A bedroom at the Iberostar Suites hotel that opened recently. - Contributed

WESTERN BUREAU: Hotel accommodation in Montego Bay is expected to be sold out by the end of this week, as the excitement surrounding the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival heightens, the woman behind room negotiations, Dominique Peterkin, told The Sunday Gleaner.

"Jazz bookings are looking very positive and have had an upswing in the last week," said Peterkin, noting that the tourism capital had three new properties with 1,200 additional rooms accessible to patrons, lessening the yearly challenges associated with room shortage.

The three 'new kids' on the block, RIU Montego Bay and two Iberostrar resorts are overbooked already.

"All 685 rooms at hotel one (Iberostar Rose Hall Beach) and hotel two (Iberostar Suites) are fully booked, and we will have to use up more or less 80 rooms in the new property, Iberostar Grande," revealed managing director of the resorts, Philipp Hofer, who added that the business was a good mix of international and local clientele.

In the case of RIU Montego Bay, that resort's director of sales, Angella Bennett, said she was pleased with the support from the local market.

"As one of the new hotels on the elegant corridor it is heartening to see the reservations coming in; the resort is sold out on Thursday January 22, but we have some availability for the Friday and Saturday night, and I am convinced these rooms will be gone by the end of the week," she said.

the Jazz hotel

Checks made with the Five-diamond Ritz Carlton Rose Hall showed very strong bookings of 85 per cent up to Thursday afternoon, while Destination Management Company (DMC), Jamventure Tours and Services in Kingston, said its phones have been ringing consistently. "The majority of the rooms we had are sold out, and we have very few left in the Ironshore area of Montego Bay," said Nadine Comrie, marketing officer at the company.

Many patrons will not have access to rooms at the resort known as the Jazz hotel, Rose Hall Resort and Spa (formerly the Wyndham), as from early as summer last year it was booked by a group from the legal fraternity who are holding a conference there during Jazz week.

The newly-refurbished Holiday Inn is very much back in business under new owners and management and is reporting solid bookings, while the 430-room Sunset Resort and Spa in Montego Freeport said it was finding that calls are beginning to come in.

"I am very positive about the week. The trending is behind, but we are seeing a fair share of local and overseas business," reports Marion James-Campbell, reservations manager at the hotel.

In the past, the rebranded Jamaica Jazz and Blues is known to have attracted some 40,000 people over three days, 5,000 of them visitors from overseas, stimulating both the domestic and international tourist market during a week that is usually soft for Jamaica.

The festival will be held at The Aqueduct, Rose Hall, Montego Bay from January 22-24, showcasing the likes of the soul-stirring Lionel Richie, the masterful O'Jays, Matishu, Maxi Priest, the Lou Gramm Band, Atlantic Starr, young Nikki Yanoksky and Estelle.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com