by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:30 PM ET, Thu April 23, 2015
Photo: Guests at the Grand Lido will be accommodated at Blue Diamond's Royalton White Sands in Montego Bay.
Canada-based Sunwing Travel Group will open a $150 million, all-inclusive luxury resort of up to 600 rooms on the site of the present Grand Lido Resort in Negril, Jamaica in 2016.
The Grand Lido will close on April 26, Sunwing officials announced. The new property, to be named Royalton Negril Resort & Spa, will operate under Sunwing's Blue Diamond Resorts brand, said Janine Chapman, Blue Diamond's vice president of marketing.
"We are continuing to work with local and federal authorities on our development plans and hope these will be finalized shortly," she said. The new resort will offer between 500 and 600 rooms; Chapman said additional details "will be provided once the plans are finalized."
Blue Diamond has contacted its travel partners to offer "alternative arrangements including our Royalton White Sands" to guests with reservations impacted by the April 26 closure, Chapman said. Blue Diamond recently invested $50 million in an expansion of the Montego Bay-based Royalton White Sands property, she added.
A statement on the Grand Lido website says the new Royalton Negril will feature amenities including "unlimited reservation-free luxury dining," concierge service, complimentary WiFi and in-room long distance phone calls. Blue Diamond is also promising an "introductory offer" for "valued and loyal guests of Grand Lido."
Questions have been raised in Jamaica about whether Blue Diamond will demolish the existing hotel to build a new structure or simply renovate the existing property. In an email to TravelPulse, Chapman said plans had yet to be finalized.
A Jamaica Gleaner report says Jamaican officials have yet to receive a request for or issue environmental permits related to the project.
In the report, officials at the Jamaica Institute of Architects and the Jamaica Environment Trust also question the size and scale of the proposed resort, with one saying a large property "goes against the spirit of the Negril area's unique, small and medium-size enterprise model of tourism development."
Sunwing purchased the Grand Lido resort in 2013 from Village Resorts Limited, the parent company of SuperClubs. Prior to 2013 the resort operated as the Breezes Grand Resort & Spa Negril.
Working with affiliated partners Sunwing Airlines and TUI Travel, Sunwing supports the company's hotel developments with incremental flights from gateways in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Europe.
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