Well, this is our first island spotlight post and I thought it only fitting to do Jamaica since it’s where Sandals and Beaches were conceived by Gordon “Butch” Stewart.

Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean, after Cuba and Hispaniola (home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

Butch started with a single resort, Sandals Montego Bay, in 1981, and his first Beaches resort in 1997.  He had no experience in running a resort, but he thought he could do better than what was already out there and he is credited with revolutionizing the All-Inclusive resort concept. In 2009, Sandals established the Sandals Foundation which focuses on community, environment, and education.  Sandals pays all the administrative costs of the foundation, so 100% of the money donated goes towards their projects.

Jamaica now has 7 Sandals resorts and 1 Beaches resort on Jamaica.  It did have 2 Beaches, but Beaches Ochi closed in May 2025.  Two more Beaches are supposedly on the drawing board for Jamaica, but no opening date has been announced.

The Jamaica resorts are:

• Beaches Negril
• Sandals South Coast (aka, White House)
• Sandals Negril
• Sandals Montego Bay
• Sandals Royal Caribbean
• Sandals Dunn’s River
• Sandals Ochi
• Sandals Royal Plantaion

In addition to the two Beaches being planned, there’s at least one more Sandals planned for Jamaica, Sandals Royal Dunn’s River.  Again, no time schedule has been published for this new Sandals Resort.