Sandals offered 52 Room Hotel to assist in the Fight Against the Covid-19 Virus

Sandals Resorts International (SRI) owned by Gordon “Butch” Stewart offered a 52-room hotel to the Government and contributed $20 million for ventilators to be used during the treatment of patients with the Novel coronavirus cases.

Mr. Stewart has also decided not to lay off the permanent workers, opting rather to pay 40% of their basic salary fortnightly and they keep their benefits such as health insurance and paid vacation leave even though the temporary closure of all its resorts in the Caribbean is the new reality.

The Montego Bay-based Carlisle Inn, the smallest hotel in the chain, will be used as an incubation center for the west.

“The hotel will be at the disposal of the Government for as long as it takes to bring this COVID-19 disease under control,” SRI Deputy Chairman Adam Stewart, Gordon Stewart’s son, said.  

Sandals, a leading resort chain in the Caribbean, responded to an urgent call from Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton for assistance needed for quarantine centers, including accommodation for patients who are recovering from the virus, as the Government grapples with the virus which has caused a number of Jamaicans to be infected.

“This is a crisis like we have never seen before. Our position is that we are all in this together as tourism stakeholders, as citizens of Jamaica and the world at large,” Stewart said.