallery, meeting facilities, underground parking as well as a gym and rooftop lap pool,” Williams informed the guests.

The R, which operates under the motto ‘Relax, Replenish, Return’, is artistically designed with furniture and visual art by local artistes such as Zoda, Zen designs, Beti Campbell, Maxine Gibson, to name a few; in full support of the “Brand Jamaica” initiative.

Senior Advisor/Strategist to the Tourism Minister Delano Seiveright noted that Bartlett’s aggressive and deep-rooted linkages initiatives are bearing fruit, given The R’s move to use 70 per cent Jamaican furnishings throughout the property.

“Tables, beds, paintings and other items are high-quality Jamaican products, and this is what the minister’s linkages campaign is all about and we really commend Williams and (Joe) Bogdanovich for this stellar move,” Seiveright said.