Even before its official opening earlier this year, the 120-room S Hotel on Montego Bay’s Jimmy Cliff Boulevard had been turning heads.

Its private pool located on the fifth

floor has also been the talk of the town. The hotel overlooks the world-famous

Doctors Cave Beach and features an international restaurant, a full-service

spa, boutique gym, spa suites, lounges, a sky deck and pool bar.

The hotel is sister to the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston, but operates differently with its primary target market being vacationers as opposed to business tourists. Like its compatriots on the Hip Strip, it operates on the European Plan (EP) concept, but offers a meal for those guests who want an all-inclusive feel.

The beachfront hotel has incorporated

locally made materials in its architecture and furnishings, and the artwork is

also Jamaican.

On pertinent fact about the S Hotel

is that it has been totally Jamaica-owned from inception. It was sold to

Jamaican lawyer and hotelier Christopher Issa in 2011, following its closure in

2009. It was built by NCB Investments in 1995, jointly owned NCB Staff Pension

Fund and the Government-operated National Insurance Fund (NIF) and

operated by the Superclubs resort group under the Breezes hotel brand

initially.

That aside, if you love good food and personalised service, and you enjoy photographs, then this picturesque hotel is the place to be.

— Written by Claudia Gardner