MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA—Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has entered into a new partnership with Marriott International Inc. to bring AC Hotels by Marriott to the Caribbean.
This is the first partnership between the hospitality companies and the first time SRI will manage a brand it didn’t create, according to the company. Construction for the new AC Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica—the partnership’s debut project—gets underway this month and is slated to open winter 2019.
According to SRI CEO and Deputy Chairman Adam Stewart, the AC Kingston will offer 220 rooms, a 10,000-sq.-ft. conference center and a full-service restaurant. There will be valet and self-serve parking options. Plans call for the hotel to be the centerpiece of an expansive, mixed-use development, located on the last five acres of real estate in the Jamaica House neighborhood, the official residence of the prime minister of Jamaica.
In addition to the new hotel, development plans call for a BMW showroom, beauty and wellness salon, car rental facility and The Avenue, a promenade of indoor and outdoor event space and retail and dining outlets. The Avenue will begin at the entrance and carry straight through to the conference center with staging areas along the way to accommodate concerts.