Vybz Kartel concert packs Kingston hotels

WESTERN BUREAU:

Long before ticket sales opened for the Vybz Kartel’s Freedom Street concert scheduled for New Year’s Eve, Kingston hotels were seeing strong forward bookings for December 31.

Once the concert was announced, Kingston hoteliers told The Gleaner that they started receiving calls.

“In fact, it was being discussed and anticipated earlier on in the year that it was likely that there would be a shortage of hotel rooms,” shared Christopher Jarrett, chairman of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, Kingston

Jarrett said his hotel, the Altamont Court, is happily already at 100 per cent in the days leading up to and including the night of the event.

He noted that although Kingston tends to experience high occupancies throughout the festive season, it was not common to see the level of occupancy that has been seen this year.

“Based on the demand, up until now, the expectation is that the larger Kingston hotels will have had similar experiences, and it is expected that the Airbnb space will facilitate the anticipated overflow,” Jarrett said.

His comments were bolstered by general manager at The Jamaica Pegasus, Brian Sang, who said the New Kingston hotel has noticed a significant increase in occupancy levels compared to last year.

“This boost can be attributed to many exciting events happening in our beautiful city. A majority of our guests are particularly enthusiastic about the Freedom Street concert, which will take place at the National Stadium,” said Sang.

Acknowledging the established fact that during this time of year people would typically head out to the north coast for a vacation or other events, Sang noted that owing to the most anticipated concert of the year, people are actually coming into Kingston instead.

At the S Kingston, that hotel’s managing director, Christopher Issa, told The Gleaner that December bookings have been stronger – in part due to the concert.

While the AC Hotel’s general manager, Koen Hietbrink, stated that yearends tend to follow similar trends year over year, but Freedom Street brought forward peak forward bookings.

“As many booked their accommodation earlier before tickets were even made available.”

The ROK Hotel in downtown Kingston is full for December 31 but had not accredited its occupancy levels to the concert.

“We are usually full at this time of the year,” said Amit Mahbubani, the hotel’s new general manager.

As it relates to reports of private planes and celebrities flocking to the island as a result of the concert, The Gleaner was unable to confirm with either of the two larger international airports.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com