Water park, new rooms highlight RIU Ocho Rios’ J$11.22b upgrade

A spanking new water park and 45 new rooms that bring the room stock to 901, are the main features of the J$11.22-billion refurbishing exercise recently completed at RIU Ocho Rios.

Additionally, though, there has been a complete renovation of the rooms and other areas of the hotel as the brand pushes the property for a greater share of the family vacation business.

The hotel reopened September 21, after being closed for the refurbishing exercise on April 29, and now boasts 901 rooms.

Niurka Garcia-Linton, director of sales for RIU Hotels in Jamaica, says the amount spent on the refurbishing is equivalent to what is spent to construct a new hotel and shows that RIU has a lot of confidence in the Jamaican market.

“Jamaica is a key destination for RIU,” she told Hospitality Jamaica. “RIU came into the island in 2001 and 18 years later we have six hotels, we have over 3,000 rooms inventory in the ­destination, and we believe this is a destination with great potential and this is why.”

The total cost of the renovation is close to US$85m, which usually would be the cost of a brand new hotel, and the fact that this is just a renovation speaks not only to the investment, but the trust that we have on the destination.”

According to Garcia-Linton: “One of the most important announcements that we have to make which has us very, very excited, is that now we have the first RIU water park, the Splash; and it has waterslides for adults, it has the section for kids. We also have close to that area the Riuland that hosts and takes care of children between the ages of four and 12; and one of our new features is the Riu4U, which actually is for teenagers; which is a segment of the market that usually wanders around the hotel without much to do and not knowing what can be done. So now we have activities for children, we have activities for adults and teenagers as well.”

The new-room additions features two-bedroom family rooms capable of ­accommodating six persons.

Restaurants have been upgraded with the Mandalay restaurant, which serves Asian cuisine, expanded to facilitate 108 seats.

“For those that have been here before, you would be amazed to see how the property looks now, it is a complete and full renovation,” Garcia-Linton said. “We have changes in all the rooms in terms of all the floors, the furniture, the features on the walls, everywhere you look, basically, it is a completely new, fresh look that the property has.”