MARRIOTT International is exploring plans to establish its luxury brands in Jamaica.

Speaking at a Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro) event recently, vice-president of hotel development at Marriott International Caribbean and South America, Bojan Kumer said “Jamaica is one of the top tourist destinations in the Caribbean and we have been operating in Jamaica for quite some time. We’re glad that we cover all the major business and leisure destinations on the island and definitely looking forward to expand our footprint in the resorts market even further. We’re building a strong pipeline in Jamaica and definitely we are here to stay.”

He said the company has identified untapped potential in the high-end tourism segment and will be moving to take advantage of that market.

“We definitely see a lot of opportunity lately. I would say since the beginning of this year we have seen a strong recovery in the leisure market, especially in that luxury market which – surprisingly beating all the odds – was not impacted at all,” he said.

“As of right now Jamaica does not have a true luxury product, I would say, in the Ritz-Carlton, St Regis, and Westin type of properties. We have been looking for the properties, we have identified some of the properties, and we’re negotiating the agreements.” The Ritz-Carlton previously operated a property in St James.

He noted that there could also be opportunities for developers in this endeavour, sharing “we hope that this actually could attract more investment because these types of brands are also very lucrative for the developers because they could add the upper brand of residential, which we have seen in the past two years have been doing very well.”

But he noted that the Government also has a role to play.

“I see the potential in the luxury segment because that segment was impacted the least during the pandemic. Investing in the infrastructure and providing sufficient and significant government incentives would definitely help investors, and if the Government can implement those then it will strengthen Jamaica’s position as a safe and favoured destination,” he continued.

Currently, Marriott has seven hotels in Jamaica — two are business hotels in AC Hotel Kingston by Marriott and The Courtyard by Marriott, both in New Kingston, St Andrew. The other five hotels are branded Royalton in Montego Bay and Negril under a partnership with Blue Diamond.

Kumer noted that, “We have a very good experience operating and franchising our brands in the country,” however, he did not disclose whether Marriott would operate the luxury brands on its own or set up a franchise system similar to the ones in the past.

In the meantime, he disclosed that “there’s still a lag on the conventions and we see where that’s still gonna be behind, and we don’t expect that to fully recover for another couple of years”.

Nevertheless, he said business travellers, especially those from North America, are travelling again and that bodes well for Marriott’s business in Jamaica.