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Round Hill has been a trusty escape among Jamaica’s most discerning visitors for five decades and is among the most elegant hotels in the Caribbean. Set just to the west of Montego Bay, on its own peninsular - the round hill of the name – the resort sweeps down through hillside gardens towards the waterfront, where just 36 extremely stylish hotel rooms are set above the beach on one side, and the restaurant and bar among trees on the other. Beyond them is a separate spa. Ranged above the rooms on the rising hillside are 27 two- to five-bedroom villas. The whole resort is built in timelessly elegant Jamaican plantation style – partly re-designed by Ralph Lauren, an owner at Round Hill - to a theme of shingle roofs, louvers, balustrades and classical columns. In an island which has been all but overtaken by all-inclusive hotels, Round Hill retains the atmosphere of a more elegant age and continues to offer, to its extremely well-heeled, quite glitzy crowd of faithfuls, the finest genteel Jamaican hospitality.
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KEY FEATURES
| Round Hill Hotel Jamaica, best of Caribbean hotels and villas, set on a private 100 acre estate, 36 hotel rooms and 27 two- to five-bedroom villas (with bedrooms available as suites), most with private pools. Restaurant, piano bar, beach bar, 2 central pools, pool bar, full service Elemis spa, fitness centre, PADI dive and watersports shop, 5 tennis courts, children’s club, library, TV lounge, customised weddings, resort boutique and gift shop. |
STYLE
| Elegant, understated but exquisite old colonial Jamaica, with shingle roofs, louvers, classical columns and balustrades, all set in beautiful gardens; some recent redesign in the rooms by Ralph Lauren. An exclusive, but thoroughly refined and romantic hotel |
CLIENT PROFILE
| Round Hill is a hotel in Jamaica that has a long-standing following of well-heeled, elegant travellers, often famous, some royalty among them, of all ages. It is especially popular with families, and ideal for an elegant wedding or honeymoon |
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The pineapple can be seen on the gates of plantation houses all over Jamaica (and occasionally at country houses of a similar age in England). And it is fitting as the symbol for Round Hill, partly because the area was in fact a pineapple plantation, but much more so because the pineapple is the symbol of the very best in traditional Jamaican hospitality. The hotel retains a beauty in setting and a graciousness in atmosphere that make it the most refined and elegant hotel in Jamaica, without doubt one of the finest in the Caribbean.
You approach Round Hill along the main north coast road heading west from Montego Bay. As the road begins to climb towards the village of Hopewell after the Great River you turn right by the sentry box along a drive between royal palms. At the top of the hill villas begin to appear. As you head steeply downhill towards the sea, their shallow-pitched grey shingle roofs sit beautifully in the explosive greenery either side. The Lobby appears ahead of you, set in perfect symmetry at the foot of the hill. As you enter it you will notice that the view carries straight through into the bay.
The Lobby gives a good sense of the style of Round Hill. It uses the restrained and traditional features of the classical old elegant Jamaica. The building is white, with carriage lanterns and white and green striped awnings, and a grey shingle roof. Inside, the tiled floor is a black and white chequerboard. Reproduction antique furniture stands around the walls, which have solid wooden panelling and doors. As you pass through towards the bay there is a small veranda, beyond which are lawns and then the sea.
Walk left from the Lobby along the waterfront and you come to most of the ‘central’ features of the hotel. First though, the beach appears below you on your right. At a huge sea almond tree there is a circular wooden beach bar and watersports equipment – small sailboats and kayaks – laid out on the sand. Next you come to the Seaside Terrace, also set in the shade of large sea almond trees, bougainvillea and parasols. This is where breakfast is held and occasional special dinners. Other dining rooms are set above it inland.
Just above the Seaside Terrace is the bar, which has seen much of the life of Round Hill over the years. It was redesigned recently by Ralph Lauren, who has used the best in traditional Jamaican design and cast it back to the most romantic days of Round Hill in the 1950s and 60s when the ‘jet set’ were visitors. Afternoon tea from traditional silverware is served under photographs of them and the columns topped with stylised palm leaves. Above and behind the bar is the main dining room, the Georgian Room. This is open-sided and gives out onto a terrace – again under massive trees - which is sometimes used for dinner but also makes an extremely attractive setting for a wedding ceremony. The Hanover Room is a second dining room above. Several of the dining rooms and terraces have a view of the bay, which is lovely. Among the trees you can see the pier and the watersports gazebo on the shoreline.
If you continue to walk beyond the dining rooms the wall of the valley rises steeply out of the waterfront, almost threatening to block the way. As the path clings to the hillside, lianas dangle around you from the massive tropical trees. Then you descend into the next bay and arrive at the spa and the fitness centre. They are set in a former plantation building that has been redone in traditional style.
Looking the other way from the Lobby you will find the ‘hotel’ accommodation in Pineapple House, actually three buildings that stand shoulder to shoulder above the main pool on the small cliff, each slightly angled to get the best of the lovely view out into the bay. You reach them on a path lined with bananas, palms and bougainvillea, off which steps with white cross-cross balustrades climb or descend to the 36 bedrooms (upstairs to the deluxe rooms). Inside, the rooms have also been styled by Ralph Lauren. They continue Round Hill’s classic theme of traditional Jamaica, with the same chiaroscuro colour scheme, of dark furniture (some beds are bamboo four-posters, others two-poster hardwood with pineapple motif headboards) against a background of light walls, floor and ceiling. It is a deceptively simple setting that has a very calm effect. There is a small sitting area at the front of each room, but the thing that draws your eye is the huge window cut into the far wall. Beneath a green and white striped awning the view carries over the spectacular, split level pool and sundeck just below and then to a fantastic seascape beyond. The view carries for miles along the forested coastline to the west.
The ‘hotel’ rooms are only part of the story at Round Hill. There are also rooms in the villas tucked away on the hillside above. These are set back, their grey shingle roofs rising on the hill among the royal palms and greenery. There are two, three, four and five bedroom villas, which makes them ideal for families, which are well looked after by Round Hill. Linked by a series of paths, the villas are individually furnished and decorated. The majority of them have a swimming pool. In amongst the villas are five tennis courts, two of which are lighted.
There is a children’s centre, the Pineapple Kids Club, just to your left as you look up the hill from the Lobby. It is open mornings and afternoons and caters for children aged from three to eleven (children younger than this must be accompanied by a nanny). Looking the other way you will see the gift shop on the left of the path and beyond it the small business centre, which has internet connection. On the other side of the path is the library and the Pineapple Room, where you will find the only television on the whole property, as well as eccentric paintings by Jonathon Routh. Beyond here you come back to the bar.
Round Hill is one of the finest hotels in the Caribbean. Its physical setting, the classical Jamaican homes set on a very pretty tropical hillside of royal palms and explosive greenery, is simply exquisite, but of course atmosphere and fashionability are made of subtler things besides. The hotel has had a following among extremely well heeled travellers for over five decades. It has steered itself successfully through a period of immense change in the global travel industry, retaining an understated refinement that has timeless elegance and a charmingly Jamaican character. |
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Beach & Swimming
The beach is right below the Lobby area and dining rooms and is shaded by some trees at the foot of the lawns. A section of granular sand shelves into the shallow, blue-green water of the bay. The beach is not that large, but it is pretty and well protected in the lee of the hill.
There are two ‘central’ swimming pools at Round Hill. The spectacular main pool sits in front of the hotel rooms on the Cliffside surrounded by a sundeck with loungers and parasols. It has two infinity edges and is set on three levels – the main pool (50ft by 16ft) spills into a spa pool and there is a wading pool suitable for children. A pool bar stands next door to it. A second, quieter pool is located at the spa building. This is for adults only.
Most of the private villas at Round Hill also have their own pools. |
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Sports & Recreation
Watersports are available on the beach, around the pier and gazebo, through the hotel’s concessionaire, Captain’s Watersports. They have kayaks, windsurfers, Hobie cats and pedalos for use in the bay. They also offer water-skiing, tubing and (for ages twelve and over) scuba diving. A reef in the shallow water right offshore in the bay makes for excellent snorkelling. There is also a weekly glass-bottom boat trip if you do not want to swim.
Round Hill has five tennis courts, two of which are lit for night play. There is a jogging trail around the grounds and a fitness centre attached to the spa, see below. |
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The Spa
The spa at Round Hill is located in a very attractive old building in the next bay around from the main beach. Originally called Welcome Wharf, it is set in lawns among tropical trees a few minutes walk from the main hotel, which gives it a tranquil feel. It has cut-stone walls with white balustrades and verandas and it looks out over the pool, which is set in a surround of traditional bricks, a lawn and then the bay. There are ten treatment rooms, including one 'couples’ room and a ‘wet’ room with a hydrotherapy tub. There is also an outdoor treatment area (though massage can take place in many places, such as the beachfront and under the trees). Treatment rooms are air-conditioned , but if you wish they also open up to the natural air. Products used are by Elemis and Aromapure. There is also a beauty salon at the spa. The spa offers treatments for teenagers (12-16), but younger children who visit must be accompanied by an adult. Light lunches, salads and soups, can be served around the pool. A number of yoga retreats are offered by the spa each year.
The Fitness Centre is attached to the spa. Machines and weights are set on the terrace. Classes and yoga sessions are available.
It is worth noting that the setting at the spa is lovely and it can be used for a wedding. |
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The Rooms
Roughly a third of the bedrooms at Round Hill are ‘hotel’ bedrooms and they are set in the three ‘blocks’ of Pineapple House. These are attractively styled (by Ralph Lauren) and use the best of traditional Jamaican architecture and design – with the same light and dark effect as the rest of the hotel, which gives an extremely ‘calm’ feel. The ceilings have exposed shingles and there are large louvered windows, which are set into a sitting alcove with a green and white striped awning and a lovely view of the bay. The walls are light, generally off-white, and many of the dark-stained, hardwood beds have the hotel’s pineapple motif on their headboards. All these rooms are ocean view and some of them connect, making them suitable for families.
There are also 77 suites in the villas that stand on the hillside above the central part of the hotel. Set in very attractive buildings, most of which have pools, they can be taken as a whole villa together (in which case you also have use of the living room and verandas) or individually (in which case the pool may be shared). The villas are decorated individually (they are actually privately owned and have been handed back to the hotel to be part of their room inventory). |
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Dining
The cuisine at Round Hill is overseen by chef Martin Maginley. The style is international, with tastes and dishes gathered from around the world, including Jamaica of course, which has excellent spices and other ingredients.
Breakfast is served on the Seaside Terrace. Dinner takes place higher up, above the bar, in the Georgian Room and on the Georgian Terrace. On Mondays there is a beach party down on the sand. Room service is available, as are special children’s menus. Light meals are available during the day at the spa. Meal plans are available. |
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Weddings
Round Hill is a supremely elegant location for a Caribbean wedding and there are a number of settings in the grounds for a truly memorable ceremony and reception. These include the two beaches, the Georgian Terrace - or inside in the Georgian Room - the Lawn overlooking the bay down by the spa and the sundeck. Also, with so many excellent homes at Round Hill, you have the option of holding a wedding in the privacy of your own villa. Round Hill has a basic Wedding Plan for up to six people for US$1000, but the hotel has its own wedding planner who can customise a ceremony for up to 200 people for you. She can arrange floral decoration, photography and videography and entertainment including a band or a DJ. Most importantly, to make sure that things are kept personal, weddings at Round Hill are limited to just thirty per year. Please see details of the wedding package, a Renewal Wedding package and for information on the legal requirements for getting married in Jamaica. |
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Children
Round Hill is extremely popular with families and it is well organised to cater for children. The dining room provides an early dinner service, which can be ordered off the Children’s Menu. The hotel’s complimentary Pineapple Kid’s Club, located next door to the Lobby, is open daily from 9-12 noon and 1-5pm and offers activities for children aged 3-11 years. Children under three can also be accepted if accompanied by a nanny (a nanny service is available at an extra charge). Activities include arts and crafts, a story hour, movies, beach games, nature walks, watersports, gymnastics and even reggae lessons. During the summer holidays there is a complimentary Kid Tennis Clinic for children up to the age of twelve, with classes from 9-11am every day except Sundays. Round Hill’s on-site watersports and dive centre offers supervised children’s watersports in conjunction with the Pineapple Club. Captain’s Watersports & Dive Centre also run the SASY (Supplied Air Snorkelling for Youth) programme for children between 5-12 years, and PADI Bubblemaker for age eight plus. Please see our review of Captain’s Watersports.
A Family Plan (see Special Offers) from May to August offers five hours of daily nanny service free of charge and separate rooms for children at half price. |
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Practical Facts
Annual Closure Dates: open year round.
Dress Code: Is casual and elegant, though many of Round Hill’s guests will wear designer causal clothes. During the day attire is informal and from 6.30pm evening attire is requested - long trousers/pants and shirts with collars for men, ladies to dress accordingly. The only time that t-shirts, shorts and sneakers/trainers are acceptable as evening attire is during the weekly Beach Party on Monday nights. During the festive season guests tend to dress up.
Facilities: 2 swimming pools: a main resort pool with three tiers, one for swimming, a children’s wading pool and a spa pool, and an adult only swimming pool by The Spa. Dining terrace/room, beach bar & grill, piano bar, pool bar and The Spa lunch service. Full service Elemis spa. Air-conditioned fitness centre. Jogging trail. Captain’s Watersports and dive (PADI) centre. 5 all weather tennis courts – 2 floodlit. Pineapple Kids Club. International library with books in French, German, Spanish & Japanese. Pineapple Lounge with 62” plasma TV with satellite service and card tables. Resort boutique and gift shop. Meeting facilities for up to 100 people theatre style.
Complimentary: Daily afternoon tea. Weekly manager’s cocktail party. Live pre-dinner piano or calypso music. Snorkelling equipment, kayaks, water trampoline, pedal boats, windsurfing and glass bottom boat ride. Use of the fitness centre, plus daily fitness classes: stretch, muscle toning, aerobics and step aerobics. Shuttle service to Tryall Golf Club. Use of tennis courts day and night including tennis racquets. Shuttle to Montego Bay for shopping. Cribs and high chairs. Daily copy of “The Times Fax” delivered to all rooms. Golf cart shuttle service available between reception and villas suites.
Other Services: Concierge and Tour Desk for excursions, postal service (sale of stamps, postal delivery/collection and express mail service available), booking tee times at Tryall Golf Club, currency exchange, car and helicopter rental. Bell Desk will arrange taxis, private driver and limousine services. Wedding planner. Nanny service available for extra charge. TV and VCR rental. Business center available with high speed internet, computers, laptop hook ups and fax services. Nature walk on Fridays. Room service (subject to a US$5 delivery fee). Yoga classes Weds-Sun at 4pm - extra charge. Personal fitness instructor and tennis pro available for extra charge. Inward Bound Yoga Retreat programme. In room or villa massage service available from The Spa. Waterskiing, water taxi service to Montego Bay, inner tubing, sailing and windsurfing instruction, PADI certification courses available through Captain’s Watersports for additional charges – they will also arrange deep sea fishing, private yacht charter and sunset cruises. Shuttle for church service on Sundays. Pillow menu available.
Children: Welcome. Complimentary cribs and high chairs. Baby sitting and nanny services available for an extra charge. Meal plans are reduced by 50% for children between 3-11 years. Children’s menu available. SASY and PADI Bubblemaker courses available. Games and puzzles available from Front Desk. Pineapple Kid’s Club - see Children above.
Weddings & Honeymoons: There is a basic Wedding Plan package for US$1000, a Renewal Wedding package from US$800-1000, and a wedding planner for customised events. Please see under Weddings above for more information.
Accommodation: 36 rooms and 27 villas with 74 suites – 110 bedrooms
Rooms: All rooms and suites all have air-conditioned bedrooms with ceiling fans, Panasonic CD/radio player, direct dial telephone, safe, iron & ironing board, coffee/tea maker, bathrobes, slippers, umbrellas, hairdryer and en suite bathrooms. 36 x Oceanfront Rooms (452sq ft) are all located in the two storey Pineapple House overlooking the main swimming pool and have been recently renovated, with interiors by Ralph Lauren set against white stone floors and white painted walls and ceilings. They comprise of a large bedroom with either a king size four poster bed or two separate four poster twin beds within dark stained bamboo frame, and a small sitting area with upholstered seating facing the sea - some rooms have garden and/or sea views and some overlook the pool with sea views. The upstairs rooms have white painted, exposed cathedral ceilings and a large picture window with folding louver doors opening to the views, whilst ground floor rooms have their own balcony or patio. New all white, en suite bathrooms have fixtures by Waterworks and have double vanities, a deep tub with hand held shower and a separate walk-in shower with rain head. Some rooms have connecting doors. 77 x Suites are located in 27 privately owned villas, each individually decorated and furnished. Villas can be rented as an entire unit or as separate suites (see here for weekly villa specials), with each villa comprising a Master Suite and up to four more individual suites, and one kitchen, which is used by a housekeeper/cook to prepare breakfast only. 23 of the villas have their own private swimming pool which is shared between the individual suites if the entire villa has not been rented. Each suite features a private living room and/or veranda leading to double doors and a bedroom which can be closed off for full air-conditioning. Most have either a king size bed or two twins, some have king size four poster beds and a couple of rooms have double beds: Superior Villa Suite (1291sq ft) are located in villas without swimming pools and have an enclosed or semi-enclosed living room, garden and/or veranda. Deluxe Villa Suite (1400sq ft) as before but located in a villa with a shared swimming pool and pool deck/terrace. Master Villa Suite (1668sq ft) as before with shared swimming pool and is a much larger suite. Pineapple Suite is a new category for 2006 which are in recently renovated villas and have shared swimming pool. These suites are now larger with enhanced interior décor, semi open-air living room, private terrace and an en suite bathroom with double vanities, tub and separate shower. Maximum occupancy in a room/suite is 3 persons with an extra bed (extra) and a crib. A Pillow Menu has been introduced with pillow of choice available for order via reservations: Standard Non-allergenic poly-fill, Best Rest, Feather Core, Exclusive Maternity or Snore Stopper.
Credit Cards: VISA, MasterCard and American Express. |
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Rates
| Room & Suites | 03 Jan- 31 Mar 2008 | 01 Apr- 30 Apr 2008 | 01 May- 31 Oct 2008 | 01 Nov- 19 Dec 2008 | | | Daily EP | Daily EP | Daily EP | Daily EP | | Oceanfront Room | 590 | 450 | 370 | 450 | | Superior Villa Suite | 620 | 490 | 410 | 490 | | Deluxe Villa Suite with pool | 820 | 680 | 520 | 680 | | Master Villa Suite with pool | 920 | 780 | 620 | 780 | | Pineapple Suite with pool | 1,180 | 980 | 800 | 980 | | Third person | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 | | Single occupancy | -70 | -70 | -70 | -70 | | Meal Supplements pp MAP - Breakfast & dinner FAP - Breakfast, lunch & dinner AI - Platinum Plan Children U12yrs less 50% | 90 115 170 | 90 115 170 | 90 115 170 | 90 115 170 | All rates are in US$ per room/suite, per night, double occupancy, on a room only basis (EP) and include tax and service charge. All rates are subject to change without notice. Children under 2 years stay FREE of charge when sharing with parents, and there is no charge for cribs. There is a 50% reduction on all meal plans for children under 12 years. Meal Plans are per person, per night and include tax and service charge: MAP = Modified American Plan includes breakfast & dinner, FAP = Full American Plan includes breakfast, lunch & dinner, AI/Platinum Plan = all-inclusive plan includes private airport transfers (Montego Bay), breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea, room service, all drinks at the bar, bottle of Champagne and fruit basket on arrival, a ½ hr massage, a raft ride on the Great River, One mountain/ocean horseback ride and the dine-around programme with a choice of 3 Montego Bay restaurants. Minimum stay: 5 nights over Thanksgiving, 14 nights over Christmas/New Year (for arrivals 22 Dec-02 Jan), 4 nights over President’s Weekend and 7 nights over Easter. | Villas | 03 Jan- 31 Mar 2008 | 01 Apr- 30 Apr 2008 | 01 May- 31 Oct 2008 | 01 Nov- 19 Dec 2008 | | | Daily EP | Daily EP | Daily EP | Daily EP | | 2 Bedroom Villa (1-4 persons) | 1,250 | 980 | 820 | 980 | | 2 Bedroom Villa + pool (1-4 persons) | 1,650 | 1,360 | 1,040 | 1,360 | | 3 Bedroom Villa (1-6 persons) | 1,800 | 1,430 | 1,190 | 1,430 | | 3 Bedroom Villa + pool (1-6 persons) | 2,590 | 1,880 | 1,690 | 1,880 | | |
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