S Hotel Montego Bay cops top award in London
Published:Wednesday | November 13, 2024 | 12:05 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
S Hotel Montego Bay will close out 2024 on a strong footing, entering the upcoming winter tourist season with the coveted Johansen’s Award for Excellence for 2025.
The only Jamaican resort located on the world-famous Doctor’s Cave Beach, S Hotel Montego Bay, walked away with the ‘Best Waterside Hotel’ in North America, during the Conde Nast Johansen’s awards ceremony in London, United Kingdom, last week.
Conde Nast is one of the most respected travel companies in the world.
This latest recognition comes one week after the S was named among the top 25 best boutique hotels in the world by ‘Hotels Above Par’, an international expert-curated guide, highlighting the world’s coolest hotels and travel experiences.
Hotels Above Par had the S rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Andronis Concept Wellness, in Santorini, Greece, Casa Angelina in Praiano, Italy, and the Casa Hoyos in San Miguel de Allende, in Mexico.
Obviously not an easy feat, general manager at S Montego Bay, Annmarie Goffe-Pryce, said each award has inspired her team to aim higher, “giving our guests a truly outstanding Jamaican vacation experience”.
Goffe-Pryce, no stranger to seeing the hotel’s name in print among the crème de la crème in the hospitality sector, added that two awards back to back was a testament to the role that the S Hotel is playing in hoisting the Jamaican flag high worldwide.
“We are giving the type of service that guests are accustomed to getting in some of the most sought-after destinations, and what the Johansen award depicts is that we also have some of the most stunning views.”
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION
Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett amid a European marketing push, expressed great pride in seeing the S Montego Bay being named among the world’s best.
In a media release, Bartlett stated he was immensely proud of the hotel for securing the two esteemed awards, so soon after Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards named the Montego Bay resort the #1 Best Hotel, and sister property, S Hotel Kingston (previously known as Spanish Court Hotel) – the #9 Best Hotel in Caribbean & Central America market for 2024.
“These prestigious recognitions underscores Jamaica’s standing as a world-class tourism destination with offerings that continue to captivate and inspire. Congratulations to the S Hotel team for their outstanding contributions to Jamaica’s tourism product and for representing our country on the global stage,” said Bartlett.
London was good to Jamaica, as the S Hotel’s recognition happened around the same time as the just-concluded World Travel Market (WTM), and hours before Jamaica’s Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, satellite centre at the Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, copped the historic 2024 Tourism Resilience Award.
The first satellite centre, established in 2019, was honoured at the Global Resilience Council Hall of Fame Awards on November 6 in London.