RIU Palace Aquarelle Grand Opening Set for May 2024
By: , October 23, 2023
Photo: Nickieta Sterling
RIU Executives (from left) Construction and Administration Manager, Francene Wright-Acosta; Regional Director, Jamaica, Frank Sondern; Communications Manager, Jamaica, Aruba, United States and Canada, Sara Fernandez De Alacron; Director of Sales, Niurka Garcia-Linton; and Entertainment Director, Jamaica, Michael Blank, share a photo opportunity following a press conference at RIU Montego Bay, St James, on Friday (October 20).
Photo: Nickieta Sterling
RIU's Regional Director for Jamaica, Frank Sondern (right), converses with the Group’s Construction and Administration Manager, Francene Wright-Acosta, during a tour at Riu Palace, Montego Bay, St James, on Friday (October 20).The Full Story
Visitors to Jamaica’s north coast will have an even wider variety of places to stay, with Spanish hotel chain, RIU Resorts, set to open its new 753-room RIU Palace Aquarelle in Falmouth, Trelawny, on May 4, 2024.
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), RIU Hotels, Carmen Riu, broke ground for the new resort’s construction in April 2022.
RIU Palace Aquarelle will mark the seventh addition to the Group’s portfolio in Jamaica, 22 years after the first hotel’s establishment in 2001.
Speaking during a press conference at RIU Montego Bay on Friday (October 20) to provide a project update, Construction and Administration Manager at RIU, Francene Wright-Acosta, said the new property, which promises a luxurious experience for its guests, is 60 per cent complete.
Mrs. Wright-Acosta advised that the structural work would be completed by December, setting the stage for the final touches to be added leading up to the grand opening.
She emphasised the project’s commitment to supporting the local community, with a workforce currently comprising 750 Jamaicans and 200 foreign workers on the construction site.
RIU’s Regional Director for Jamaica, Frank Sondern, said the new resort will provide employment for over 700 people, noting that Jamaicans will comprise most of the staff.
“The component of foreign workers in all our [six] hotels [together, is] less than 0.5 per cent… with several of our Assistant General Managers in the highest categories being Jamaicans. All our heads of departments are Jamaicans and the rest of the staff as well. So in Falmouth, as well, we are following the same step,” he said.
For her part, RIU’s Director of Sales, Niurka Garcia-Linton, said the hotel chain’s expansion reflects the unwavering confidence the management has in Jamaica as a premier tourist destination.
“In 2024, we are going to have seven hotels in Jamaica. I think this really speaks volumes of the confidence that the RIU family has in Jamaica as a destination,” she said.
Mrs. Garcia-Linton informed that Palace Aquarelle travel agents commenced marketing the property in July and have already secured bookings ahead of the 2024 opening.
The hotel will feature an adult waterpark, a children’s pool, water slides, swim-up pools, and six restaurants.