Terra Nova Hotel joins Best Western brand

Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel has partnered with Best Western Hotels & Resorts, reflecting a trend among independent hoteliers to adopt international brands while retaining local ownership.

“Terra Nova is now a partner with Best Western,” said Arlene Wynter, the property’s banquet and sales manager, in a Financial Gleaner interview. The hotel now operates under the ‘Best Western Premier Collection’, one of 18 brands within the US chain’s portfolio of 4,300 properties worldwide.

Ownership remains with the Hussey family, which has controlled the property for decades. “It is just a partnership,” Wynter said, emphasising that the arrangement doesn’t transfer equity or day-to-day management control.

The alliance, which took effect in late July, but not widely disclosed, was designed primarily to boost reservations and customer reach. “Guests are now able to get points, and so on,” Wynter said, referring to Best Western’s loyalty programme. The affiliation connects Terra Nova to one of the world’s largest hotel networks, expanding its distribution capabilities without heavy capital investments.

For Best Western, the deal adds a distinctive property to its Caribbean footprint at minimal cost — a hallmark of soft-brand strategies that have reshaped the global lodging industry over the past decade.

Independent hotels across the region are increasingly turning to such arrangements, gaining access to centralised reservation systems and loyalty programmes without undertaking costly renovations or relinquishing operational autonomy.

To meet Best Western’s brand identity and service benchmarks, Terra Nova is working with Hotel Equities, a US-based hospitality management and development firm that provides training and operational support.

“They are consultants,” she said. “They do the training because they work alongside Best Western.”

Hotel Equities supports nearly 1,000 hotel rooms across nine Caribbean and Latin American markets, including Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Trinidad & Tobago, according to its website.

Terra Nova joins a Kingston market increasingly dominated by international flags. Marriott operates the Courtyard by Marriott and AC Hotel Kingston, while Hilton’s Tapestry Collection includes The Rok hotel. The city hotels cater primarily to corporate travellers and upscale tourists rather than the beach resort clientele that dominates Jamaica’s north coast.

Built in 1924 as a private mansion and converted to a hotel in the 1950s, Terra Nova’s ‘41 suites’ occupy a historic niche in Kingston’s lodging landscape.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Hussey family embarked on an ambitious expansion plan. In 2021, the family launched The Residences at Terra Nova, a $7-billion, high-rise development adjacent to the hotel. Construction halted a year later, despite reports that roughly half the units had attracted bankable offers.

The family blamed adverse market conditions, which reportedly made continued operation as hotel units more financially viable than residential sales. The suspension came as Jamaica’s short-term rental market experienced rapid growth while borrowing costs surged.

Kingston’s short-term rental listings jumped 40 per cent between 2022 and 2023, climbing from 2,000 to 2,820 properties, according to AirDNA, which aggregates data from Airbnb and Vrbo. That influx of inventory coincided with rising interest rates that increased financing costs for hotel developers and buyers alike.

Listings have since moderated to roughly 2,370 properties, though interest rates remain elevated.

business@gleanerjm.com