Business View Caribbean | May 2021

21 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MAY 2021 Downsound Entertainment; the Hardware & Lumber company in Jamaica; as well as Tracks & Records, which is the Usain Bolt restaurant in Kingston, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and London, UK. “The project was started around 2014, initially to create Jamaica’s first extended-stay hotel and make it a business hotel. So, today, half of the hotel’s rooms are self-contained units with washer/dryer, kitchenette – which makes it very different than other hotels in Kingston. Then they hired me. Coming from a background in luxury resorts and leisure, I brought to the table the concept of adding leisure to Kingston, which is not really pushed here as a marketing strategy. We were #14 on TripAdvisor when we opened in 2018 and in a year and a half we moved up to #2 in Kingston when it comes to service.” BVC: What is so different about ‘the vibe’ at R Hotel? R HOTEL K INGSTON Pike: “We try to create an environment where our team can be expressive. They don’t even wear ties, they wear nice, casual uniforms. We don’t want guests who are out doing business all day to come back to the hotel and feel like they are still in a meeting. So we create more of a relaxed leisure vibe. We did a little experiment and found that we can actually be a very cool, hip hotel, where there’s a lot of creativity and art. We are striving to be the ‘W’ of the Caribbean. “The guest experience is wonderful. We don’t just package the hotel, we package Kingston as a destination. We’re not just going to promote our fabulous restaurant on the roof, we’re also going to promote other restaurants in town. We’ll book for them, and recommend activities outside of the hotel. If guests are staying for a while, we can order their grocery items for them and stock the room. We offer that level of service, like a one-stop shop. Our people at the desk are not front desk agents, they’re