Covel Hall, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU: SPIRITS WERE high yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Rose Hall, Montego Bay, as some 750 employees of the upscale resort and Ritz-Carlton officials from overseas, gathered in preparation for today's opening.
The pep session started with a procession from the entrance to the property to the ballroom which was draped with congratulatory banners from Ritz-Carlton properties around the world.
The rally continued with cheers, the beating of pots and pans and dancing to the strains of Bob Marley's "One Love", and other hits. Food, drinks and merriment continued into the afternoon.
Special guests
Special guests included Michelle Rollins, widow of the late American investor John Rollins, who initiated the project. Mr. Rollins died in April aged 84 years and yesterday was his birthday.
"It is his dream come true and if he were here he would have said, 'I got it done; that's what I wanted to do. Now go and enjoy it'", said Mrs. Rollins.
The 428-room, beachfront hotel is already fully booked for the Christmas season.
"We don't have a suite available over the Christmas holidays. Even people who used to come to Jamaica but stopped, want to come back, so I think we are going to recapture our old friends and make new friends", Mrs. Rollins said.
The hotel is expected to host Shell's Wonderful World of Golf, a major golf tournament, on Tuesday, August 29 at its White Witch golf course, which will showcase Jamaica to the world.
