Hotel in Montego Bay Ranked as One of the Best Globally

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the Montego Bay based S Hotel’s ranking as one of the best hotels in the world speaks volume as to how brand Jamaica is being viewed in the international marketplace.

Speaking to JIS News following a function in St. James over the weekend (October 8), Mr. Bartlett said the fact that the ranking was coming from Conde Nast Traveler, the world’s foremost travel magazine, makes the honour even the more special.

“Conde Nast Traveler is the Forbes Magazine of the hospitality sector… . If they say you are a big deal, then it simply means you are top-tier stuff,” Mr. Bartlett said.

“Of note and equally significant is that Conde Nast Traveler also ranked the S Hotel as the number-one hotel in the Caribbean and Central America. This is huge and must be celebrated. This is a big win for the S Hotel and, by extension, Jamaica’s tourism product,” he added.

A Jamaican-owned, managed and staffed and a relative newcomer on the Jimmy Cliff Boulevard, more popularly known as the Hip Strip, the S Hotel came in at number 16 on the magazine’s 2023 Best Hotels in the World Readers’ Choice Awards.

The New York City, United States-headquartered Readers’ Choice Awards, and which has been running for 36 years, had some 526,518 participants deciding on the hotel rankings, a list that was dominated by world-renowned brands such as the Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Peninsula and Shangri-La resorts, among other international giants.

“It is an impressive ranking for a hotel that opened in 2019, a year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. S Hotel is Jamaican in every sense and they are known to be very meticulous in their operations. It is good to see Jamaica’s higher-end resorts getting this attention – the emphasis on Jamaican culture, first-rate service and that family feeling is gaining a lot of traction. Kudos to the phenomenal team there for continually striving for perfection,” Mr. Bartlett said.

Conde Nast, in commenting on S Hotel’s high ranking amongst the world’s best said: “At S Hotel you get the laid-back vibe of a stay in Jamaica with a bit of South Beach, Florida glitz – they even line the deck of their sleek pool with some of the island’s famous white sand.

If that isn’t enough sand for your liking, the hotel also offers private access to idyllic Doctor’s Cave Beach and its gentle surf.

“Inside, the ocean-view rooms are big enough to pass for apartments in some big cities. And they lay a minimalist black and white colour scheme over a beachy aesthetic (lots of wicker furniture, including covering the bathtub) that will leave you feeling maximally relaxed. If it doesn’t, there’s always the Irie Baths and Spa, which has three underground plunge pools (hot, warm, and cold) that provide kinetic energy therapy and send you out feeling totally relaxed, in addition to the usual massages and skin treatment options,” Conde Nast added.