With a celebration worthy of its legendary tale in Jamaica’s tourism history, Sandals Resorts opened its newest resort, the 260-room Sandals Dunn’s River this weekend. Grammy-award-winning artist Shaggy and “The Voice” winner Tessanne Chin joined Caribbean tourism officials and Sandals executives for the occasion.
“This is the place where everything began for Sandals Resorts, and from where we stand, it’s a stunning representation of where we’re headed,” said Adam Stewart , Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts. “Sandals Dunn’s River is the continuation of my father’s journey to better. It is a hero’s tale about an ambitious boy who began selling fish to local resorts and how he went on to change how people prefer to vacation, making Jamaica and the Caribbean the centerpiece of his efforts. It is an epic story about an incredible person who continues to inspire us to dream bigger, do more, be better. It is the stuff of legends and that is what this evening is all about.”
Stewart, SRI CEO Gebhard Rainer, and other members of the Sandals Resorts team joined with Prime Ministers, including The Most Honourable Andrew Michael Holness of Jamaica and The Honourable Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ministers of Government, including Minister of Tourism of Jamaica The Honourable Edmund Bartlett, and local dignitaries from throughout the Caribbean region for an official invocation of the event.
In his speech, Prime Minister Michael Holness of Jamaica remembered his discussion about buying the land with the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart. “Seeing a dream come true is such a remarkable thing, and Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart was a dreamer, if there is one thing you could say about him. He was a dreamer, but he was also a doer, someone who would always finish the task. We are figuratively living in ‘Butch’ Stewart’s fantasy as we stand here,” he remarked.
The event served as a throwback to the resort’s earlier days as the Arawak Hotel, which opened in 1957 and was the brainchild of visionary architect Morris Lapidus, whose exuberant, colorful designs epitomized Caribbean style in the 1950s and 1960s. The event, with the theme “Return of a Legend,” offered an artistically recreated experience and atmosphere. The luxurious all-inclusive resort’s outdoor areas were transformed into a vintage supper club with lounge music, sparkling gold embellishments, brilliant green palm trees, and SWAG servers—a modern update on the “cigarette servers” of yesteryear.
The new resort features 12 restaurants, nine bars (including a swim-up bar in the pool), stocked bars in each room, a fitness center, unlimited land sports, and five pools along with two “river pools.”
In a first for Jamaica, Sandals Dunn’s River will have Beachfront Skypool Suites, a unique accommodation with a pool on the balcony – even balconies not on ground level.
The resort officially opens for guests on May 24.
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