TravelPulse Sits Down With S Hotels Jamaica CEO Christopher Issa

by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:15 PM ET, Fri July 26, 2024

The S Hotels Jamaica luxury hotel brand seeks to meld the island’s singular culture with an environment of urban sophistication. That’s the vision of founder and CEO Christopher Issa, whose efforts have resulted in a rebranding of the company’s portfolio of hotels, which include the S Hotel Montego Bay and S Hotel Kingston.

Part of a well-known Jamaican family of hoteliers, Issa in 2009 undertook a transformation of the former Spanish Court Shopping Centre into the Spanish Court Hotel, which he called Kingston’s first new hotel in 40 years. He later re-branded the property as the S Hotel Kingston.

In 2016, Issa acquired the Breezes Montego Bay Hotel, revamping the property and rebranding it as the S Hotel Montego Bay. Issa’s companies seek to offer guests “unparalleled experiences in prime locations across” Jamaica, the executive said.

TravelPulse spoke with Issa during the June Caribbean Week conference to gain more insight into his expanding Jamaican hotel group.

TP: How did you decide to start a new Jamaican hotel company?

CI: Obviously hotels played a role in my life growing up with the family operating resorts, but I was more interested in the city hotel side of things and not so much the resort thing. I felt city hotels can play a role in the life of the city and that's what interested me: not only hosting people, but events, speakers [and] anybody coming down to try and make a positive influence on the island. So that's one of my big passions, trying to see how can we help to make Jamaica better.

TP: What are some of the elements that distinguish your company’s hotels?

CI: We've actually been introducing culture in the hotels. We have coined the phrase ‘where culture meets hospitality.’

TP: Where did the emphasis on Jamaican culture at the hotels begin?

CI: It started with a Tracks and Record restaurant that I got the franchise for next to the [S Hotel Montego Bay]. The hotel was going up right next door. We found a statue of Usain Bolt statue made out of nuts and bolts by a German artist married to a Jamaican. We negotiated to buy it from him.

TP: What did you do next?

CI: We brought [the statue] and put in front of the restaurant. It became a bit of a tourist spot. It’s about 12 feet tall and it's a really very good statue of Usain. We ended up doing all of Jamaica’s national heroes, which are in the hotel, and so we call it the cultural museum you can sleep in.

Our team has motivated us because we face a challenging business. To see how they have responded and have bought into the vision and how good they feel about working in a place devoted to Jamaican culture, it’s been a rewarding experience.

TP: How did you decide to re-brand the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston as the S Hotel Kingston?

CI: There wasn’t really a boutique hotel in Kingston; this was the new hotel in the area in 40 years. In Kingston we didn’t really need any wholesalers, it was direct business, [with] people booking via word of mouth.

Wholesalers and travel agents were saying, ‘If you have the name ‘Spanish Court,’ they’re going to think you’re another Spanish hotel.’ So we crossed out the ‘Spanish’ and were left with the ‘S Court’ Hotel, which depending on how you interpret it could be good for business or not. We weren’t an ‘escort’ hotel. We had a South Beach Jamaican style, so we decided to cross out the ‘Court’ and that’s how we became the S Hotel.

TP: What do you think has made the S Hotel Montego Bay successful?

CI: I think the combination of the location, with proximity to the airport, the amazing views from the rooftop deck and the fact that we tried to do it in an edgy manner really helped us. We wanted it as a Jamaican company, and it is a 100 percent Jamaican property with 100 percent Jamaican staff. We’ve been very pleased with the traction it’s gained in the short time it's been around.

TP: How do the accolades you’ve received reflect on your path to success?

CI: We started as a boutique hotel, then along comes Covid, and we effectively lost a couple of years, and now we’re back on track. We won a 2023 Conde Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Award for the best hotel in the Caribbean. We followed that up with an Best of the Best Award from TripAdvisor. So we’re really proud.

I was really lucky to [launch] a hotel in Montego Bay, because it is a special spot. As a professional, I’m glad we could create a world-class hotel. That was really my mission, and so I'm glad to have been able to achieve that.

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