22 truly inclusive Jamaican hotels and resorts

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Tourism is Jamaica’s major foreign exchange earner and can therefore be leveraged to assist with LGBTI liberation on the island. However, I support positive provocation instead of a boycott (which would hurt the very people that we seek to help) and I feel that LGBTI tourists and our allies can help the movement by staying at Jamaican Truly Inclusive Hotels & Resorts (J-TIHRS).

CAVEAT: There is NO industry-wide standard by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA) for diversity training of staff by its member organizations. Therefore, please note that this list is no guarantee of non-discrimination at any of the properties indicated below. It simply represents hotels where I and my LGBTI friends have never experienced negative responses from staff because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression (SOGI/E). That said, I would still encourage persons who wish to visit the properties to call or send an email to directly ask the hotels about their approach to SOGI/E non-discrimination. For example, does the property provide mandatory diversity training for all staff?

The J-TIHRs that I recommend are:

Half Moon, A Rock Resort (has advertised as LGBTI inclusive)
Round Hill Hotel and Villas (has advertised as LGBTI inclusive)
Tryall Club Resort
Coyaba Beach Resort
Hilton Rose Hall
GoldenEye Hotel and Resort
Trident hotel
GeeJam hotel
Grand Palladium
Mockingbird Hill hotel
Jamaica Inn
The Caves Hotel
Hedonism II Hotel
Couples Resorts
Terra Nova
Liguanea Club
Knutsford Court Hotel
The Courtleigh Hotel
Jamaica Pegasus Hotel
Strawberry Hill
Idle Awhile Resort
Banana Shout Resort

A former head of the JHTA has also advised that all non-couples-specific hotels on the island are accepting of same-gender couples. Further, he states that the all-inclusive hotels are NOT discriminating but are styled for heterosexual couples rather than same-gender couples due to marketing reasons.

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Sandals Resorts, which also owns Beaches Resorts, has an official policy of diversity training for their staff, but I strongly discourage persons from visiting because these chains are owned by the same person that controls the Jamaica Observer newspaper. That tabloid is notorious for its savage anti-gay commentary and editorial cartoons, which depict LGBTI people as freaks and/or threats to society.