By Ricky Browne

Sandals Resorts International (SRI) could be looking to extend its resorts on Jamaica’s south coast as it is reportedly showing interest in acquiring the Treasure Beach Hotel in St Elizabeth.

Many people in the rustic tourist area and fishing village are reporting that the luxury, all-inclusive hotel chain is intending to buy the under-utilised – basically deserted — Treasure Beach Hotel.

If true, the presence of Sandals could transform the sleepy fishing village to attract high-end tourists — but not everyone is excited at the prospect.

But the idea that Sandals will soon be taking it over has alarmed some residents, many of who are concerned that the hotel chain won’t buy produce or fish from locals, that it may not hire locals.

Another worry is that Sandals would want a private beach in front of the hotel – which would prevent residents from walking on the water front.

Treasure Beach is relatively undeveloped as a tourist resort, thanks to several factors, including being off the beaten track – the nearest towns are Junction and the sleepy St Elizabeth capital of Black River. The semi-arid area has low rain fall, and the sea is often rough and can have strong  and dangerous undercurrents. To top it all, the sand is not white, which is the preferred colour for tourist beach resorts. It is really a black sand beach, with a light dusting of bleached sand on the top.

The end result is that Treasure Beach does not appear on the face of it to offer the type of experience that most tourists to Jamaica want. But what it does offer is great warmth, friendly people, and a lack of touts. And so it attracts families, back-packer type tourists and adventurous couples.

Many wealthy or middle class Jamaicans and intrepid foreigners have built villas in the area, many of which can be rented via AirBnB or direct from the owner. Some of these villas have been around for decades, like Blue Marlin (in near-by Great Bay), Silver Dawn, which was known to my family as Lady Thelwell’s Cottage, Doubloon and Lyric Villa — which was known to my family as John Todd’s house.

One of the first beach cottages was Treasure Cot, built by the Densham family from the town of Mandeville about 90 minutes drive away.. They were the grandparents of Jason Henzell, who along with his mother Sally created what is currently the most successful hotel in the area, Jakes. The hotel was named after Jake the parrot, the Densham family pet who spent many days and years enjoying life from the Treasure Cot veranda overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

Jakes offers the  type of laid-back, Bohemian experience that Treasure Beach is often linked with these days. The vibe it emits is reminiscent of Negril in the 1960s and  1970s when that resort was discovered by American hippies, many of them escaping the Vietnam war and embarrassing the peace and love.

Jakes has won international recognition for its hotel. But it also plays a great part in the community helping out the less fortunate and offering some employment.

Other hotels have also opened up, but the first major hotel in the area was the historic Treasure Beach Hotel, which some believe actually gave the area its name. Situated on Frenchman’s Bay, the hotel has a prime location on what looks like a large sand dune overlooking the bay.

Started in the mid-20^th century by a Mr Dicker, the hotel with Its large swimming pool used to attract families from Mandeville looking for a day at the beach especially once it was acquired  by Scott O’Connor, a former headmaster of the prestigious DeCarteret College in Mandeville  in the 1960s and 1970s until its closure.

As a child I can remember getting hotdogs from the little outside bar, getting it with a fragment of a paper serviette and a dollop of ketchup in a slice of hard dough bread in place of a hot dog buns. Luxuries like a complete paper serviette or a hot dog bun were limited thanks to the scarcities of such items during the country’s disastrous ‘experiment’ with democratic socialism in the 1970s.

Running up and down the adjacent sand dunes straight into the sea was a big attraction for me and other children. The sand was baked hot by the unrelenting sun and would crack like the crust of a warm cupcake with every step to cooler, darker sand underneath.

Later the hotel went out of business, and walking though the deserted hotel you could enter the roofless rooms to view dried up human faeces in the bathroom sinks, goat droppings everywhere else, and macca trees growing in the most unlikely of places.

Efforts to bring back the hotel to the days of its former glory never really amounted to anything, as the quality of its accommodation fell way short of Jakes and the numerous villas around. Pokey rooms with less than inspiring décor just couldn’t compete, even with the glorious surroundings and views.

If Sandals does bring back a revamped Treasure Beach Hotel it will likely have a very positive effect on the community – as it will raise the image of Treasure Beach further, as international tourists will fly in to stay at the resort. Villas may be able to increase their rates as Jamaicans and others discover that Treasure Beach actually has a lot to offer.

Sandals already has a hotel on the Southcoast, originally called Sandals Whitehouse, but now called Sandals South Coast. That hotel has the type of white sand beach and crystal clear blue waters that most visitors crave – with the added frisson of being in the same neighbourhood as crocodiles, who may decide to go for a swim in the sea from time to time.

But there is also the possibility that Sandals may buy the hotel and then do little with it. Such is the case in Port Antonio, where Sandals bought the extravagant Dragon Bay Hotel. The surrounding area was very excited about how Sandals could reenergise the resort, but years and years later, the hotel is still mothballed. Recent reports that SRI is again working on reopening the hotel have brought new hope that something is about to happen.

A Sandals Treasure Beach would be a departure from the majority of Sandals hotels, given the rough sea, black sand and remoteness of the resort It could be a bit of a hard sell, but it could also offer a type of romantic image that is not easily replicated elsewhere – of being off the beaten path, carefree, adventurous, with a rustic, bohemian kind of vibe.

There are quite a few attractions in the area, including YS Falls, the Appleton Estate Rum Tour, crocodile spotting on the Black River Safari, Lover’s Leap and trips to the Pelican Bar situated off the coast near Black River.

The hotel could be a real romantic getaway for newlyweds, free to explore the area without being interfered with (much) by hustlers or vendors. It could be a great contrast to the lush environment of Dragon Bay which would attract a more wealthy and exclusive set of visitors – but could make a great dual holiday.

Earlier this year SRI Executive Chairman Adam Stewart said that the company was looking into broadening its portfolio in Jamaica by establish European Plan hotels instead of its all-inclusive model.

“Jamaica needs more EP hotels. I myself will be looking in that direction to balance out our portfolio in Jamaica,” Stewart said at a Mayberry Investor Forum in Kingston back in March.

“There is a huge opportunity for boutique hotels in hospitality in Jamaica. They would be well-run villa communities. They do not have to be all super premium, but you definitely want super premium,” Stewart said.

Though he was primarily talking about a hotel in Portland or St Mary, such an EP concept could be perfect for Treasure Beach, as it would give visitors an incentive to explore the area by foot, taking long walks on the beach and on the roads up to the Great Pedro Bluff and around, stopping in bars and snacking at local restaurants.

Such a concept would directly impact the people in the area, but could also have the negative aspect of attracting the type of hustlers that abound elsewhere, and completely change the character of the place.

But its very early days. It has not yet been officially announced that Sandals is buying Treasure Beach Hotel, and even if it did, it could be decades before it actually reopens – if the example of Dragon Bay is anything to go by.